Friday March 21, 2025
By Joey Peters

Seventy people have been charged with allegedly embezzling $250 million in federal funds earmarked to feed underprivileged children. Thirty-seven defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles.

Guilty pleas in the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation started trickling in three weeks after the U.S. Attorney’s Office first announced charges in September 2022 against dozens of suspects. Thirty-seven defendants have pleaded guilty in the case.

As Sahan Journal tracks the growing number of defendants in the case, we’ll also track all of the defendants who plead guilty and those who are convicted at trial. This story will be updated as more defendants plead.

Federal prosecutors call the Feeding Our Future investigation the largest single COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud case in the nation; at least $250 million were allegedly embezzled from the federal government. The case alleges that several nonprofits defrauded the federal government of money meant to feed underprivileged children. Instead of feeding children, the defendants allegedly embezzled the money and spent it on personal items including real estate, flashy cars, and luxury vacations.

Sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future received the federal funds, and then distributed them to smaller groups—also known as food sites—that were supposed to feed children. 

The alleged fraud was simple at its foundation: Some organizations along the money chain reported serving more meals than they actually did—or completely invented their numbers without ever serving meals—in order to receive more federal reimbursement dollars.

Below is a list of the defendants who have been convicted through a guilty plea or at trial:

1. Bekam Merdassa, 40, co-ran Youth Inventors Lab, a shell company that used Feeding Our Future as its sponsor. Bekam pleaded guilty on October 13 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted in court that Youth Inventors Lab never served a single meal, but collected $3 million in federal food-aid money by claiming to have served 1.3 million meals between December 2020 and June 2021.
2. Hadith Yusuf Ahmed, 33, previously worked for Feeding Our Future monitoring food sites enrolled in the federal Child Nutrition Programs through Feeding Our Future. Hadith pleaded guilty on October 13 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted to accepting $1 million in kickbacks from food sites in exchange for enrolling them in the federal food programs. He also admitted to starting a shell company called Southwest Metro Youth that received $1.1 million by falsely claiming to feed 2,000 children a day. He told a judge that he didn’t know how many children Southwest Metro Youth actually fed during the pandemic, but that it was “nowhere close to 2,000.”
3. Hanna Marekegn, 40, owned Brava Cafe, a Minneapolis restaurant. She pleaded guilty on October 13 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She told the court that Brava received $7.1 million in federal food-aid money by claiming to serve more than two million meals between September 2020 and January 2022. She did not know how many meals Brava actually served but admitted that she inflated the numbers. She also admitted to giving more than $150,000 in bribes to Feeding Our Future employees in exchange for enrolling her restaurant in the food programs. “I made a mistake,” she told the court as she wept. 
4. Abdul Abubakar Ali, 40, co-ran the Youth Inventors Lab food site. He pleaded guilty on October 26 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted that Youth Inventors Lab never served a single meal but claimed to serve 1.3 million meals in order to receive $3 million in federal food-aid money. 
5. Anab Awad, 53, headed the nonprofit Multiple Community Services, which ran five food sites in Minneapolis, Osseo, and Faribault. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining $9.3 million of food-aid money. Anab claimed her organization served 3.8 million meals, but admitted in court that she served only a fraction of that number.
6. Liban Yasin Alishire, 42, claimed to serve 870,000 meals during 2020 and 2021 through the Child Nutrition Programs at two nonprofits he helped run: Community Enhancement Services and Lake Street Kitchen. Federal prosecutors say Liban fraudulently claimed $2.4 million in federal food-aid money, keeping $714,000 of that money for himself. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Liban agreed to pay $714,000 in restitution and forfeit a resort he owns in Kenya, an apartment unit in Kenya, a Ford F150 pickup, and a boat and trailer.
7. Mulata Ali, 38, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the theft of public money. Mulata operated Franklyn Transportation LLC, which federal authorities allege fraudsters used as a shell company to launder more than $2 million of stolen federal money. People involved in the alleged scheme paid Mulata close to $100,000 to use his business’ bank account to move stolen money. Mulata’s plea agreement calls for a guideline sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison and a payment of $95,099 in restitution—equal to the amount he received for allowing alleged fraudsters to use his bank account. 
8. Mohamed Ali Hussein, 53, of Faribault, pleaded guilty to one count or wire fraud. Mohamed claimed to serve meals to 2,500 a day at his nonprofit, Somali American Faribault Education, through Feeding Our Future during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with Lul Bashir Ali, another defendant, Mohamed admitted to defrauding the government out of more than $5 million. Both defendants agreed to pay that same amount back in restitution and also forfeit three properties and one car.
9. Lul Bashir Ali, 57, of Faribault, pleaded guilty to one count or wire fraud. She claimed to feed 1,600 children a day through her restaurant, Lido Restaurant, using Feeding Our Future. Lul admitted in court that she inflated these numbers by submitting fake attendance records and fake invoices for reimbursement from the federal government. With co-defendant Mohamed Ali Hussein, she agreed to pay back more than $5 million in restitution and also forfeit three properties and a car.
10. Abdulkadir Awale, 50, pleaded guilty to one count or wire fraud. He enrolled three restaurants he owned in the federal food aid program using Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care for a 21-month period between 2020 and 2022. Authorities say he stole more than $11 million and spent it on personal items, including more than $300,000 on his home mortgage, nearly $150,000 on two semi trucks, and more than $30,000 on a 2020 Chevy Traverse SUV. He agreed to pay more than $2 million in restitution.
11. Qamar Hassan, 54, pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Qamar, who lives in Brooklyn Park, owned and operated S&S Catering, which acted as a food vendor for numerous food sites participating in the federal Child Nutrition Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. She transferred more than $800,000 of the money received by S&S Catering into her own bank account and spent it for personal items, including $60,000 on a 2021 Jeep Wrangler, $20,000 on a 2020 Range Rover, and $114,000 on a Brooklyn Park townhome. Qamar also spent $345,000 on an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, among other purchases.
12. Abdikadir Kadiye, 51, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He used his company, Hobyo Health Care Foundation, to register three meal sites in Eden Prairie, Minneapolis, and Minnetonka. Prosecutors say he stole more than $1 million throughout 2021 by claiming to provide more than 400,000 meals. His guilty plea stems from submitting a roster full of invented children’s names to receive reimbursement. He spent that money on luxury vehicles like a $100,000 BMW and housing investments. He agreed to pay $876,897 in restitution. No sentencing date has been set.
13. Yusuf Ali, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and stealing nearly $280,000. Yusuf admitted in court that he worked with others to enroll a shell company called Youth Inventors Lab into the federal Child Nutrition Program to pose as a food site offering meals to disadvantaged children. According to his plea deal, Yusuf signed a “fake lease” for Youth Inventors Lab describing it to be a food site when he “knew that the location would not be used to serve meals.” Youth Innovators Lab falsely claimed that S&S Catering was the supplier of its meals. Through this relationship, Youth Innovators Lab received more than $3 million in federal food aid dollars and claimed to serve 1.3 million meals between December 2020 and June 2021, according to the plea deal. 
14. Sahra Nur, 63, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. According to her indictment, Sahra operated Academy for Youth Excellence, a shell company that listed S&S Catering, a commercial food company, as the supplier of its meals. Sahra was also one of S&S Catering’s owners and operators. Federal prosecutors say S&S Catering claimed to serve 1.2 million meals to underprivileged children between December 2020 and April 2021. Sahra admitted in court that S&S Catering only prepared a fraction of those meals, yet received $6 million from the federal government. Sahra admitted to pocketing just over $5 million in food-aid money, and agreed to pay it back in restitution as part of her plea deal. She also admitted working with two other defendants to use some of the money to buy a commercial building on Lake Street, where S&S Catering operated. 
15. Filsan Hassan, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. She operated Youth for Higher Educational Achievement and used the company to register two food sites with the organization, which were located at a Brooklyn Park apartment and a New Hope townhouse. Between April and December 2021, Youth for Higher Educational Achievement claimed to serve more than 1 million meals to underprivileged children and received more than $2.5 million in federal food-aid dollars through Feeding Our Future. Filsan admitted to spending $114,000 of food-aid money on a Brooklyn Park townhome with co-defendant Qamar Hassan, and agreed to pay $361,000 in restitution.
16. Ahmed Sharif Omar-Hashim, 39, ran Olive Management Inc., a St. Cloud food site that was sponsored by Feeding Our Future and claimed to serve meals to 3,000 a day, seven days a week. Olive Management in total claimed to serve 1.6 million meals between September 2020 to September 2021 and received $7.4 million of federal food-aid during this time. Ahmed admitted in court that he inflated these numbers and pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Ahmed and federal prosecutors agreed to a recommended sentence of between 33 and 41 months in prison and $3 million in restitution, along with giving the government an SUV he bought with federal food-aid dollars. Ahmed is also known as Salah Donyale and produces poetry and videos under that name, according to the Star Tribune.
17. Sharon Ross, 53, was set to be the first Feeding Our Future defendant to go to trial, which was planned in late January 2024. Instead she pleaded guilty two weeks before the trial start date to one count of wire fraud. Ross was executive director of House of Refuge, a St. Paul-based food shelf that ran multiple food sites during the pandemic. fake child attendance records, fake invoices, and receiving $2.4 million in federal dollars. She admitted to using the money on vacations to Las Vegas, vacations to Florida, a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game, and spending $100,000 of the money to buy a home in Willernie, Minnesota. Ross also admitted to giving the money to Hanna Marakegn, her business partner in the scheme, and her own family members. Marakegn previously pleaded guilty. Ross and federal prosecutors agreed to a 3-4 year prison sentence and $2.4 million in restitution.
18. Hoda Ali Abdi, 53, owner of Alif Halal LLC grocery store in Burnsville, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Hoda enrolled her grocery store into the federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future and claimed to provide $3 million worth of meals to underserved children. She also claimed to serve 242,000 meals at her food site and collect more than $243,000 in food-aid dollars. She and federal prosecutors agreed to a 2-2.5 year prison sentence and $1.3 million in restitution.
19. Abdiaziz Farah co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market, which prosecutors say that the Shakopee-based deli and grocery store posed as a meals provider for several food sites, and defrauded the government out of $28 million. Abdiaziz pocketed more than $8 million for himself, according to court documents. He was convicted of 23 crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, and various counts of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering. He was acquitted of one charge of wire fraud. Jurors also convicted Abdiaziz for passport fraud. 
20. Mohamed Jama Ismail co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Mohamed is Abdiziz’s uncle. He is also owner of MZ Market LLC, which prosecutors say was a shell company used to launder the stolen money. Mohamed pocketed $2.2 million, according to court documents. He previously pleaded guilty to passport fraud. Jurors convicted him of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering. He was acquitted of one wire fraud charge. 
21. Abdimajid Nur created a shell company, Nur Consulting, and laundered stolen money from Empire Cuisine and ThinkTechAct, other shell companies, court documents say. Abdimajid, who was 21 at the time of his indictment, pocketed $900,000. Jurors convicted him of 10 crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and various wire fraud and money laundering charges. Jurors also acquitted him on three counts of money laundering.
22. Hayat Nur submitted fake meal counts and invoices served at food sites. Court documents identify Hayat as Abdimajid’s sister. Hayat pocketed $30,000. Jurors convicted Hayat on three of the five counts against her, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. She was acquitted of one additional wire fraud count and one count of money laundering. 
23. Mukhtar Shariff served as CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group, and used the company to launder stolen money. He pocketed more than $1.3 million, according to court documents. Jurors convicted Mukhtar on four of six crimes filed against him, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count each of wire fraud and money laundering. Jurors acquitted Mukhtar of one count each of bribery and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
24. Sharmarke Issa, 43,  ran a company called Minnesota’s Somali Community, which operated several food sites that participated in the federal Child Nutrition Programs.  Sharmarke ran sites that claimed to serve 2.3 million children. He also received $1.1 million from Minnesota’s Somali Community, and spent the money on lavish items like a $700,000 home in Edina. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and agreed to pay $3.6 million in restitution. Sharmarke also served as board chair of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) for nearly three years. In this role, Sharmarke was the first Somali in the nation to serve on a governing body of a public housing agency. 
25. Haji Salad, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Haji ran Haji’s Kitchen, a vendor that purported to supply more than 17 million meals to various food sites involved in the fraud scheme. Haji admitted to stealing $19 million and pocketing $11.4 million. He agreed to pay $11.4 million in restitution and sentencing guidelines to serve between a little over five years to six-and-a-half years in prison. One of the homes Haji purchased with stolen money was sold at a higher price to an immigrant Chinese family in a transaction examined by a Sahan Journal investigation. Haji also contributed $437,000 towards the $2.5 million purchase of a 37-acre parcel of land in Lakeville that is the site of the proposed Nolosha development project.
26. Khadra Abdi, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Khadra ran the Shafi’i Tutoring & Homework Help Center, which operated as a food site under Feeding Our Future. From April 2020 through December 2021, Khadra fraudulently claimed close to $3.5 million in reimbursements for meals she did not fully provide. She and prosecutors agreed to a recommended prison sentence of between 2.25 and 2.75 years.
27. Kawsar Jama, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. According to the charges against her, Kawsar operated four food sites that grossly exaggerated the numbers of children they each claimed to feed. Among them was a food site in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, that claimed to serve 2,560 children every day — more than the city’s total population of 2,500 people. As part of her plea, Kawsar and federal prosecutors agreed to a recommended prison term between about three to three-and-a-half years. Kawsar also agreed to pay just over $1.3 million in restitution — the amount she admitted to personally profiting from in the scheme.  
28. Farhiya Mohamud, 65, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of money laundering. According to her plea deal, Farhiya was not involved in or aware of the broader scheme to defraud the federal government of $250 million in funds meant to feed underprivileged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the agreement says that Farhiya should have known that the large amounts of money she received from other defendants in the case were “criminally derived.” Farhiya admitted in court that her son, Sharmarke Issa, who also pleaded guilty in the case, directed her to buy real estate for him using money she received from co-defendants Haji Salad and Fahad Nur. Prosecutors and her defense attorney are recommending that Farhiya serve a one-year sentence that consists of probation instead of prison time.
29. Ayan Farah Abukar, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents, she founded Action for East African People, a nonprofit she used to enroll multiple food sites. She received about $5.7 million in federal funds and paid more than $330,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She spent millions on a commercial property in Lakeville and purchased an aircraft in Kenya, the release says.
30. Abdulkadir Salah, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Abdulkadir was the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, a former Minneapolis restaurant that prosecutors allege was used as a food site and food vendor and received $16 million in fraudulent funds. Abdulkadir agreed to pay $5.5 million in restitution and serve between nine and 11-and-a-half years in prison.
31. Abdi Salah, 37, a former aide to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Abdi registered Stigma Free International, a nonprofit which ran several fake food sites throughout the state. Abdi admitted to pocketing more than $1 million in fraudulent federal funds and agreed to serve a recommended sentence of roughly two years, give or take a few months.
32. Sharmake Jama, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He admitted to enrolling his restaurant, Brava Restaurant, into the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. He admitted inflating meals and ultimately obtaining $5.3 million in federal money. He agreed to pay restitution and to sentencing recommendations of between around four to close to five years in prison.
33. Mohamed Muse Noor, aka Deeq Darajo, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted to enrolling his company, Xogmaal Media, into the federal food program through Feeding Our Future under the direction of Abdikerm Eidleh. Deeq Darajo admitted to receiving $1.3 million of federal food aid money and transferring most of it to Abdikerm Eidleh. Deeq Darajo admitted to keeping around $52,000, and agreed to pay it back in restitution and a recommended prison sentence of around two years.
34. Ayan Jama, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. She admitted to enrolling her restaurant, Brava Restaurant, into the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. She admitted inflating meals and ultimately obtaining $5.3 million in federal money. She agreed to pay restitution and to sentencing recommendations of between around four to close to five years in prison.
35. Mekfira Hussein, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She admitted that she enrolled her organization, Shamsia Hopes, into the federal food program through Feeding Our Future under the direction of Abdikerm Eidleh. She admitted to submitting inflated meal counts in late 2020 and throughout 2021, ultimately funneling close to $9 million through her and her husband’s organizations. She admitted to spending some of this money on three new cars, including a Porsche and a Tesla, as well as paying off her home mortgage. She has agreed to surrender the cars and homes to the government and pay restitution, as well as sentencing guidelines of four to five years in prison.
36. Abduljabar Hussein, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is Mekfira Hussein’s husband and admitted in court to inflating meals for his company, Oromia Feeds, as a food vendor for her company, Shamsia Hopes.
37. Zamzam Jama, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. She admitted to participating in Brava Restaurant’s defrauding of the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. Together with conspirators, Zamzam admitted to depositing nearly $2 million in federal food aid money to shell companies and using it for personal purchases, such as a a 2021 Toyota RAV4 vehicle.
38. Mustafa Jama, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. He admitted to participating in Brava Restaurant’s defrauding of the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. Together with conspirators, Mustafa admitted to depositing nearly $2 million in federal food aid money to shell companies and using it for personal purchases, such as a Lakeville home and Mediterranean coastal property in Alanya, Turkey.
39. Asha Jama, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. She admitted to participating in Brava Restaurant’s defrauding of the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. Together with conspirators, Asha admitted to depositing nearly $2 million in federal food aid money to shell companies and using it for personal purchases, including toward a home in Lakeville and a home in Rochester.
40. Najmo Ahmed, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. Working with her husband, she admitted to using her restaurant Evergreen Grocery and Deli to defraud the government. She claimed her restaurant served 3,250 children a day, earning $4.2 million and keeping $1.4 million for herself. She admitted to laundering $1.1 million on foreign textile and trading companies and spending thousands on clothes from Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Canada Goose.
41. Abdikadir Ainashe Mohamud, 33, known as “AK,” pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He ran the Stigma-Free Willmar food site, which claimed to serve 3,000 children a day at FaaFan Restaurant. Abdikadir admitted to siphoning more than $5 million from the child nutrition programs to himself and his co-conspirators. He and prosecutors agreed to a recommended prison sentence of roughly between four and five years.
42. Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He ran the Stigma-Free Mankato food site, where he claimed to serve 3,000 children a day at J’s Sambusa. The food site would go on to claim $5.4 million from the child nutrition programs, and Abdinasir would admit to using it for extravagant personal purchases, such as a 2021 Range Rover. Abdinasir also agreed to a recommended enhancement in his sentence for attempted witness tampering when he asked a witness to come to the bathroom with him during a Feeding Our Future trial.
43. Aimee Bock was described by prosecutors as the fraud’s ringleader. Jurors convicted her on March 19 after weeks of testimony, including Bock’s own turn on the witness stand. Bock allegedly took $1.9 million from the federal government, partially by paying her boyfriend roughly $900,000. Bock testified that the payments to her boyfriend were for maintenance work on Feeding Our Future’s office. She also allegedly took a $310,000 kickback in exchange for enrolling a nonprofit into the federal food program.
44. Salim Said was convicted by jurors of all counts against him on March 19 after weeks of testimony. Prosecutors said that the businesses he worked with fraudulently collected around $30 million. He apparently received $5.5 million for himself, using it to buy a $1 million mansion in Plymouth and several luxury cars.