Five individuals charged in the Feeding Our Future fraud case have pleaded guilty to wire fraud. They stole $14.6 million from federal child nutrition funds intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pleas came ahead of a trial scheduled for next month.
Five defendants linked to the Feeding Our Future scheme entered guilty pleas to one count of wire fraud this week, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. These individuals were part of a group of seven originally set for trial next month. One defendant will proceed to trial, while another has a change of plea hearing scheduled next week. All five are currently released on bond and face up to 20 years in prison, with sentencing to occur later. They are Shakur Abdinur Abdisalam, 46; Aisha Hassan Hussein, 29; Sahra Sharif Osman, 43; and Fadumo Mohamed Yusuf, 59. The group was connected to 42-year-old Ikram Yusuf Mohamed, who allegedly opened multiple food distribution sites in the Twin Cities under Feeding Our Future sponsorship, using family members' names. The defendants claimed to serve hundreds of thousands of meals to children at these sites but instead inflated invoices, received kickbacks, and diverted funds. Each associated company received over $1 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program money. Prosecutors state that some funds supported personal expenses such as rent, furniture, vacations, dining out, and frequent DoorDash orders rather than child meals. The U.S. Attorney's office describes the broader Feeding Our Future case as the largest pandemic-related fraud in the country, with 63 convictions so far.
