Abdihakim Ali Ahmed, a resident of Minneapolis, has admitted guilt to charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a $250 million fraud scheme. This scheme exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, as stated by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that between September 2020 and January 2022, Ahmed falsely claimed to operate a child nutrition site in St. Paul, Minnesota. On September 4, 2020, he registered ASA Limited LLC with the Minnesota Secretary of State and shortly thereafter applied for it to run a food site under the Federal Children Nutrition Program at Gurey Deli in St. Paul. The application was submitted alongside Aimee Bock, executive director of Feeding Our Future. Within three weeks, Ahmed and his associates deceitfully reported serving meals to thousands of children daily.
Ahmed fabricated attendance rosters listing approximately 2,000 children supposedly attending an after-school program from September to December 2021. These lists were falsified using spreadsheets that randomly assigned ages between seven and seventeen.
The misappropriated funds were not used for feeding children but were instead transferred among Ahmed and his co-conspirators. Funds were moved to shell companies like 1130 Holdings Inc., and Five A’s Projects LLC received over $1 million from the program's funds. Fraudulent proceeds were used to purchase property and vehicles which are now subject to forfeiture.
Additionally, Ahmed paid more than $49,000 in bribes to Abdikerm Eidleh from Feeding Our Future for facilitating ASA Limited's fraudulent participation in the program. Feeding Our Future collected nearly $400,000 in administrative fees through this scheme.
Overall, the fraudulent activities resulted in a loss of $7.3 million to Federal Child Nutrition Programs via claims made through Feeding Our Future.
"I am proud of the unrelenting efforts of our prosecution team," said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick regarding holding those involved accountable for exploiting state and federal programs.
Ahmed entered his guilty plea before Judge Nancy E. Brasel in U.S District Court; sentencing will be scheduled later.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigation, and the U.S Postal Inspection Service with prosecution led by Assistant U.S Attorneys Joseph H Thompson, Matthew S Ebert, Harry M Jacobs, Daniel W Bobier; asset seizure handled by Assistant U.S Attorney Craig Baune.