While attending the current trial in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud case yesterday, we received notice from the Office of the United States Attorney that another defendant had bitten the dust. The text of the press release sent out by the United States Attorney follows the conventions that rule the public discussion of such cases by reference to the defendant as “a Minneapolis woman.” Sad to say, the defendant fits the profile of the 70 defendants charged and the facts fit the you have got to be kidding me element that permeates the case. Here is the text of the press release:
A Minneapolis woman has pleaded guilty for her role in the $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
According to court documents, Najmo M. Ahmed, 35, helped her husband Said Ereg run a small storefront grocery store in Minneapolis called Evergreen Grocery and Deli. In April 2020, Ereg enrolled Evergreen Grocery and Deli in the Federal Child Nutrition Program as a food distribution site under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Under the direction of her husband, Ahmed signed falsified meal count sheets, including one dated December 31, 2020, claiming Evergreen Grocery and Deli served 3,250 children – twice a day – during the week of January 24, 2021. Between April 2020 and April 2021, Evergreen Grocery and Deli claimed to have served over 1.4 million meals to children.
According to court documents, Evergreen Grocery and Deli received over $4.2 million in payments from Feeding Our Future based on fraudulent claims. Ereg transferred funds from Evergreen’s business accounts into personal accounts in his name and Ahmed’s name, and Ahmed knew that the large sums of money her husband deposited into her account were proceeds from illegal activity. Ahmed transferred at least $1,147,348 in funding from her personal bank accounts to foreign textile and trading companies such as Shaoxing Aifan Textile Co. She also used the money to fund her lavish lifestyle and made purchases from Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Canada Goose. Ltd. In total, Ahmed laundered $1,381,048 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds through her personal bank accounts.
The press release names the talented team of Assistant United States Attorneys prosecuting these cases: Harry M. Jacobs, Joseph H. Thompson, Matthew S. Ebert, and Daniel W. Bobier are prosecuting the case. Readers will be happy to know that AUSA Craig Baune is separately assigned to handle the seizure and forfeiture of assets in these cases.
Another of the defendants who has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors testified yesterday. She introduced a multicultural component to the cast of Somali defendants. Her name is Hanna Marekegn. She is an Ethiopian, but she is married to a Somali husband.
Working out of her Brava Cafe — a 13-seat coffee shop in the building at 2021 East Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis — Ms. Marekegn signed up with Feeding Our Future and claimed to serve some 4,000 breakfasts and lunches a day. Ms. Marekegn paid a 5 percent kickback to Feeding Our Future’s “Eidleh.”
The rules governing the meal program changed to exclude for-profit companies as “sites.” Ms. Marekegn then signed on as a vendor to nonprofits Shamsia Hopes and House of Refuge. In July 2021 she invoiced Feeding Our Future $3,153,958 for meals provided to House of Refuge.
Feeding Our Future executive director Aimee Bock pushed back. Ms. Marekegn testified that at the second of two meeting with her, Bock agreed to submit the invoice in exchange for $1,500,000 in cash. Ms. Marekegn drew the line at that. She said she could not come up with the money in cash and was terminated from the program.
Bock is white. Ms. Marekegn testified to Bock’s treatment by the Feeding Our Future program participants as a champion of the East African community. She testified that in their view at the time: “Aimee Bock was a god.” She defeated the Minnesota Department of Education in court.
This case exposes some of the seams in the systems that were put in place to accommodate some of the exigencies created by the Covid regime. Aimee Bock found these particular seams and assembled a cast of players who would exploit them without conscience for their personal benefit. Bock was a visionary. She saw that she could add the master key of race to open the door to a gross and massive fraud.
I’M TOO OLD FOR THIS: I forgot to include the best part. Markegan was asked over and over again on direct examination by prosecutor Joe Thompson and on cross by Ken Udoibok why she did it. She wanted the money, she wasn’t thinking straight, she was greedy. Best of all, she wanted “to live the American dream.”
