ST. PAUL – Tony Robinson, age 41, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, made an initial appearance today on an indictment charging Robinson with five counts of wire fraud and conspiracy offenses for Robinson’s participation in a fraud scheme with Tezzaree El-Amin Champion, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.
Robinson was the operations director at Encouraging Leaders, a Minneapolis-based non-profit organization founded and led by Champion. Champion used the organization to submit fraudulent grant applications and progress reports to government and private grant programs, then misused substantial portions of the grant funding. Participants in the scheme, including Champion and Robinson, retained grant funds for themselves. Champion and Robinson defrauded the U.S. Department of Justice, Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and others.
Robinson participated in the scheme from approximately December 2021 until October 2022. Robinson worked with a freelance worker in Africa to draft and submit false grant progress reports to organizations that had awarded grants to Encouraging Leaders…