MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Two people who pleaded guilty to their roles in separate Feeding our Future cases were sentenced this past week in federal court.
Sharmake Jama sentenced
The backstory:
Federal prosecutors announced charges against Sharmake Jama among the first batch of indictments in the Feeding our Future case in September 2022.
Jama was the owner of Brava Restaurant in Rochester, Minn. and was accused of pocketing $4.3 million in fraudulent funds through the federal child nutrition program.
Prosecutors say Jama used the ill-gotten money to buy a late-model Denali and spent $500,000 on real estate in the Rochester area.
Jama was charged with wire fraud, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering. He ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in January 2025.
What we know:
On Thursday, Jama was sentenced to serve 16 months in prison for his role in the scheme.
He was also ordered to pay back $5.3 million in restitution.
Filsan Mumin Hassan sentenced
The backstory:
Filsan Mumin Hassan of Brooklyn Park indictment in the Feeding our Future case was also announced in September 2022.
She was accused of running a meal site called Youth for Higher Educational Achievement where she claimed to serve up to 4,300 meals each day. In 2023, she pleaded guilty in the case to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
What we know:
On Thursday, Hassan was also sentenced to more than three years behind bars in the case. She was also ordered to pay $376,000 in restitution.
Repeated delays
Dig deeper:
Hassan pleaded guilty in December 2023, but her sentencing was delayed multiple times over the course of more than a year. It appears the delays were driven in part by Hassan violating her pretrial release agreement five times, including two violations for failed drug tests.
According to court records, in June 2025, Hassan's urine tested positive for cocaine. The following month, Hassan again failed urine test, with results coming back positive for amphetamine, bupropion, benzodiazepine, MDMA, and methamphetamine.
Then, just last month, weeks before her sentencing, court records show Hassan had another failed drug test for methamphetamine.
Local perspective:
Hassan's case was also impacted by the turmoil within the U.S. Attorney's Office during the ICE surge in Minnesota.
The court docket shows four prosecutors assigned to the case – Joe Thompson, Melinda Williams, Harry Jacobs, and Daniel Bobier – all suddenly departed the case in late January amid an exodus of prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota.