Feeding Our Future defendant says ‘highly respected’ community member recruited him

A defendant in the first Feeding Our Future trial testified Thursday that a “highly respected” community member recruited him to start an East African cultural center and to participate in a federal program that reimbursed local groups for feeding underserved children.

Mukhtar Shariff took the witness stand for a second day Thursday, answering questions about his company, Afrique Hospitality Group, and its alleged role in a $250 million fraud scheme. Shariff, 33, is the only defendant in a joint trial of seven defendants who is testifying in his own defense.

Mukhtar served as CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group. Prosecutors allege that he used the company to launder federal funds from the Child Nutrition Program, pocketing more than $1.3 million for himself. But Mukhtar’s attorneys argue that he operated a legitimate business that fed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. His attorneys called several witnesses Wednesday and Thursday, including mosque leaders who said they saw food being distributed at the mosque and a school.

Mukhtar spent much of his testimony Thursday redirecting blame at his business partner and the trusted community member, Mahad Ibrahim, who served as Afrique’s chief financial officer. Prosecutors tried to show that Mukhtar had his own interests at heart in his business dealings, presenting evidence that he received payments from multiple businesses and that he showed interest in property in Kenya.

Mukhtar completed his testimony Thursday afternoon. Closing arguments in the trial, which began April 22, are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Mukhtar is one of seven defendants being jointly tried on a total of 41 criminal charges, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. They are collectively accused of stealing $41 million from the federal government.

Mukthar is the only defendant who called witnesses during the trial.

Mukhtar says he was recruited

One of Mukhtar’s attorneys, Fred Goetz, began his questioning Thursday by asking Mukhtar why he moved to Minnesota. Mukhtar said he had previously lived in Seattle, and moved to Minnesota in 2020 to be near his family and to live in a more affordable city.

Mukhtar said he operated a consulting company and other business ventures in Seattle, including a podcast, and wanted to continue working with the Somali community in Minnesota. The Somali community was much larger in Minnesota, he said, adding that he received encouragement to continue his work there.

Mukhtar, his wife and their young children moved to Bloomington, and started attending the Dar Al-Farooq Center.

“It just became the right place for me and my family to attend,” he said of the Bloomington mosque.

Under questioning by Goetz, Mukhtar said he was approached by a well-respected man at the mosque, Mahad, who presented him with the idea of opening an East African cultural center that would go by the name Afrique. The center would be located in Bloomington and include a restaurant, cafe, event space and a playground for children.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done in our community,” Mukhtar testified.

Mukhtar said he trusted Mahad because he had extensive experience in the food industry. Mukhtar said he wanted to help since he lived closer to Dar Al-Farooq’s community while Mahad lived further away.

Mukhtar testified that his involvement with the federal food-aid program started in late 2020 when Mahad wanted help transferring the food distribution site at Dar Al-Farooq from one sponsor to another.

Mosque leaders and attendees testified Wednesday that food was distributed to community members in the mosque’s parking lot. Other evidence presented at trial showed that another business, Empire Cuisine and Market, wrote checks to Afrique for the apparent purchase of food, and then gave that food to another business, ThinkTechAct, which ran the food site at Dar Al-Farooq. Defendants connected to Empire Cuisine are being tried alongside Mukhtar.

Mahad ran ThinkTechAct, a nonprofit that ran several food sites, including the one at Dar Al-Farooq. He is charged in the case and was originally slated to be tried in the current trial, but was granted a separate trial because his attorneys were “indisputably and absolutely unavailable” for undisclosed reasons, according to court documents.

The trial is part of a larger investigation into the alleged theft of $250 million from the Child Nutrition Program. Seventy defendants have been charged in what has become known as the Feeding Our Future case; 18 have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

The alleged fraud involved the Minnesota Department of Education distributing federal funds to sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care. The sponsor organizations then dispersed those funds to food vendors and food sites, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several organizations in the money chain reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did—or simply never served any meals at all—in order to receive more federal money, according to prosecutors. Those funds were allegedly passed through shell companies before being pocketed by the perpetrators, who used the money to buy cars, property, and other items.

Mukhtar said he sent emails on behalf of Mahad, whom he referred to as “Dr. Mahad,” to Feeding Our Future to get reimbursement for providing meals. Those emails included forms to initiate changing the sponsor and the names of children reportedly fed at food distribution sites. Mukhtar testified that he had no knowledge of how that information was compiled.

Mukhtar said he worked with two distribution sites, one at Dar Al-Farooq and another at Oak Grove Middle School. He explained how bulk food items were delivered to a warehouse and then packaged into meals that were sent to the sites.

Mukhtar’s attorneys showed jurors Images and videos of bags of food located in warehouses and at a mosque. One photo showed Mukhar handling boxes of juice.

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson questioned why a photographer was present and why Mukhtar took videos at the warehouse. Mukhtar said he took videos because he wanted to as a business owner, and that the photographer was hired because the mosque wanted to make a flier to recruit volunteers.

“You took these videos to support fraudulent claims that were submitted?” Thompson asked.

“Absolutely not,” Mukhtar replied.

Testimony focuses on Afrique’s CFO

Shariff testified that he received documents from multiple food sites listing the names and number of children they reported serving. He said the documents came from co-defendant Abdimajid Nur, who is being tried alongside Mukhtar.

Mukhtar testified that he forwarded the reports to Feeding Our Future in order to receive federal reimbursement. But he said he did not put together any of the reports himself, and that he had no reason to believe they contained false numbers. Mukhtar testified that he prepared meals at multiple warehouses for his company, Afrique Hospitality Group, and said that he had no reason to question the reports’ numbers because of all the food his company prepared for many sites that served children.

“Why did you send this email?” Goetz asked, referring to one of multiple emails that Mukhtar forwarded.

“I sent the email because this was the point of contract for the process for reimbursement,” Mukhtar testified.

Prosecutors have used the email as the basis for wire fraud charges filed against Mukhtar.

“I usually don’t look too deep into the email and attachments,” Mukhtar testified. “I’m not the person preparing them, and if they had a question I would forward it to Dr. Mahad.”

Mukhtar spent much of his testimony saying that a lot of his work involving money exchanges from the food program was on Mahad’s behalf. Mukhtar emphasized throughout his testimony that he was in charge of logistics, and didn’t run anything on the finance side at Afrique.

Mukhtar said that he signed a contract making Afrique a food site under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, and that he signed it on behalf of Mahad.

“I only signed the document because Dr. Mahad was not able to,” Mukhtar testified.

Mukhtar also stated that he didn’t review the contract in depth because he wouldn’t “know what I was looking for.”

“It’s kind of risky to sign up for a contract you don’t know about,” Goetz said. “Why did you do that?”

“I had a partner, Dr. Mahad, who worked extensively in the food program,” Mukhtar said, “and I relied on his knowledge.”

Mukhtar testified to signing a transfer agreement that changed the sponsor for Dar Al-Farooq’s food site from Partners in Quality Care to Feeding Our Future. Mukhtar testified that he signed it on behalf of Mahad.

During cross-examination, Thompson went over several checks that food sites and other entities paid to Afrique. Mukhtar repeatedly stated that he couldn’t speak to the checks because Mahad put them together.

“You were the CEO?” Thompson asked, referring to Mukhtar’s title with Afrique.

“I was the CEO, correct,” Mukhtar said.

“But it was the CFO’s fault?” Thompson said, referring to Mahad.

Mukhtar acknowledged that he used Afrique’s account to send a $250,000 cashier’s check to Ikram Mohamed, who was employed at Feeding Our Future at the time. Prosecutors allege this payment was a kickback to Feeding Our Future in exchange for enrolling Afrique in the federal food program and for special treatment from the sponsor. The check is a basis for bribery and money laundering charges against Mukhtar. Ikram is charged in the case but not part of the current trial.

Mukhtar, however, testified that the check’s purpose was to help Ikram start a daycare center. The plan for Afrique, Mukhtar said, included a playground and space for children, but that process was taking more time in Bloomington than expected. Afrique’s investors wanted to see if they “could open the child care concept” earlier in Minneapolis with Ikram’s help, Mukhtar testified.

“We thought this was a way to generate revenue quicker,” Mukhtar said.

Thompson emphasized that Mukhtar sent the check to Ikram at a time when Afrique had no operations and no building yet.

“You decided that your startup company that had no revenue outside of the food program would invest $250,000 in a childcare company?” Thompson asked.

Mukhtar said the childcare plan was a “pivot” because of the delay in construction at Afrique.

Thompson also emphasized that Ikram ultimately didn’t use the money to open a childcare center, but instead, used it to purchase personal items.

Mukhtar testified that he didn’t know how Ikram used the money.

Confronted with payments and messages

Prosecutors cross-examined Mukhtar about his statement that he had no knowledge of certain payments and that all of Afrique’s financial decisions were carried out by Mahad.

Mukhtar said that Mahad was in charge of payments received by Afrique. Prosecutors showed checks made out to Afrique from other entities, including Empire Cuisine and Market, which is accused of collecting $30 million in federal food money. Mukhtar said he didn’t know whether the other entities, including Empire, were involved in the food program.

Prosecutors then showed checks from those same entities that were made out to Wadani Consulting, a company that Mukhtar owned and operated without Mahad. Prosecutors asked Mukhtar again if he knew whether Empire Cuisine and Market was involved in the food program

“I’ve done consulting for a lot of companies over many years,” Mukhtar said. “I don’t concern myself with their revenue.”

Prosecutors also asked Mukhtar what he knew about how other co-defendants in the trial spent money they received from the food program. Prosecutors showed WhatsApp messages between Mukhtar and Abdiaziz Farah about apartments Adbiaziz was hoping to build in Kenya. Abdiaziz co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market, and is being tried alongside Mukhtar.

Mukhtar sent a message to Abdiaziz in December 2021 asking Abdiaziz when he and Mahad would be brought into the apartment deal.

“When are you going to bring me and Mahad into apartment deal lol,” Mukhtar’s message read.

Mukhtar told prosecutors his message wasn’t serious, and that it wasn’t his business how others were spending money.

Who’s on trial?

The defendants on trial are facing a total of 41 charges, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. They mostly worked for businesses that used Partners in Quality Care as a sponsor.

The defendants are:

• Abdiaziz Farah co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Federal prosecutors allege 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 allegedly pocketed more than $8 million for himself. He is also charged with lying on an application to renew his passport after federal agents seized his passport as part of their investigation.

• Mohamed Jama Ismail co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Mohamed is Abdiziz’s uncle. He is also owner of MZ Market LLC, which prosecutors allege was a shell company used to launder the stolen money. Mohamed allegedly pocketed $2.2 million. He previously pleaded guilty to passport fraud.

• Abdimajid Nur allegedly created a shell company, Nur Consulting, and laundered stolen money from Empire Cuisine and ThinkTechAct, other alleged shell companies. Abdimajid, who was 21 at the time of his indictment, allegedly pocketed $900,000.

• Hayat Nur allegedly submitted fake meal counts and invoices served at food sites. Court documents identify Hayat as Abdimajid’s sister. Hayat allegedly pocketed $30,000.

• Said Farah co-owned Bushra Wholesalers, which allegedly laundered money by claiming to be a food vendor that provided meals to food sites that then reportedly served children. Court documents identify Said as Abdiaziz’s brother. Said allegedly pocketed more than $1 million.

• Abdiwahab Aftin co-owned Bushra Wholesalers, and allegedly pocketed $435,000.

• Mukhtar Shariff served as CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group, and allegedly used the company to launder stolen money. He allegedly pocketed more than $1.3 million.

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