Haji Osman Salad, Sharmarke Issa, and Khadra Abdi have pleaded guilty to their involvement in a $250 million fraud conspiracy that took advantage of a federally sponsored child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed US Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, Salad, 34, the owner and operator of Haji’s Kitchen LLC, enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future, and Sponsor A. Salad and his co-conspirators, including Issa, 42, and Abdi, 42, established sites throughout Minnesota, as well as multiple shell companies, to facilitate the fraud scheme.
Salad erroneously claimed that Haji’s Kitchen provided more than 15 million meals to various Federal Child Nutrition Program sites in Minnesota from June 2020 to 2022. Issa and Kawsar Jama, co-defendants, were among those who received the most reported food from Salad. Salad, for example, submitted bogus food bills in November 2021, erroneously claiming to have provided Kawsar Jama’s Pelican Rapids facility, a small hamlet in west-central Minnesota with a population of around 2,500 people, with $293,300 in food for 140,000 meals and snacks. Salad improperly obtained roughly $11,483,827 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funding, which he used to buy real estate and expensive vehicles.
According to court records, Issa, the principal of Minnesota’s Somali Community and Wacan Restaurant LLC, unlawfully obtained Federal Child Nutrition Program monies through Sponsor A and Feeding Our Future, respectively. As part of the plan, Issa falsified documents and food bills to imply that his sites served at least 2.3 million meals to youngsters. Issa reportedly ran other businesses, including ANS Projects LLC and Bubah Baraka Properties LLC, which he used to launder funds from the fraud scheme and buy assets, especially real estate, that had nothing to do with feeding children. For example, among other homes, Isaac purchased a $785,000 private residence for himself in Edmonton. Issa improperly obtained roughly $3,586,231 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funding.
According to court filings, Abdi was the principal of Shafi’i Tutoring & Homework Help Center, which was registered as a meal site sponsored by Feeding Our Future. From April 2020 to December 2021, Abdi fraudulently claimed access to $3,479,191.92 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funding. However, Abdi spent only a small portion of this money on food.
Salad, Issa, and Abdi pleaded guilty to wire fraud last week in front of Judge Nancy E. Brasel in the United States District Court. Judge Nancy E. Brasel will hold sentencing hearings at a later date.
The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations, and US Postal Inspection Service performed the investigation that led to this case.
Assistant US Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Joseph H. Thompson, and Harry M. Jacobs are prosecuting the case.
