Man charged in Feeding Our Future fraud scheme enters guilty plea
A 37-year-old man who was charged in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme pleaded guilty on Wednesday.
Sharmake Jama entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
This news comes as the federal court prepares to hold a separate jury trial for Aimee Bock and Salim Said next week. Abdulkadir Nur Salah and Abdi Nur Salah were initially scheduled to be included in next week’s trial as well but entered last-minute guilty pleas on Tuesday.
According to court officials, Jama and Bock applied for Jama’s restaurant “Brava Restaurant” to be enrolled in the federal child nutrition program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. He was reportedly instructed to do so by Said, the co-owner of Safari Restaurant — another business involved in the scheme.
From late 2020-2021, Jama and co-conspirators claimed Brava Restaurant was serving thousands of daily breakfasts and lunches to children. They reportedly used fake attendance rosters of children who were receiving the meals and even used fake names.
He claimed that Brava Restaurant served over 1.7 million meals in Rochester, resulting in Feeding Our Future paying him $5.3 million in fraudulent federal child nutrition program reimbursements.
Court officials say Jama and his co-conspirators created shell companies to receive and disperse funds from the federal child nutrition program. Said is accused of paying to register six shell companies for Jama and others.
Jama reportedly deposited over $872,000 in misappropriated funds into his Mumu LLC bank account.
He used at least $88,000 to buy a 2021 GMC Sierra and over $500,000 in real estate in Rochester and Rosemount.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS will be attending Said and Bock’s jury trial next week. Be sure to check our website for updates.
You can find our full coverage of the Feeding Our Future scheme here.