A man who admitted to enriching himself in the “Feeding Our Future” scam was facing up to three years in prison but got a slap on the wrist after agreeing to a plea deal.
Abdul Abubakar Ali claimed to have served up about 1.5 million meals and collected federal funds through the Federal Child Nutrition Program, but prosecutors said he didn’t actually serve any at all.
‘Public trust in government programs has been undermined’ by the scheme.
In Oct. 2022, he agreed to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said he paid $92,500 in restitution so far and provided valuable information to investigators. He also took responsibility for his actions.
Both the defense and prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence of probation, but the judge sentenced Ali to a year and one day in prison on Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Brasel said that his role was too egregious for a probation sentence. She noted that he completely made up the meal count rather than exaggerated them and that he had recruited another person in the scheme.
“Public trust in government programs has been undermined” by the scheme, she added.
More than $3 million was stolen through the scheme, which transferred the money to S & S Catering and laundered the money through Franklyn Transportation, a shell company.
Ali has agreed to turn himself in to federal prison on June 2.
The Trump administration has sent federal investigators to Minnesota in order to probe federal funding fraud, especially from members of the Somali community.
While some have criticized the effort as being animated by racism, others point out that dozens have already been arrested and convicted in the fraud schemes in Minnesota.
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