Five convicted in $250 million COVID relief scheme

Five Minnesota residents were convicted Friday of misusing funds intended to feed children during the pandemic in a $250 million COVID relief plan.

Jurors also acquitted two others of involvement in a $40 million scheme to defraud federal child nutrition programs.

After three days of deliberations, the jury found five defendants guilty of most charges related to the plot – Abdiaziz Shafi’i Farah, 35, Mohammed Jama Ismail, 51, Abdimadjid Mohammed Noor, 23, Mukhtar Mohammed Sharif, 33, and Hayat Mohammed Noor, 27. according to According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release on Friday.

“I am incredibly proud of my prosecution team and our law enforcement partners who spent years investigating this extremely complex and far-reaching fraud scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lugar. “Today’s guilty verdicts mean that a total of 23 individuals have been held accountable for their roles in this heinous conspiracy to steal millions of taxpayer dollars.”

Two of the defendants, Syed Shafi’i Farah and Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, were acquitted of all charges. NBC News.

The convicted defendants misappropriated and laundered millions of dollars in program funds intended to reimburse the costs of feeding children during the pandemic. They submitted false documents and “misused” changes to the food program.

The defendants claimed they were still feeding the children, but they provided “fraudulent” food calculation sheets and fake invoices, and used fake attendance rolls.

board member Said The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has charged 70 defendants in 14 indictments and six criminal complaints. Eighteen have pleaded guilty.

“This investigation is not over yet, and today’s sentence underscores the fact that a massive fraud of this size and nature will not go unchecked, and those involved in this type of fraudulent scheme will not escape justice,” said Jason Bussey, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Chicago Criminal Investigation Division.