Brooklyn Park man pleads guilty in Feeding Our Future fraud scheme

A Brooklyn Park man pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

Liban Yasin Alishire, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. As part of his plea deal he must forfeit a boat and trailer, a Ford F150 pickup truck, an apartment in Kenya and the Karibu Palms Resort in Kenya. He also agreed to a $712,084.00 forfeiture money judgment.

Alishire is the fifth defendant to plead guilty in the scheme. To date, federal prosecutors have filed charges against 50 people with alleged connections to Feeding Our Future.

According to court documents, Alishire enrolled two organizations that he helped operate in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Both organizations were sponsored by Feeding Our Future.

He then began submitting fraudulent claims for reimbursement for serving meals to hundreds or thousands of kids per day, court officials said. Alishire also falsified invoices documenting the purchase of food and attendance rosters of children he said received meals.

Read KSTP’s complete Feeding Our Future coverage

One of the organizations claimed to have served 800,000 meals between February and October of 2021, and the second organization claimed to have served 70,000 meals between December 2020 and April 2021. Both only served a fraction of the meals they claimed, prosecutors say.

The two organizations received more than $1 million from Feeding Our Future, which Alishire transferred to himself and others involved.

In total, Alishire claimed $2.4 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, and Feeding Our Future paid $1.7 million of this to Alishire and his co-conspirators.

The case is a result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspections Service.

Alishire’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.