GUILTY: Jury convicts fraudster in $1 million Feeding our Future fraud scheme

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A federal jury found Muna Wais Fidhin guilty on all counts Wednesday in her nearly three-week federal fraud trial, marking the latest conviction in the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

Unanimous verdict

What we know:

Fidhin, of Savage, was found guilty Wednesday afternoon on nine charges, including wire fraud, federal programs bribery and money laundering. The jury deliberated for less than three hours in reaching its unanimous verdict.

Prosecutors proved that Fidhin enrolled two businesses, M5 Café and M5 Care, in the Federal Child Nutrition Program, fraudulently inflating her numbers to claim more than 300,000 meals served. 

In total, Fidhin billed the government for approximately $1 million while paying some $27,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future insider to keep the fraud flowing. 

'That is a lie'

Dig deeper:

During closing arguments Wednesday morning, defense attorney Steve Schleicher presented Fidhin as a hardworking Somali immigrant and mother who was swept up in a chaotic program during the height of the pandemic.

He told the court, "She is a person, not a fraud," arguing that Fidhin acted in good faith but "trusted the wrong people" at the Feeding Our Future nonprofit, blaming the fraud on "professional liars."

In a sharp rebuttal, federal prosecutor Austin Bowyer urged the jury to use their common sense when scrutinizing fake rosters of children, fabricated invoices, and inflated meal reimbursement submissions.

"You do not act in good faith with grossly inaccurate meal claims," Bowyer told the jury. "That is not an accident, that is a lie."

Electronic home monitoring instead of detention

What's next:

Following the verdict, federal prosecutor Rebecca Kline immediately argued that Fidhin should be detained pending her sentencing.

Kline cited significant overseas ties, noting Fidhin's husband resides in Somaliland and that Fidhin had transferred her home to her daughter in 2023. The prosecution also expressed concerns over potential witness tampering.

Schleicher firmly pushed back, arguing that his client has been on pretrial release for over a year without a single issue. He emphasized that Fidhin is a single mother caring for three children at home, lacks a passport, and has such limited financial resources that she recently had to take out a consumer loan to purchase a vacuum cleaner.

Judge Brasel ultimately rejected the government's motion for detention, stating that this was not a mandatory detention case.

Citing her clean record while on release and ties to her three young children, the judge ordered Fidhin to be placed on electronic home monitoring until her sentencing, with strict orders to have no contact with several witnesses in related cases.

A formal sentencing date was not set.