Feeding our Future fraudster sentenced for co-role in fake deli scheme
Feeding Our Future: 2 of the original defendants sentenced
Two of the original defendants in the Feeding Our Future scheme were sentenced in federal court today. FOX 9's Paul Blume caught up with them to ask how they felt about stealing millions of dollars from American taxpayers.
(FOX 9) - A Minneapolis man is headed to prison after pleading guilty to his role in a fraud scheme that stole millions during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a deli as a front to falsely claiming to be serving thousands of meals daily.
Feeding our Future fake deli fraud
What we know:
Ahmed Abdullahi Ghedi, now 37, was sentenced to 65 months, or nearly 5.5 years, in prison on Tuesday.
Sentencing guidelines in his case called for 63 to 78 months, and he will be under supervised release for two years after being released from prison.
Ghedi received a longer sentence than co-conspirator Abdihakim Ali Ahmed due to a criminal history that counts against him.
What they're saying:
"I apologize for my actions," said Ghedi during sentencing on Tuesday. "I apologize to my family. And I apologize to my community."
Prosecutors said Ghedi spent money on food, fast cars, guns, property and a mansion as part of a "lavish lifestyle" all funded by taxpayer money.
Dig deeper:
Court documents show that Ghedi claimed to be operating a child nutrition site in St. Paul from September 2020 through January 2022.
On Sept. 4, 2020, his co-conspirator registered ASA Limited LLC with the Minnesota Secretary of State.
However, four days later, he also applied for ASA Limited to operate a food site under the Federal Children Nutrition Program, sponsored by Feeding Our Future, at the Gurey Deli — a small market in a Maplewood strip mall.
By the numbers:
Within just three weeks of setting up the site, Ghedi and co-conspirators falsely claimed to be serving 2,000 to 3,000 children every day, seven days a week.
During the one-year period from September 2020 to September 2021, ASA Limited fraudulently claimed to have served more than 1.6 million meals, while submitting inflated meal counts, fabricated invoices and fake attendance rosters.
Big picture view:
Rather than use the money to actually feed children, prosecutors say Ghedi created a shell company called AG Limited LLC to hide and disguise where the money came from.
Between December 2020 and November 2021, he deposited more than $2 million in federal child nutrition funds into AG Limited LLC bank accounts, using that money to buy more than $245,000 in vehicles and fund more than $200,000 in credit card spending.
Ghedi also transferred approximately $560,000 in federal child nutrition funds to another shell company he co-owned — Cosmopolitan Business Properties LLC — toward the purchase of a mansion and adjoining property at 2722 and 2742 Park Avenue South in Minneapolis. That property will now be forfeited to federal authorities, along with a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Court documents also show Ghedi paid at least $49,000 in kickbacks to Abdikerm Eidleh, a Feeding Our Future employee, in exchange for sponsoring and helping facilitate ASA Limited's fraudulent participation in the program. Feeding Our Future itself received nearly $400,000 in administrative fees for sponsoring ASA Limited's participation.
In total, Ghedi and his co-conspirators caused a $7.2 million loss to federal child nutrition programs through fraudulent claims submitted through Feeding Our Future as part of a broader $250 million scheme.
The Source: Previous FOX 9 reporting from Feeding our Future fraud sentencings.