A Savage, Minnesota woman, Ayan Farah Abukar, has entered a guilty plea after being charged with a role in a significant fraud operation that misused millions of federal dollars meant for feeding children during the COVID-19 crisis, as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Lisa D. Kirkpatrick, announced. The scheme, which court documents reveal involved obtaining and laundering funds provided by the Federal Child Nutrition Program, saw Abukar and co-defendants falsely inflate the number of meals served to children—a number purportedly as high as 5,000 per day.
The U.S. Department of Justice states that, through her non-profit organization Action for East African People operating under Feeding Our Future. Abukar exploited the relaxed regulations meant to aid underserved kids during the pandemic enriching herself in the process, between 2020 and 2022. She garnered around $5.7 million in program funds which she spent on land and an aircraft in Nairobi, Kenya, in addition to paying kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee amounting to over $330,000.
Abukar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud before Chief Judge Schiltz in U.S District Court with the sentencing set for a date yet to be determined. The multi-agency investigation led by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service culminated in this plea; with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs, Matthew S. Ebert, and Daniel W. Bobier prosecuting, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Baune handling the seizure and asset forfeiture.
Full details of the prosecution are continuing to emerge as the legal process unfolds.
