Feds Secure 48th Conviction in Feeding Our Future Fraud Scandal
Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News) - Federal prosecutors in Minnesota are closing in on 50 convictions stemming from the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.
The Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota today announced that 34-year-old Asad Mohamed Abshir has entered a guilty plea to a money laundering charge.
“This guilty plea is another step in exposing the staggering levels of fraud that have been hiding in plain sight across Minnesota,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “This defendant laundered money meant to feed children and funneled it into a web of shell companies and luxury spending. As FBI Director Kah Patel recently said, this case stands as one of the most egregious abuses of public trust in recent memory. The people of Minnesota deserve better.”
According to court documents, Abshir assisted his brother in operating a nonprofit organization called Stigma Free International that opened a food distribution site in Mankato during the COVID pandemic under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. The charges against him alleged that, in 2020 and 2021, the two brothers fraudulently claimed to have provided 1.6 million meals to children.
Prosecutors say the brothers received more than $800,000 in reimbursements from the federal child nutrition program operated by the Minnesota Department of Education. A news release says the Justice Department was able to seize nearly $425,000 from the bank account for their shell company and other personal property.
Abshir's guilty plea represents the 48th conviction in the massive fraud case.
A sentencing hearing in the case has yet to be scheduled.
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Gallery Credit: T.J. Leverentz
