Abdihakim Ali Ahmed, 40, of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering for his role in a massive $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to court documents, Ahmed falsely claimed to operate a child nutrition site in St. Paul, Minnesota, through his company ASA Limited LLC. He registered the company in September 2020 and, just weeks later, applied to participate in the Federal Children Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, with the assistance of the organization’s executive director, Aimee Bock.
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Within three weeks, Ahmed and his co-conspirators began submitting fraudulent claims, stating they were serving 2,000 to 3,000 children meals daily. From September 2020 to September 2021, they claimed to have served over 1.6 million meals at the ASA Limited site.
To support their fraudulent claims, Ahmed submitted fabricated attendance rosters with fake names and ages of children purportedly attending an “after-school program.” The age column in these rosters contained a formula that randomly generated ages between 7 and 17.
Rather than using the fraudulently obtained funds to feed children, Ahmed and his co-conspirators misappropriated the money. They transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to themselves and shell companies, including 1130 Holdings Inc. and Five A’s Projects LLC. Over $1 million in program funds were moved into Five A’s Projects LLC.
Ahmed used the stolen funds to purchase a bar and restaurant in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and a 2022 Mini Cooper, both of which will be forfeited to the United States. He also paid over $49,000 in bribes and kickbacks to Abdikerm Eidleh, a Feeding Our Future employee, in exchange for facilitating ASA Limited’s participation in the program. Feeding Our Future received nearly $400,000 in administrative fees for sponsoring ASA Limited.
In total, Ahmed and his co-conspirators caused a loss of $7.3 million to the Federal Child Nutrition Programs.
“I am proud of the unrelenting efforts of our prosecution team to hold the defendants—who engaged in a massive pay-to-play fraud scheme that exploited Minnesota and the Federal Child Nutrition Program—accountable,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Ahmed pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy E. Brasel and will be sentenced at a later date. The FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation.
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