Man connected to Feeding Our Future investigation charged with passport fraud
Mohamed Ismail[Sherburne County Sheriff's Office]
(KSTP) – A Minnesota man connected to a scheme to launder millions in federal child nutrition funds has been charged after he was caught attempting to leave the country with a fraudulently obtained passport.
Court documents show Mohamed Jama Ismail, 49, of Isanti, is charged with one count of passport fraud. He has not been charged in connection with the investigation into Feeding Our Future.
According to the criminal complaint, Ismail allegedly ran multiple companies in a scheme that collectively misappropriated more than $30 million of Federal Child Nutrition Program funds distributed through the Minnesota Department of Education.
One of those companies, ThinkTechAct Foundation, claimed to MDE in June 2021 that it was serving meals to more than 160,000 children a day at 10 different distribution centers, according to court documents. From February 2021 to January 2022, ThinkTechAct received more than $21 million through the FCNP, which accounted for virtually all of the money the company deposited in its U.S. Bank account, court records show.
Of those funds, $12 million was eventually transferred to Empire Cuisine & Market LLC, which court documents describe as “a small storefront restaurant and market” in a Shakopee strip mall, the complaint says. Ismail and another person co-founded Empire Cusine & Market in April 2020.
A Minnesota man connected to a scheme to launder millions in federal child nutrition funds has been charged after he was caught attempting to leave the country with a fraudulently obtained passport.
Court documents show Mohamed Jama Ismail, 49, of Isanti, is charged with one count of passport fraud. He has not been charged in connection with the investigation into Feeding Our Future.
According to the criminal complaint, Ismail allegedly ran multiple companies in a scheme that collectively misappropriated more than $30 million of Federal Child Nutrition Program funds distributed through the Minnesota Department of Education.
One of those companies, ThinkTechAct Foundation, claimed to MDE in June 2021 that it was serving meals to more than 160,000 children a day at 10 different distribution centers, according to court documents. From February 2021 to January 2022, ThinkTechAct received more than $21 million through the FCNP, which accounted for virtually all of the money the company deposited in its U.S. Bank account, court records show.
Of those funds, $12 million was eventually transferred to Empire Cuisine & Market LLC, which court documents describe as “a small storefront restaurant and market” in a Shakopee strip mall, the complaint says. Ismail and another person co-founded Empire Cusine & Market in April 2020.