Feeding Our Future defendant sentenced to 17 years in prison for role in $250 million scheme

The judge in the case said Mukhtar Shariff's conduct showed a "staggering lack of respect for the law."

Feeding Our Future
Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff/Sherburne County Jail

A Bloomington man has been sentenced to 210 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick.

The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $47,920,514.

Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, 34, and his co-defendants devised and carried out a multi-million dollar fraud scheme to defraud the federal Child Nutrition Program, evidence submitted at trial proved. As the chief executive officer of Afrique Hospitality Group, Shariff obtained, misappropriated, and laundered millions of dollars in program funds that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children.

The scheme was accomplished by exploiting changes in the nutrition program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shariff and his co-defendants created and submitted fraudulent meal count sheets purporting to document the number of children and meals served at each site and false invoices purporting to document the purchase of food to be served to children at the sites. The conspirators also submitted fake attendance rosters purporting to list the names and ages of the children receiving meals at the sites each day. These rosters were fabricated and created using fake names.

“The defendants’ fraud, like an aggressive cancer, spread and grew,” prosecutors wrote in a brief ahead of the first trial involving seven defendants, including Shariff. “At their fraudulent peak in March 2021, the defendants claimed to serve 2.7 million meals to children in just that month alone — an impossibility,” the brief continued.

defendants
Seven defendants in the Feeding Our Future case and their attorneys in the Diane E. Murphy United States Courthouse for jury selection. (Credit: Cedric Hohnstadt)

The federal Child Nutrition Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a federally-funded program designed to provide free meals to children in need. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers the program throughout the nation by distributing federal funds to state governments. In Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) under Gov. Tim Walz administers and oversees the federal Child Nutrition Program.

Meals funded by the federal Child Nutrition Program are served by “sites.” Each site participating in the program must be sponsored by an authorized sponsoring organization. Sponsors must submit an application to MDE for each site. Sponsors are also responsible for monitoring each of their sites and preparing reimbursement claims for their sites. The USDA then provides MDE federal reimbursement funds on a per-meal basis. MDE provides those funds to the sponsoring agency who, in turn, pays the reimbursements to the sites under its sponsorship. The sponsoring agency retains 10 to 15 percent of the funds as an administrative fee.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the USDA waived some of the standard requirements for participation in the federal Child Nutrition Program. Among other things, the USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate in the program, and it allowed for off-site food distribution to children outside of educational programs.

“The defendant committed a brazen fraud that shamelessly stole taxpayer money intended to feed children during a global pandemic. He lined his pockets, here and abroad, with millions,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kirkpatrick. “As the Court found, he doubled down on his crimes by obstructing justice. This significant sentence should serve as a clear warning to anyone who would seek to exploit and defraud government programs. You will be held accountable.”

Following a seven-week trial in U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy Brasel in June 2024, Shariff was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of money laundering. In handing down the sentence Friday, Judge Brasel commented that Shariff’s conduct showed a “staggering lack of respect for the law” and that taxpayers were “outraged by the brazenness of the crime.”

The case is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS–Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.

 

Crime Watch MN

Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.