New details emerged Tuesday about a Minneapolis City Council member’s role in selling a nonprofit that later ended up allegedly stealing millions of dollars from the federal government.
The revelations came on the fifth day of testimony in the trial of Feeding Our Future’s former executive director, Aimee Bock, and centers around the nonprofit, Stigma-Free International. Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman incorporated Stigma-Free in August 2019, seven months before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Bock is on trial for allegedly using Feeding Our Future to enroll other businesses, including Stigma-Free, in a federal food-aid program that netted 70 defendants an estimated $250 million in federal funds.
IRS documents show that Jamal created Stigma-Free to “combat the stigma around mental illness or mental health issues,” U.S. Postal Service Inspector John Western testified Tuesday morning.
But in the year that Jamal Osman served as president of the company, its only bank activity consisted of an initial $100 deposit and a monthly service fee of $5. It hired no employees in that time and conducted no operations, Western testified. Its headquarters was listed as Jamal Osman’s personal apartment.
“It appeared to operate as a shell company,” Western testified.
Western’s depiction contradicts how Jamal portrayed Stigma-Free when Sahan Journal first reported his connection to it in 2022. He transferred it to new owners in October 2020.
“I am a certified mental health response trainer, and Stigma-Free International was the business I used when delivering trainings to businesses about crisis mental health response,” Jamal Osman told Sahan Journal in January 2022. “I am incredibly proud of the work I did with Stigma-Free International.”
Jamal Osman did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday. He is not charged in the Feeding Our Future case.
Prosecutors have not alleged that Jamal Osman received any money for the transfer of his nonprofit. He previously emphasized that Stigma-Free never associated with or received money from Feeding Our Future when he ran it.
Jamal Osman was elected to the City Council in 2020, a year after he incorporated Stigma-Free. Several weeks after his election, Abdi Salah facilitated another group’s acquisition of Stigma-Free, according to documents and correspondence presented at trial Tuesday.
Abdi Salah worked as a senior policy advisor for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at the time. Abdi Salah acquired Stigma-Free and transferred it to co-defendants in the case. Abdi Salah pleaded guilty in January to wire fraud in the case.
The fraud involved the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) distributing funds from the federal child nutrition program to sponsor organizations Feeding Our Future. The money was distributed further to food vendors and food sites like Stigma-Free that were supposed to serve ready-to-eat meals to children during the pandemic.
Some organizations allegedly reported serving more meals than they actually did in order to receive more federal money. Some never served any meals at all, prosecutors have said.
The acquisition of Stigma-Free came at a suspicious time, Western testified. In September 2020, MDE issued new guidance barring for-profit restaurants from participating in the program. Only nonprofits could run food sites, MDE stated. The change came after MDE grew suspicious of the ballooning growth of businesses enrolling in the program.
“All of a sudden, people started acquiring nonprofits and opening these companies,” Western said of how several businesses reacted to MDE’s changes.
According to Western’s testimony: Jamal Osman emailed Abdi Salah several incorporation and financial documents for Stigma-Free in an email dated Oct. 7, 2020. Abdi Salah then used the documents to change Stigma-Free’s board of directors, assign a new chairman, assign a new bank account and transfer ownership.
Abdi Salah sent an email that same day to an attorney and his brother, Abdulkadir Salah, who also pleaded guilty last month to his role in the fraud.
“We want to dissolve members and completely transfer to new members and have this entity ready to go asap (sic),” Abdi Salah wrote, according to evidence presented at trial. “Tell us what we need to transfer. The entity already has a bank account.”
Abdi Salah also sent other emails that day to members of the new Stigma-Free ownership with resignation letters from Jamal Osman and the nonprofit’s initial board members, Western testified. The resignation letters all bore identical wording.
“It is with regret that I need to inform you about my decision to resign from my role as president of Stigma-Free International,” Jamal Osman’s Oct. 7, 2020, letter read, according to evidence presented at trial. “My family commitments and work schedule have made it impossible to give the board the time it requires to be truly effective in my position.”
Jamal Osman’s letter continued: “I have seen growth during the time that I have served and am confident you will continue to grow this amazing organization in my absence. Thank you for giving me the chance to work with such a great team. I look forward to hearing about the continued successes of the STIGMA-FREE INTERNATIONAL INC.”
All of the resignation letters were signed with e-signatures.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson asked Western whether Stigma-Free actually saw growth in the year that Jamal Osman ran it.
“Certainly not in the bank account,” Western replied.
He shared more details with the court: Within days of receiving the Oct. 7 resignation letters, Stigma-Free’s new owners applied with Feeding Our Future to run five food sites in St. Paul, Mankato, Willmar, Waite Park and St. Cloud. Bock signed paperwork for the food sites and sent them to MDE. That same month, Stigma-Free’s Willmar location claimed to serve 3,000 meals a day, seven days a week.
Western described the number of meals as “inflated, fraudulent and unbelievable,” noting that they came from a small restaurant in downtown Willmar, and was equivalent to three-quarters of the total number of students in the city’s public schools.
Western said the meal counts were also suspicious because Stigma-Free’s bank account had a total of $10 in it in November 2020 and $5 in December 2020.
“At the time, there was no bank activity in Stigma-Free’s account,” Western said, adding that there was no evidence that the bank account was used to buy food or hire employees.
That changed significantly in January, he said, when more than $1.5 million was deposited into Stigma-Free’s bank account through Feeding Our Future checks signed by Bock.
“That’s a lot of money,” Thompson said.
“Yeah,” Western replied.
Jamal Osman’s wife, Ilo Amba, had served on Stigma-Free’s board before its ownership was transferred. Ilo Amba separately ran a nonprofit called Urban Advantage Services, which enrolled in the federal child nutrition program through another sponsor, Partners in Quality Care. State records show that in 2021 and January 2022, Urban Advantage Services claimed to serve 256,142 meals and was paid $617,325.
Last fall, Urban Advantage Services dissolved as a result of a 2023 lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that accused it of not being a legitimate nonprofit.
Ilo Amba is not charged in the Feeding Our Future case.
Salim Said, who formerly co-owned Safari Restaurant, is being jointly tried with Bock. Safari was one of the biggest food sites and alleged players in the Feeding Our Future case.
Testimony resumes Wednesday morning.
