A jury of nine men and nine women were sworn in Thursday for the first Feeding Our Future trial, where several defendants are accused of stealing $40 million from the federal government that was earmarked to feed underserved children.
The jury of 18, six of them alternates, were selected over the last four days after answering questions about religion and their knowledge of the case. A few prospective jurors were dismissed after admitting religious and cultural bias.
Opening statements are expected to begin Monday, April 29, and could be lengthy, given the number of defendants—seven—who will be tried in the joint trial. The prosecution and each defense team will give opening statements that summarizes their stance on their cases.
It’s unclear if testimony will begin that same day or Tuesday.
The jurors appear to be mostly white, with one person of color, a woman. Seventeen jurors are from the Twin Cities seven-county metro area; one lives in Faribault.
About half of the jurors said they had heard about the Feeding Our Future case. The group ranges in age from the early 20s to the early 70s.
The U.S. District Court summoned roughly 1,000 potential jurors for the high-profile case, which made national headlines in 2022 when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced indictments against dozens of defendants for allegedly stealing $250 million from the federal government that was earmarked to feed underserved children.
Forty-six prospective jurors were initially selected and then whittled down to the final group; defense attorneys were allotted 16 strikes to remove prospective jurors they disliked, and prosecution were given 10 strikes to eliminate others.
The seven defendants on trial are collectively charged with 41 crimes that include wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering. Most of them are affiliated with Empire Cuisine and Market, a now-defunct Shakopee grocery store and deli.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.
A total of 70 people have been indicted in the case for allegedly stealing a total of $250 million from the federal government that was earmarked to feed underserved children. Eighteen have pleaded guilty, and are awaiting sentencing.
Each potential juror was handed a five-page questionnaire, which they answered verbally in front of the prosecution, the defendants, defense lawyers, and U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, who is presiding over the trial.
Brasel asked prospective jurors if they had heard about the Feeding Our Future case, how they felt about Islam and Muslims, and if they had ever interacted with East African people and what their feelings were about the community, among other questions.
Roughly half of the potential jurors questioned recalled seeing, hearing, or reading about Feeding Our Future in the news. Some who worked in food service or who volunteered for food charities said they were too biased to serve on the jury. Brasel excused them.
One potential juror who was excused, a cafeteria worker at an elementary school in the metro, said the defendants should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. But she also said she struggled with the case because of her job and what she had read in the news.
“It seems like some fraud has occurred,” said the woman, who is in her late 50s.
“And why do you say that?” Brasel asked.
“I guess, the magnitude of it,” she answered.
Another woman in her 50s said she had heard about the case in the news, and discussed it once with friends in her running group. She said she didn’t presume that the seven defendants were guilty, but at the same time, she thought that someone in the Feeding Our Future case had to be guilty.
“From my job, I know there’s a very good paper trail,” she said, referring to electronic financial documents. “No matter what you do, there’s an electronic chart and a trail. That’s just the way of our world, in terms of tracking. “
Brasel excused her.
A few potential jurors expressed bias against Islam. One woman, who described herself as Christian, called Islam a “false religion,” but said she wouldn’t hold that against Muslims. Another woman, who said she was originally from Trinidad, said she harbored negative feelings about the religion because of an attempted coup attempt in her home country by Muslim extremists in 1990. Brasel excused both of them.
The vast majority of potential jurors were white and from the Twin Cities metro area. Jurors were asked if they belonged to a mosque or church, and whether their religious or philosophical beliefs would prevent them from serving fairly on the jury. Most said they either belonged to a Christian church or did not practice religion. Nearly all said they could serve fairly.
The alleged fraud involved the Minnesota Department of Education distributing federal funds earmarked to feed underserved children to sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future. The sponsor organizations then dispersed those funds to food vendors and food sites, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children.
Several organizations in the money chain reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did—or simply never served any meals at all—in order to receive more federal money, according to prosecutors. Those funds were then allegedly passed through various shell companies before being pocketed by the perpetrators, who used the money to buy cars, property, and other items.
The seven defendants on trial allegedly used the money for personal purchases like luxury cars and property.
The defendants are:
- Abdiaziz Farah co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Federal prosecutors allege that the Shakopee-based deli and grocery store posed as a meals provider for several food sites, and defrauded the government out of $28 million.
- Mohamed Jama Ismail co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market. Mohamed is Abdiziz’s uncle. He is also owner of MZ Market LLC, which prosecutors allege was a shell company used to launder the stolen money.
- Abdimajid Nur allegedly created a shell company, Nur Consulting, and laundered stolen money from Empire Cuisine and ThinkTechAct, other alleged shell companies.
- Hayat Nur allegedly submitted fake meal counts and invoices purporting to document meals served at food sites. Court documents identify Hayat as Abdimajid’s sister.
- Said Farah co-owned Bushra Wholesalers, which allegedly laundered money by claiming to be a food vendor that provided meals to food sites that then reportedly served meals. Court documents identify Said as Abdiaziz’s brother.
- Abdiwahab Aftin co-owned Bushra Wholesalers.
- Mukhtar Shariff served as CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group, and allegedly used the company to launder stolen money.
Until late last week, Mahad Ibrahim was also listed as a defendant in this trial. But he submitted a request Thursday for severance from the trial because his defense attorneys, Bill Mauzy and Will Dooling, are “indisputably and absolutely unavailable for trial,” according to court records. The reasons they are not available are sealed.
Brasel granted the severance, and Mahad will be tried at a later date.
Staff writer Katrina Pross contributed to this report.
