A Rochester man, Sharmake Jama, has pleaded guilty in connection with a $250 million fraud scheme that targeted a federal child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick announced the plea.
Court documents reveal that from October 2020 to January 2022, Jama was involved in defrauding the program designed to provide free meals to children. Instead of using funds for their intended purpose, defendants misappropriated millions of dollars for personal gain.
In September 2020, Jama and Aimee Bock applied to enroll Jama's Brava Restaurant in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under Bock’s non-profit organization, Feeding Our Future. The application was prepared with guidance from Salim Said, co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, another business implicated in the scheme.
From late 2020 through 2021, false claims were made by Jama and his conspirators stating Brava Restaurant served thousands of meals daily to children. These fraudulent claims led to substantial payouts from federal funds based on fake attendance rosters listing nonexistent or inaccurately counted children.
Jama's plea agreement reveals he falsely claimed over 1.7 million meals served within a year, leading to more than $5.3 million being reimbursed by Feeding Our Future for these supposed services. Of this amount, Brava Restaurant received $4.3 million directly while an additional $900,000 came from Safari Restaurant.
The fraud involved creating shell companies for laundering misappropriated funds; six such companies were registered by Salim Said for this purpose. Jama deposited at least $872,230 into accounts associated with one such company, Mumu LLC.
Funds were used for personal purchases including a luxury vehicle and real estate investments rather than feeding children as intended by the program.
Jama entered his guilty plea before Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz on charges of wire fraud and money laundering; sentencing is pending.
The investigation was conducted by multiple agencies including the FBI and IRS – Criminal Investigations with prosecution led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs alongside asset forfeiture handled by Assistant U.S Attorney Craig Baune.