An Eagan woman pleaded guilty Monday in the Feeding Our Future case, admitting that she stole $1.3 million and spent it on personal expenses like a Tesla and new house.
Kawsar Jama, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, making her the 22nd defendant to admit fault in the sprawling fraud case. Federal prosecutors charged 70 defendants in the case with stealing a total of $250 million.
Wearing a camouflage head scarf and a floral-patterned dress, Kawsar listened intently to a Somali language interpreter before answering yes or no to questions from U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert.
At one point, Ebert asked Kawsar if she agreed that she spent federal money meant to feed underprivileged children on items for herself.
“Yes, but I didn’t know what I was doing,” Kawsar responded through the interpreter.
Brasel later clarified with Kawsar whether she knew she was committing fraud with her actions.
“Yes,” Kawsar said.
As part of her plea, Kawsar and federal prosecutors agreed to a recommended prison term between about three to three-and-a-half years. Kawsar also agreed to pay just over $1.3 million in restitution — the amount she admitted to personally profiting from in the scheme.
According to the charges against her, Kawsar operated four food sites that grossly exaggerated the numbers of children they each claimed to feed. Among them was a food site in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, that claimed to serve 2,560 children every day — more than the city’s total population of 2,500 people.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger highlighted the Pelican Rapids food site when he announced in March 2023 that Kawsar and nine others were being charged in the fraud case.
“In case you haven’t done the math, that means she claimed to be feeding everybody who lived in Pelican Rapids every day, whether they were children or not, whether they were needy or not,” Luger said at the time.
Federal prosecutors charged Kawsar with five counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering. The wire fraud count she pleaded guilty to involved her sending an email that faked the number of meals she served in order to receive more money.
The fraud involved federal money the Minnesota Department of Education distributed to food sites that were supposed to feed underserved children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department gave the money to sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care, which distributed it further to food vendors and sites.
Some organizations along the chain allegedly reported serving more meals than they actually did in order to receive more federal money. Some never served any meals at all despite claiming that they had.
Kawsar was principal of Gedo Community Services and Ahlan Childcare Center, Inc., and enrolled both in the federal child nutrition programs through Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care from September 2020 through February 2022. During that time period, she claimed to serve 1.46 million meals to underserved children across three food sites located in Pelican Rapids, Minneapolis and Burnsville.
She collected $1.3 million from the federal government and spent much of it on lavish items like a Tesla Model X, Infiniti QX56 SUV and a home in Eagan, according to court documents. Kawsar agreed to forfeit the Tesla and house.
Kawsar used Haji’s Kitchen LLC as a food vendor for her food sites. Haji Salad, who was charged in the case and pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this month, ran Haji’s Kitchen.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert asked Haji at his September 19 plea hearing whether Kawsar “fraudulently operated a food site.”
“Yes,” Haji answered.
Haji also admitted to submitting fraudulent food invoices to Kawsar.
Kawsar is one of nine defendants who were originally charged under one indictment, and who were initially scheduled to go to trial together in November. She is the seventh defendant in the indictment to plead guilty. Another defendant is currently a fugitive in another country.
That leaves just one of the nine defendants, Farhiya Mohamud, left to face trial scheduled to start November 5.
Of the 70 defendants charged in the case, 22 have pleaded guilty and five were convicted at trial this past spring. Two others were acquitted at the same trial.
