Minneapolis, MN (MinnesotaNow)- Guilty pleas have been entered by five more people charged in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.
The Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota says all five defendants admitted to wire fraud charges in federal court this week. Federal prosecutors have now obtained 63 convictions, which they say is the largest number of convictions in a single fraud investigation in recent memory.
Inside the $14.6 Million Fraud Scheme
Ikram Yusuf Mohamed, Aisha Hassan Hussein, Sahra Sharif Osman, Shakur Abdinur Abdisalam, and Fadumo Mohamed Yusuf were accused of working together to steal and launder $14.6 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors say the group members are family or friends who purportedly operated program sites in the Twin Cities, along with a food distribution entity.
Breakdown of Charges and Guilty Pleas
A news release issued by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota detailed the allegations against members of the group.
Shakur Abdinur Abdisalam, 46, Ikram Mohamed’s husband, participated in the scheme to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program with his wife and other family conspirators through a company called Inspiring Youth & Outreach LLC (“Inspiring Youth”). Inspiring Youth purported to run a food site in Minneapolis. Between February and November 2021, the company fraudulently claimed to have served more than 1 million meals. He and his conspirators also supported their program reimbursement claims with phony attendance rosters purporting to document the children they fed. Those rosters listed made-up children with fake ages. Based on these fraudulent claims, Inspiring Youth received more than $1.5 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. As part of the scheme, Abdisalam also paid a $21,000 kickback to his wife’s entity, IM Consultation. Abdisalam pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud…