Defense attorneys in Feeding Our Future trial press state official about discrimination claims

Defense attorneys in the Feeding Our Future trial suggested that Minnesota officials reported alleged fraud to the FBI because a lawsuit accused state officials of discriminating against East African business owners.

The lawsuit, filed by Feeding Our Future in the fall of 2020, accused Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) officials of racism against its contractors and vendors, who were mostly Somali immigrants. The suit was filed after MDE slowed its processing of applications from people who wanted to open food sites that were supposed to feed underserved children.

The education department reported alleged fraud to the FBI in the spring of 2021, raising questions about whether people were inventing or inflating the number of children they reportedly fed in order to receive reimbursement from the federal government’s Child Nutrition Program.

“You took offense to being called racist?” defense attorney Frederick Goetz asked Emily Honer with the Minnesota Department of Education Tuesday. “I would.”

“Although I did not feel good about it, I felt confident I was not,” testified Honer, who is the education department’s director of Nutrition Program Services.

Honer testified for three days in the first Feeding Our Future trial, which began last week with jury selection and resumed Monday with opening statements and testimony. Defense attorneys cross-examined Honer Tuesday and Wednesday.

Seven defendants are being tried jointly for allegedly stealing about $40 million from the federal government that was earmarked to feed needy children. They face a total of 41 criminal charges, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.

The case is part of a much larger investigation into the alleged theft of $250 million in federal food-aid funds by suspects mostly from Minnesota. A total of 70 defendants are charged in the case; 18 have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Honer testified that she suspected fraud in April 2020, and eventually reported Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care to the FBI for alleged fraud. The two nonprofits served as sponsor organizations, which received federal food-aid funds through MDE and then distributed that money to food vendors and sites. The vendors and sites were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals.

Goetz also asked Honer Tuesday if she recalled telling FBI agents that she felt upset that the lawsuit accused her and her colleagues of racism. She responded that she did not.

Goetz, who is representing Mukhtar Shariff, further homed in on whether Honer recalled telling prosecutors and FBI agents earlier this month that she felt disrespected by the lawsuit’s allegations of racism.

Honer again said she didn’t recall speaking about the issue, but added that if transcripts of her trial preparation interview with prosecutors and the FBI reflected those statements, they were probably accurate.

Goetz also implied that Honer told FBI agents that her superiors at MDE told her to ease off her concerns because they were facing a lawsuit.

“Did your bosses ever tell you to stop what you were doing?” Goetz asked Tuesday.

“I do not recall that,” Honer said.

“ Do you remember telling them upper management told you to stop looking into these things because of concern over a lawsuit?” Goetz asked.

“No, I do not remember that,” Honer said.

Attorney Patrick Cotter, who is defending Mohamed Jama Ismail, asked Honer similar questions on Wednesday.

“It was in some ways personal to you, because they were making allegations about you and your staff?” Cotter said of the Feeding Our Future lawsuit.

“I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that,” Honer said. “I wouldn’t say that I took it personally.”

During opening statements, Goetz argued that MDE’s decisionmaking about the food program during the pandemic was “awash with conflict and confusion,” and a lack of communication with the food sites and food vendors. He put the blame on MDE and the sponsors.

Honer said she became concerned about possible fraud in April 2020 when Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care started registering new restaurants as food sites during the COVID-19 pandemic when established restaurants were closing. A new establishment that concerned her was Empire Cuisine and Market, which operated as a food site and reported serving meals to 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 money, according to prosecutors. Those funds were then allegedly passed through various shell companies before being pocketed by the perpetrators, who used the money to buy cars, property, and other items.

Honer testified that in the summer of 2020, she reported her concerns to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where the food-aid money originated, and to Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care. She testified that the USDA told her that restaurants should not serve as food sites, prompting Partners in Quality Care to prohibit Empire from serving as a food site. Instead, Empire became a vendor that provided food to several food sites, eventually serving 30 sites.

Feeding Our Future’s former executive director, Aimee Bock, and one of its employees are charged in the case. No employees from Partners in Quality Care have been charged.

Honer wrapped up her testimony Wednesday. FBI special agent Jared Kary took the witness stand in the afternoon and testified about records showing how the number of meals reportedly served at food sites increased exponentially during the pandemic.

Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday with Kary returning to the witness stand.

The defendants on trial 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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