The first defendant in the Feeding Our Future fraud case was sentenced in October 2024, two years after federal prosecutors first unveiled charges in what they have called the largest pandemic fraud in the country.
While many other defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud or were convicted at trial, few have yet to be sentenced. Sahan Journal will track all sentencings in this story, and will update the list as defendants are sentenced in federal court.
Federal prosecutors allege that 70 defendants stole at least $250 million in federal food-aid money that was meant to feed underprivileged children during th COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of feeding children, the defendants allegedly embezzled the money and spent it on personal items such as real estate, cars, a beach resort in Kenya and luxury vacations.
Sponsor organizations Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care distributed the federal money to smaller groups, known as food sites and food vendors, that were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to children. Prosecutors say defendants in the case reported providing more meals than they actually served in order to receive more federal funds, or simply didn’t provide any meals at all.
Sahan Journal is also tracking who has been charged in the case and who has pleaded guilty and who has been convicted at trial.
Below is a list of everyone who has been sentenced so far, listed in chronological order of the date they were sentenced.
- Mohamed Jama Ismail, was sentenced on October 15, 2024 to 12 years in prison. He co-owned Empire Cuisine and Market, and also owned MZ Market LLC, which he used to launder stolen money. He pocketed $2.2 million, court documents say. Jurors convicted him in June 2024 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering. He also pleaded guilty to passport fraud in relation to this case.
- Mukhtar Shariff, was sentenced on January 24, 2025 to 17 and a half years in prison. He worked as CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group, and used the company to launder stolen funds. He pocketed more than $1.3 million, according to court documents. Jurors convicted him in June 2024 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count each of wire fraud and money laundering.
- Sharon Ross, 58, was sentenced on February 7, 2025 to three and a half years in prison. Ross previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She was executive director of House of Refuge, a food shelf in St. Paul. She enrolled her company in the federal child nutrition programs through Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition. Listing Brava Restaurant as her vender, she claimed to serve 900,000 meals and received $2.4 million, some of which she spent on buying a home, going on vacations in Florida and Las Vegas, and buying a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game. She agreed to pay all of this money back in restitution.
- Sahra Nur, 63, was sentenced on May 23, 2025 to four years and three months in prison. Sahra Nur previously pleaded guilty to stealing $5 million in federal funds that was intended to feed underprivileged children. She will pay back the same amount in restitution and serve two years of supervised release after her prison sentence. Sahra Nur operated Academy for Youth Excellence, a shell company that listed S&S Catering, a commercial food company, as the supplier of its meals. Sahra Nur was also one of S&S Catering’s owners and operators. S&S Catering claimed to serve 1.2 million meals to underprivileged children between December 2020 and April 2021.
- Abdiaziz Farah, who prosecutors characterized as the ringleader of a fraud scheme centered around Empire Cuisine & Deli, was sentenced on August 6, 2025 to 28 years in prison. Abdiaziz Farah and his co-conspirators pocketed roughly $42 million from the federal government, with Abdiaziz Farah personally taking about $8 million for himself. He spent much of the money on several luxury cars, a custom-built lakefront mansion in Prior Lake, and an expensive vacation in the United Arab Emirates. He also sent $1 million overseas to build a 12-story luxury apartment complex in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Khadar Adan, 62, was sentenced to one year of probation on April 29, 2026. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property, a misdemeanor, in September 2025. Khadar is owner of Minneapolis-based JigJiga Business Center, which he allowed a fraudulent food site to operate out of. He received $1,000 for doing so and agreed to pay this amount back in restitution.
- Abdimajid Nur was sentenced on November 24, 2025 to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Abdimajid was one of five defendants centered around Shakopee deli Empire Cuisine who collectively stole $47 million from the federal government to face trial in 2024. Abdimajid submitted several fraudulent documents to the federal government for multiple food sites and also operated Nur Consulting, a shell company that he used to launder roughly $900,000 of the proceeds. He is also charged in and pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a juror in a scheme that rocked the end of the 2024 trial. He has yet to be sentenced in the jury bribery case.
- Abdul Abubakar Ali was sentenced to one year of prison on March 30, 2026. He co-ran the Youth Inventors Lab food site and pleaded guilty in October 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted that Youth Inventors Lab never served a single meal but claimed to serve 1.3 million meals in order to receive $3 million in federal food-aid money.
- Zamzam Jama was sentenced to six months in prison on April 1, 2026. She previously pleaded guilty and admitted to participating in Brava Restaurant’s defrauding of the federal food program through Feeding Our Future. Together with conspirators, Zamzam admitted to depositing nearly $2 million in federal food aid money to shell companies and using it for personal purchases, such as a a 2021 Toyota RAV4 vehicle. She is personally responsible for stealing $491,245 for herself.
- Bekam Merdassa avoided prison and was sentenced to two years of probation on April 6, 2026. Bekam pleaded guilty in October 2022 for using his shell company, Youth Investors Lab, to claim to serve 1.5 million meals and steal $3 million in federal food aid money. He previously agreed with federal prosecutors to a recommended two-year prison sentence, but U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel instead gave him two years of probation and ordered him to pay roughly $343,000 in restitution. At his sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Murphy reportedly agreed with Bekam’s attorney that Bekam had played a key role in cooperating with prosecutors on the case.
- Abdullahe Nur Jesow was sentenced on April 9, 2026, to three-and-a-half years in prison and two more years of supervised release. He will also pay roughly $866,000 in restitution. Abdullahe ran Academy for Youth Excellence, with claimed to serve 1.7 million meals to kids and, with its food vendor S&S Catering, received around $4.3 million in federal food aid money. Abdullahe pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in September 2025.
- Yusuf Bashir Ali was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison on April 15, 2026. He pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and stealing nearly $280,000. Yusuf admitted in court that he worked with others to enroll a shell company called Youth Inventors Lab into the federal Child Nutrition Program to pose as a food site offering meals to disadvantaged children. According to his plea deal, Yusuf signed a “fake lease” for Youth Inventors Lab describing it to be a food site when he “knew that the location would not be used to serve meals.” Youth Innovators Lab falsely claimed that S&S Catering was the supplier of its meals. Through this relationship, Youth Innovators Lab received more than $3 million in federal food aid dollars and claimed to serve 1.3 million meals between December 2020 and June 2021, according to the plea deal.
- Mulata Ali was sentenced to one year of probation on April 29, 2026. Mulata operated Franklyn Transportation LLC, which federal authorities allege fraudsters used as a shell company to launder more than $2 million of stolen federal money. People involved in the alleged scheme paid Mulata close to $100,000 to use his business’ bank account to move stolen money. Mulata pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the theft of public money. He previously pleaded guilty and agreed with prosecutors to a recommened sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison and a payment of $95,099 in restitution—equal to the amount he received for allowing alleged fraudsters to use his bank account.
