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First guilty verdicts in Feeding our Future trial
Five out of seven people tried in federal court have been found guilty on multiple counts related to the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal on Friday. More accused conspirators are set to stand trial in the future.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Prosecutors in the Feeding Our Future fraud case in Minnesota are urging a judge to hand down a stiff sentence for one of the defendants who they say wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to China. They warn he will leave prison as "a wealthy man."
What do we know?
The defendant, Mohamed Jama Ismail, was one of five people convicted at trial in June. Ismail was convicted on three of four counts in the trial that was disrupted when
Ismail ran Empire Cuisine and Market, which acted as a vendor for Feeding Our Future, accepting money to serve meals for children during the pandemic under the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Prosecutors said Ismail enrolled in the federal program in the early days of the pandemic, April 2020, and lied about serving thousands of meals to children and instead pocketed the proceeds.
Ismail and other defendants were accused of misappropriating and laundering more than $40 million. Even after the fraud was uncovered by the state in 2020, prosecutors say Ismail and co-owner Abdiaziz Farah kept submitting false claims under the guise of new non-profit entities.
What's new?
In a court filing ahead of Ismail's sentencing, prosecutors are urging the judge to hand down a stiff sentence for Ismail.
They claim Ismail pocketed $2 million himself in the scheme and wired nearly $200,000 to China – money prosecutors have been unable to seize. Ismail also owns property in Kenya and Somalia worth $200,000 that the government cannot seize.
"In other words, Ismail will leave prison a wealthy man," prosecutors warn.
Prosecutors also point out that Ismail attempted to flee the country after learning he was under federal investigation.
"In short, there is every indication that Ismail intended to flee beyond the reach of law enforcement to live out his days on the millions he stole from the American taxpayers," prosecutors added.
What do they want?
Prosecutors are asking the court to hand down the maximum sentence allowed by the guidelines: 12.5 years behind bars.
"The Court must send the message that fraud schemes like this are not worth it," concludes prosecutors.