Date: Feb. 7, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
MINNEAPOLIS — Four additional defendants have pleaded guilty for their roles 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.
First, according to court documents, at times between October 2020 and January 2022, Abduljabar Hussein of Shakopee, Minnesota, knowingly and willfully conspired with others to participate in a fraudulent scheme to obtain and misappropriate millions in federal child nutrition funds.
According to court documents, in October 2020, Abduljabar Hussein’s wife, Mekfira Hussein, enrolled her non-profit, Shamsia Hopes, in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, at the direction of one of its employees, Abdikerm Eidleh. Mekfira Hussein submitted her application to Aimee Bock, Feeding Our Future’s executive director. In December 2020 and also at the direction of Abdikerm Eidleh, Abduljabar Hussein registered his company, Oromia Feeds LLC, with the State of Minnesota. Oromia Feeds LLC also participated in the Federal Child Nutrition Program as a vendor for food to be served by Shamsia Hopes sites run by his wife.
Together, the Husseins submitted fraudulent claims that sought reimbursement for far more meals and food than they actually prepared. Hussein and his wife submitted fraudulently inflated invoices for reimbursement—including inflated meal counts and false attendance rosters. As part of this scheme, Hussein and his wife paid at least $140,000 in kickbacks to Eidleh and least $12,000 in kickbacks to Aimee Bock, in exchange for Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship of Shamsia Hopes. In some instances, these kickback payments were disguised as “consulting fees,” when, in fact, neither Eidleh nor Aimee Bock provided any service to justify these payments.
According to his plea agreement entered today, the Husseins ultimately obtained up to $8.8 million in federal child nutrition program funds some of which they used to pay for personal expenditures unrelated to feeding children. For instance, the defendant used $173,438 of the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on his home in Shakopee, Minnesota, and also purchased a 2021 Porsche for $93,250, as well as a 2022 GMC truck for $61,722. As part of his sentence, Hussein was ordered to forfeit those vehicles as well as a 2021 Tesla, and the fraud money he applied toward his home mortgage.
Next, according to court documents, Zamzam Jama and Mustafa Jama of Rochester, Minnesota, and Asha Jama of Lakeville, Minnesota, each pled guilty to laundering fraudulent proceeds that were paid by Feeding Our Future through the Federal Child Nutrition Program to Brava Restaurant. In October 2020, Brava Restaurant, which was located in a retail strip mall in Rochester, Minnesota, enrolled as a distribution site in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.
The Jamas and their conspirators coordinated the establishment of shell companies through which they received and disbursed funds from the federal child nutrition program to make expenditures that had nothing to do with feeding children. Specifically, on January 7, 2021, Salim Said, a co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, paid to register six different shell companies with the state of Minnesota for the Jamas and others.
In 2021, Zamzam Jama, Mustafa Jama, and Asha Jama deposited at least $491,245, $1,429,730, and $449,933, in misappropriated Federal Child Nutrition Program funds into their respective shell entities’ bank accounts. The Jamas then used those funds for various personal expenditures that had nothing to do with feeding children.
Zamzam Jama spent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds on a home in Rosemount, Minnesota, and to purchase a 2021 Toyota RAV4 vehicle. With her guilty plea, Zamzam Jama has forfeited that vehicle, her interest in the Rosemount property, as well as $114,482 from her bank accounts in 2022 by federal investigators.
Mustafa Jama used Federal Child Nutrition Program funds to buy a home in Columbus, Ohio. He also spent $394,000 in program money toward a home in Lakeville, Minnesota, and to purchase Mediterranean coastal property in Alanya, Turkey. With his guilty plea, Mustafa Jama has forfeited any interest in the Ohio and Lakeville properties, as well as $239,500 from his bank accounts in 2022 by federal investigators.
Asha Jama spent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds toward a home in Lakeville, Minnesota, and another in Rochester, Minnesota. With her guilty plea, Zamzam Jama has forfeited her interest on those two properties any interest in that vehicle, the Rosemount property, as well as $149,880 seized from her bank accounts in 2022 by federal investigators.
In separate proceedings in U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy E. Brasel, Abduljabar Hussein pleaded guilty on February 5, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; Zamzam Jama pleaded guilty on February 5, 2025, to one count of money laundering; Mustafa Jama pleaded guilty on February 6, 2025, to one count of money laundering; and Asha Jama pleaded guilty on February 7, 2025, to one count of money laundering. Sentencing hearings for all four defendants will be scheduled at a later date.
The case is the result of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs, and Daniel W. Bobier are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Baune is handling the seizure and forfeiture of assets.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.