Five defendants convicted, two acquitted in Feeding Our Future fraud trial

After more than five weeks of testimony in a massive fraud case, jurors delivered mixed verdicts in the Feeding Our Future trial, handing prosecutors victories and defeats.

Jurors convicted five defendants of several counts, and also acquitted each of them of at least one count. Jurors acquitted two defendants of all counts filed against them. Ultimately, jurors rejected 21 of 64 charges filed against the defendants, who were tried jointly, after deliberating for about three-and-a-half days.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson declared victory at a brief news conference, saying the prosecution was “pleased with the verdict” and “proud of the trial.”

“The verdict confirms what we’ve known all along, which is that defendants falsified documents. They lied. They fraudulently claimed to be feeding millions of meals to the children in Minnesota during COVID,” he said.

Jurors convicted Abdiaziz Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Nur, Hayat Nur and Mukhtar Shariff. They will be sentenced at a later date. Jurors acquitted Abdiwahab Aftin and Said Farah.

The jury of six women and six men began deliberating Tuesday, and delivered their verdicts about 1 p.m. Friday.

The defendants were charged with a total of 41 criminal counts, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. They were collectively accused of stealing a total of about $40 million from a federal program designated to feed underserved children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are the first of 70 defendants to be tried in court in a case that involves the alleged theft of $250 million from federal child nutrition programs. Eighteen defendants have pleaded guilty in the case and are awaiting sentencing.

The defendants Friday remained largely unemotional as U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz read the verdicts. Abdaiziz, who was found guilty of 23 crimes, kept his head down throughout the hearing. Said and Abdiwahab did not react when they were acquitted.

Mukhtar’s head slumped slightly down as the judge read the first guilty verdict against him. Hayat wiped away tears with a tissue as the judge read her guilty verdicts.

The defendants’ family members and friends who attended the hearing also kept their emotions to themselves, and declined to speak with reporters afterwards. Some stared out windows overlooking downtown Minneapolis after hearing the verdicts.

“Honestly, the jury did a remarkable job,” Andrew Garvis, an attorney for Abdiwahab, said after court recessed. “I’m glad they heard all the evidence and considered it.”

Steve Schleicher, an attorney for Said, said his client was grateful for the acquittal and glad to “put this behind him.” Schleicher emphasized that Said was just a person who sold groceries.

“There was just no evidence that there was any knowledge of any kind of conspiracy, or that he believed that there was a conspiracy, and without that element, the charges just can’t stand,” Schleicher said.

Thompson declined to comment on the two acquittals. He also declined to comment on a reported attempt to bribe a juror Sunday night before deliberations began. The juror was dismissed Monday after reporting that a woman left a bag containing $120,000 in cash at her home in exchange for acquitting the defendants.

“We will investigate and prosecute that attack on our criminal justice system with all of our resources,” Thompson said of the alleged bribe.

A second juror was dismissed Tuesday after telling the court that they had learned of the alleged bribe when they called a family member before deliberations began.

How two attorneys pushed back

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.

Several organizations reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did — or simply never served any meals at all — in order to receive more federal funds, prosecutors say. Recipients allegedly spent the money on cars, property, vacations and other items.

The prosecution called 33 witnesses, including bankers, forensic accountants and FBI and IRS agents who meticulously walked the jury through more than 1,000 documents that showed fraudulent transactions.

Witnesses said that several defendants in the case submitted documents for the number of children they reportedly served, and used fake names such as “Britishy Melony,” “Getsaname Hester” and “Serious Problem.” Several people testified that they saw little-to-no food being served at several food sites, and that the number of meals the defendants reported serving was impossible because there were not enough people in the area to meet that demand.

Prosecutors tried the seven defendants together and argued that they all had a connection with Empire Cuisine & Market in Shakopee.

Said and Abdiwahab were co-owners of Bushra Wholesalers, a grocery wholesaler in Minneapolis that prosecutors alleged was a shell company created for laundering money. Schleicher repeatedly emphasized at trial that Busrha was not a shell company. FBI agents never bothered to look at Bushra’s invoices or visit or surveil its location, Schleicher argued. Had they done so, he said at trial, they would have found that the company had food.

While cross-examining an FBI agent at trial, Schleicher displayed a page to the jury with a list of 10 food sites and businesses associated with his client. One by one, Schleicher asked the agent whether he visited each site, and every time the agent said no, Schleicher crossed the address off with a black marker. Schleicher saved Said’s home address for last, showing that it was the only address linked to his client that agents visited.

Schleicher also showed the jury photos of food at Bushra Wholesalers and got an FBI forensic accountant to acknowledge that Bushra didn’t fit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s definition of a shell company.

Garvis pointed out inconsistencies in signatures attributed to his client, Abdiwahab Aftin, in documents presented by the prosecution. Garvis asked an FBI agent at trial about a document attributed to his client that displayed the number of children his site reported serving.

“So you don’t know if he signed it for sure because you weren’t physically there?” Garvis asked FBI Special Agent Jared Kary.

“No,” Kary responded.

Impact on future trials

It will be more difficult to seat impartial juries for future trials in the case due to the high publicity the trial received, particularly after the jury tampering allegation, said Joseph Daly, professor emeritus at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

“I would guess that many, or most people around here, have heard about the attempted bribe,” Daly said. “It’s so unusual.”

Daly said judges presiding over future trials will have to be careful when questioning prospective jurors.

But he said many people don’t read the news or keep up to date on current events. The majority of jurors in this trial had not heard much about the case before they were seated on the jury. Some had read news coverage of the alleged fraud, but hadn’t formed an opinion about it.

David Schultz, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and political science at Hamline University, said judges in future trials could consider sequestering jurors from at the start trials, not just during deliberations. But, he said, such a move would be drastic and rare.

Sequestration typically involves housing jurors in hotels overnight and preventing them from going home. It can also include limiting or prohibiting use of phones, the internet and media, and cutting off contact with friends and family members. Jurors in the current trial were sequestered for their deliberations after the alleged jury tampering.

“The judge going forward has, I think, some difficult choices to make regarding how to proceed in the next ones,” Schultz said of future trials.

Daly said defendants who go to trial in the future also now have an advantage, having seen how the prosecution tried the case and the evidence they put forward. But Daly said the prosecution can also reflect on its case, and make changes based on how the jury responded.

Schultz said he was surprised that the defendants weren’t all found guilty, and that he expected it to be a “clean sweep.”

“I think the feds had an incredible amount of evidence on this one,” he said.

Schultz was also surprised that the trial wasn’t declared a mistrial due to the alleged jury tampering. Defendants will likely use the alleged bribery to appeal their conviction, arguing that they did not receive a fair trial in light of the allegations, he said.

Who was convicted?

Abdiaziz Farah co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Federal 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 is also charged with lying on an application to renew his passport after federal agents seized his passport as part of their investigation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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