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You probably haven’t heard about the massive food aid scam story coming out of Minnesota. Why would you? It doesn’t fit the media’s left-wing narrative about how all “refugees” are budding doctors and physicists. This story involves a group of so-called poor, wayward “Somali refugees” who duped America and stole upwards of $240 million from hard-working US taxpayers over the years.

Justice.gov:

The Department of Justice announced today federal criminal charges against 47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These indictments, alleging the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged to date, underscore the Department of Justice’s sustained commitment to combating pandemic fraud and holding accountable those who perpetrate it,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “In partnership with agencies across government, the Justice Department will continue to bring to justice those who have exploited the pandemic for personal gain and stolen from American taxpayers.”

“Today’s indictments describe an egregious plot to steal public funds meant to care for children in need in what amounts to the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The defendants went to great lengths to exploit a program designed to feed underserved children in Minnesota amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulently diverting millions of dollars designated for the program for their own personal gain. These charges send the message that the FBI and our law enforcement partners remain vigilant and will vigorously pursue those who attempt to enrich themselves through fraudulent means.”

“This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger for the District of Minnesota. “These defendants exploited a program designed to provide nutritious food to needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they prioritized their own greed, stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in federal funds to purchase luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad. I commend the work of the skilled investigators and prosecutors who unraveled the lies, deception, and mountains of false documentation to bring this complex case to light.”

The 47 defendants are charged across six separate indictments and three criminal informations with charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery.

It turns out that not all “refugees” are doctors and scientists.

This latest trial focuses on the food aid fraud they perpetrated, all while being downtrodden, needy refugee souls supposedly looking for comfort and compassion. And, of course, you see a pattern forming. These foreigners aren’t fools. They see how easily manipulated and duped Americans can be, and they use our own nonsensical laws and rules against us.

Welcome to America, where you can use food aid money to write a check for a $100,000 car. Try that in Somalia!

Well, we’ve got an update on this disturbing story. As it turns out, these so-called loving refugees never had any plans to assimilate into our culture or work hard for that “medical degree.” They didn’t just scam us out of hundreds of millions; when the trial came around, they figured out ways to rig and weaponize our judicial system too (just like Democrats). It turns out that a “mysterious” woman dressed in black attempted to make a total mockery of it all by trying to buy off jurors with literal bags of money.

The Star Tribune:

Dressed in black, a mysterious woman arrived at a juror’s suburban house late Sunday night, clutching a party bag stuffed with wads of cash, nearly $120,000 in all.

It was a present for the 23-year-old juror in the Feeding Our Future federal trial, the woman explained to the juror’s father-in-law, who answered the door just before 9 p.m. If the juror voted to acquit the seven defendants in the fraud case, there would “be more of that present tomorrow,” the woman said, handing over a white floral gift bag filled with $100, $50 and $20 bills, according to an FBI search warrant filed Monday.

The juror immediately reported the incident to Spring Lake Park police and turned over the bag of cash to the FBI, which is investigating the incident. The juror was dismissed before the jury gathered in the Minneapolis courtroom Monday morning.

“This is outrageous behavior,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. “This is stuff that happens in mob movies.”

The shocking development in the high-profile trial, now entering its seventh week, came just before closing arguments wrapped up and the jury started deliberating late Monday afternoon. The trial is the first in a broader case that prosecutors have called one of the largest pandemic fraud schemes in the country, with 70 people charged with stealing more than $250 million in federal money meant to feed needy children.

It turns out that the juror was not home when this happened, but she called the police upon discovering the situation. The bag of money is now in police custody. But you have to wonder: how many jurors took the bag and didn’t say anything during this trial or others involving these refugee scam artists? Nobody should be surprised about this or how blatant the fraud was, both in the initial stages and during the “clean-up” efforts. After all, this is exactly how business is done in Somalia, right?

 

The defense is trying to claim that this scam is just a misunderstanding of “East African” values, according to the Tribune story:

Defense attorneys said their clients provided real food to real children. Alleged kickbacks, they’ve said, were proper payments — part of a common East African culture of informal transactions to friends and family.

Shariff’s attorney, Andrew Mohring, in a nearly two-hour closing argument, urged jurors to consider each defendant’s charges separately.

Shariff, 33, a former Microsoft software engineer and married father of two, was the only defendant who testified. Mohring said Shariff had limited responsibility running food sites, not preparing any financial documents he forwarded on.

“He was the logistics guy, not the money guy,” he said.

It sounds like a nice story until you realize that the guy quit his software engineering job to haul in $1.3 million in a single year from the scam. Does that sound like a reasonable salary for doling out a couple of packets of federally funded food?

Minnesota Reformer:

A defendant in the Feeding Our Future trial testified Thursday that he didn’t set up shell companies to participate in the food program, that he helped serve thousands of free meals to children and didn’t knowingly participate in fraud.

Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, 33, is the only defendant of seven who opted to testify in the case, in which they’re charged with fraudulently getting reimbursed $49 million in federal funds by vastly inflating the number of meals served at 50 locations across Minnesota during the pandemic. Prosecutors say they used the reimbursement money to buy luxury cars, houses, jewelry and property overseas — and very little food.

Shariff created an annual Somali Diaspora Conference, started a podcast called Nomadic Hustle and worked in software engineering in Seattle before moving to Bloomington in the fall of 2020.

“A lot of people in Minnesota wanted me to do work for them because of my work with the Somali government,” Shariff testified. He said he also had a lot of relatives in Minnesota, many of whom filled the courtroom Wednesday and Thursday for his testimony.

[…]

Thompson said Shariff took home $1.3 million in 2021 working for Afrique and as a consultant to other entities involved in the food program, and invested over $1 million into cryptocurrency for Afrique — but in his own name.

“My investors and everybody trusted me,” Shariff said. “They understood.”

East African values, indeed.

Even more hilarity ensued during Shariff’s testimony:

One big question: Why did Shariff send a $250,000 cashier’s check from Afrique to a woman named Ikram Yusuf Mohamed?

Earlier in the trial, former Feeding Our Future employee Hadith Ahmed — who described himself as Feeding Our Future Executive Director Aimee Bock’s “right hand man” — testified that he took kickbacks to help others get millions in federal funds. After Ahmed was fired by Bock, he was replaced by Mohamed, who he said also took kickbacks. Mohamed is charged with multiple charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.

Shariff said Afrique loaned Mohamed the $250,000 to open a child care facility in south Minneapolis because Afrique construction was taking longer than expected.

“You decided that your startup company that had no revenue outside of the food program would invest $250,000 in a child care company?” Thompson asked.

The child care center never opened, and Shariff said he didn’t know what Mohamed did with the money. Thompson said she used it for “walking-around money.”

Shariff denied it was a bribe, and his attorney showed jurors a $59,000 loan repayment check Mohamed wrote. Thompson noted, however, that the check was written three months after the FBI raids in January 2022, which unveiled the federal investigation, froze bank accounts and ended food payments.

But that wasn’t all…

Since prosecutors made much of the fact that most of Afrique’s money came from people making money in the child nutrition program, Shariff’s attorney called as a witness one of the company’s investors, Sulekha Farah Hassan.

[…]

Hassan told Shariff’s attorney the $460,000 she invested in Afrique was “my own money,” and that none came from the child nutrition program.

During cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Walcker, Hassan said she had “nothing to do with” the child nutrition program. But she acknowledged she opened Mimi’s Bakery in December 2021, and one month later received a $250,000 loan from someone named Hamdi.

Walcker: “Was that other person Hamdi Omar?”

Hassan: “I don’t know the last names … she goes by the name Hamdi.”

Walcker: “Are you aware those individuals are in a company called Feeding Our Youth?”

Hasan: “I did not know what they were involved in.”

Walcker: “Are you aware that Hamdi Omar has been indicted in this investigation?”

Hassan: “I don’t know about her but I’ve heard a number of people were indicted.”

Omar is a St. Paul woman who ran a food distribution site in Waite Park that claimed to have served more than a half million meals, for which she was reimbursed over $1 million, prosecutors say. She is charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Hassan acknowledged she has not yet gotten a dime back on her investment.

“God willing, we will get some returns,” she testified.

The upshot: The defense’s effort to show a legitimate investment in Afrique wound up illustrating yet another connection to a person indicted in the alleged fraud.

Clearly, the American people are being taken advantage of in every possible direction. Our twisted and confusing laws are being manipulated by crafty “refugees” who come here to claim their fortune—not through hard work or by offering something remarkable to society, but by scamming their way to millions and achieving the “American dream,” all on the backs of hardworking Americans.

To add insult to injury, one wonders if this whole case might end up with a hung jury if there happens to be a Somalian or two on the jury. After all, it’s “East African culture” that we’re dealing with here—imported onto the snowy plains of the Upper Midwest.

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