Prosecutors charge 10 more in Feeding Our Future fraud case

Federal officials have announced charges against 10 more people in connection to the massive COVID-19-related Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger and federal law enforcement officials announced charges against the new defendants Monday morning.

“These defendants, just like the first 50 announced last fall, falsely claimed to be feeding thousands of children a day,” Luger said during a press conference.

According to Luger, the 10 most recently charged people operated sites in Pelican Rapids, Faribault, Burnsville, Minnetonka, Bloomington, Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Luger announced the first charges in the scheme against nearly four dozen people back in September. Since that time, at least three others have been charged and at least five have pleaded guilty. They face charges ranging from conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.

Click here for KSTP’S complete Feeding Our Future coverage.

Those charged in the latest wave were identified as:

• Kawsar Jama, 41, of Eagan.
• Abdikadir Kadiye, 51, of Minneapolis.
• Abdulkadir Awale, 50, of Bloomington.
• Khadra Abdi, 41, of Minneapolis.
• Ayan Farah Abukar, 41, of Savage.
• Sade Osman Hashi, 45, of Minneapolis.
• Sharon Denise Ross, 52, of Big Lake.
• Mohamed Ali Hussein, 53, of Faribault.
• Lul Bashir Ali, 57, of Faribault.
• Mulata Yusuf Ali, 38, of Minneapolis.

Luger says the last three are expected to plead guilty but all are expected to make court appearances this week. Prosecutors also expect to file more charges in connection to the scheme at a later time.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has been tracking the Feeding Our Future investigation for more than a year.

Authorities say Feeding Our Future’s founder and director, Aimee Bock, oversaw the scheme and recruited people and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites across the state. Those sites then claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children per day to get funding from the program.

Altogether, the attorney’s office says Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites across the state and obtained more than $240 million in federal funding, much of which was use to buy luxury vehicles, property or travel.