Minnesota's Feeding Our Future scandal just added another 97 months of federal prison time.
Mekfira Hussein, 42, and Abduljabar Hussein, 45, were sentenced Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Mekfira received 57 months. Brasel gave Abduljabar 40 months. Mekfira pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2025. Abduljabar followed five days later. Prosecutors say the couple obtained about $8.8 million in federal child nutrition funds.
Mekfira ran Shamsia Hopes, a Brooklyn Center nonprofit enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future. From October 2020 into 2022, the nonprofit claimed it was serving as many as 5,000 children a day, seven days a week. Prosecutors say its paperwork included fake meal counts, false attendance rosters and fraudulent invoices covering more than 3.4 million claimed meals.
Abduljabar registered Oromia Feeds LLC as a food vendor for his wife's sites. Prosecutors said Mekfira diverted at least $5.4 million to the company, which spent only a small fraction on food. The couple also paid at least $140,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh and at least $12,000 to founder Aimee Bock. Prosecutors identified some of those payments as phony consulting fees.
U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen addressed where the money was supposed to go.
“The Husseins stole money that was meant for vulnerable children. Their sentences today reflect my office’s commitment to holding those who defraud the American taxpayer accountable.”
Court records say the couple used program money to pay off their mortgage and buy luxury vehicles. They were also ordered to pay $8,886,380 in restitution.
Bock was sentenced to 500 months in federal prison in May for leading the $250 million scheme. Eidleh, whom prosecutors accused of taking kickbacks and helping recruit fraudulent meal sites, was arrested in Mogadishu in June. RedState covered Bock's sentence and Eidleh's arrest as the federal cases continued moving through court.
DOJ announced its 68th Feeding Our Future conviction in July. Three more defendants received a combined 155 months in prison on Aug. 27.
The federal nutrition money passed through programs administered by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). A 2024 state legislative audit examined MDE's handling of Feeding Our Future and found the problems started before the alleged fraud did.
"MDE failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."
RedState has previously examined how those many, many failures unfolded under Democrat Gov. Tim Walz's administration, and what they say about his record running the Minnesota government and his already poor reputation, into the ground.
Feeding Our Future went from receiving and disbursing about $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. DOJ says more than $240 million was fraudulently obtained and disbursed through more than 250 sites.
For the Husseins: $8.8 million obtained, nearly $8.9 million owed back, and 97 months in federal prison.