A man named Ousman Camara has been charged for his alleged role in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. The 45-year-old is facing a nine-count federal indictment that includes charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and federal programs bribery.
Camara is the 77th person to be charged in connection with the COVID-era scheme that saw fraudsters steal hundreds of millions of dollars from a federal child nutrition program which reimbursed participants for feeding hungry children.
In short, fraudsters claimed they were providing meals to hungry children when few if any meals were actually provided. Feeding Our Future, a now-shuttered nonprofit, was at the center of the scheme.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, Camara owned a small grocery store in north Minneapolis called K’s Dollar Grocery and Deli. Camara allegedly enrolled his store in a federal child nutrition program in September of 2020.
“In 2020 and 2021, Camara fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to 1,000 children a day, seven days a week, at his site,” wrote the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a press release. “In reality, Camara did no such thing. Instead, he defrauded the program and stole money meant to feed hungry children.”
The 45-year-old’s store was reportedly enrolled in the nutrition program with Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship. Authorities say Camara “claimed to have served more than 300,000 meals to children” and “claimed to be entitled to more than $1 million” in federal funds.
Camara allegedly sent “more than $100,000 in fraud proceeds abroad,” sent $87,000 to a Feeding Our Future staffer for assistance in the scheme, paid credit card bills, purchased a north Minneapolis building, and “used the money to fund his lifestyle.”
According to authorities, Camara’s store was disqualified from participating in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2015 because of suspected fraud.
The case against Camara is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Thompson, Harry Jacobs, and Daniel Bobier. Camara is the first Feeding Our Future defendant charged since Daniel Rosen became the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota last month.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
