Defense attorneys are trying to discredit the key witness in the Feeding Our Future meal fraud scheme

A key witness for federal prosecutors in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme — which exposed a rampant system of kickbacks and kickbacks in a program designed to feed children in need — hopes to avoid prison time by testifying against suspects, he said Thursday in federal court .

Lawyers for the seven suspects on trial have repeatedly questioned Hadith Ahmed, who was the “right-hand man” of Feeding Our Future leader Aimee Bock, about how he lied to get rich in the scheme and how he can now benefit from the collaboration with prosecutors. , which could recommend a lesser prison sentence.

“I was trying to avoid jail,” Ahmed confirmed to the lawyers during cross-examination.

He testified Thursday that he has met with FBI agents and prosecutors more than a dozen times over the past three years to provide information in hopes of reducing his possible four- or five-year sentence for stealing money from the federal program.

Ahmed, 36, who was among the first to plead guilty in October 2022, testified that he received kickbacks from many food distribution sites, including some operated by the defendants, in exchange for approving false invoices and expediting federal reimbursements , part of a “ booming get-rich scheme.

“There was money everywhere,” he said Wednesday. “Feeding Our Future was the place to go.”

Ahmed is one of 18 people who have pleaded guilty since 2022, out of 70 people charged or charged.

Prosecutors said more than $250 million was stolen from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse daycares, nonprofits and schools for feeding low-income children after school and during the summer — one of the biggest pandemic related fraud schemes in the country.

The six men and one woman on trial have ties to Empire Cuisine & Market in Shakopee, which was “sponsored” by St. Anthony nonprofit Feeding Our Future and St. Paul nonprofit Partners in Nutrition, which prepared the paperwork for provided hundreds of meal distribution locations.

Defendants Said Shafii Farah, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur were charged with bank fraud, money laundering and other crimes. Together they received more than $40 million for filing claims for more than 18 million meals.

Prosecutors have said defendants exploited lax oversight during the pandemic and relaxed rules, submitting false invoices that vastly inflated the number of meals served, served little to no food and used the money to buy luxury homes, cars and trips. to buy. Defense attorneys have countered that their clients followed a complex program, served real food and earned a fair profit.

During six hours of often tense cross-examination by lawyers, with Ahmed repeatedly telling them he could not remember details, including from Wednesday’s hearing, lawyers questioned Ahmed’s credibility as a witness given his history in the fraud scheme. Defense attorney Edward Sapone questioned how Ahmed repeatedly submitted false invoices and meal count forms, doing something dishonest for his own benefit.

Defense attorneys asked how Ahmed was charged with only one crime — conspiracy to commit fraud — despite evidence of money laundering and other crimes because he reached a plea deal with the government. He confirmed that.

At Feeding Our Future, Ahmed oversaw employees monitoring food distribution locations to ensure they were following the rules. He said he and other employees accepted bribes from food sites to look the other way, without looking at invoices or not going to food sites at all.

Steve Schleicher, who represents Said Farah, questioned how Ahmed could know food was not served at food locations if he never visited them. He showed checks that Ahmed said were bribes from Said Farah and his company. But if Ahmed wasn’t there when the check was written and didn’t get it directly from Farah, how could he be sure the check was Farah’s, Schleicher asked. Ahmed agreed that he had no way of knowing.

During the scheme, Ahmed and another employee also set up fake companies that received millions of dollars for inflated prices for meals they claimed to distribute, he testified. Ahmed said he was later fired by Bock after a Bloomington nonprofit complained that he was not processing meal claims. Attorney Fred Goetz asked if he had been fired for stealing from Feeding Our Future and making sexually inappropriate comments. Ahmed said no and called these accusations false.

Schleicher asked Ahmed, who grew up in Kenya, if he had told FBI agents that many of the people charged in the scheme have ties to a Somali tribe that Ahmed called a “gangster tribe” and that will do anything to to earn money. Ahmed said he didn’t remember saying that, but he agreed with Schleicher that it would be an unfair stereotype.

As part of Ahmed’s plea deal, he agreed to forfeit more than half a million dollars and pay $1.3 million in restitution. Despite his cooperation with authorities, he told Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs on Thursday that he believes he will still spend time in prison “because of what I did and all the fraud I committed.”

The trial, which began on April 22, continues on Friday.