New batch of Feeding Our Future indictments brings total defendants up to 70

(KSTP) – Seventy people have now been charged in the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud case after federal prosecutors unsealed two new indictments Monday.

Court documents name nine additional defendants who are accused of taking part in a scheme that siphoned hundreds of millions in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds while conspirators falsely purported to be serving thousands of meals to schoolchildren each day.

In one indictment, two defendants, Said Ereg and Najmo Ahmed are accused of falsely claiming to have served more than 3,000 meals a day at Evergreen Grocery and Deli — a Minneapolis corner store — from April 2020 through April 2021. They submitted reimbursement documentation for more than 1.4 million meals over that time and received $4.2 million in payments through their sponsor, Feeding Our Future.

They also allegedly sent $100,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future as part of the scheme.

Ereg and Ahmed are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

A separate indictment lists seven defendants and alleges one woman, Ikram Yusuf Mohamed, recruited her family members to open meal sites and a phony food distribution company under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future and combined to receive millions in federal funds.

The defendants named in the second indictment face charges of wire fraud, federal program bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit all of these crimes.

This comes after prosecutors unsealed charges last week against Hoda Ali Abdi in connection to the Feeding our Future scandal. Abdi was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

So far 17 of the 70 people charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future case have pleaded guilty to their crimes.