3 Plead Guilty In $250 Million Feeding Out Future Scheme: Feds

MINNEAPOLIS — Three Minnesotans pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to participating in a $250 million fraud scheme connected to the Minnesota-based nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced.

Bekam Addissu Merdassa, 40, of Inver Grove Heights, Hanna Marekegn, 40, of Medina, and Hadith Yusuf Ahmed, 34, of Eden Prairie each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

They are the first guilty pleas to come after the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against nearly 50 people in connection to Feeding Our Future last month.

Authorities say Feeding Our Future sponsored companies that would then defraud the federal government.

Merdassa, Marekegn, Ahmed each ran companies that asked the federal government to reimburse them for purportedly serving meals to hundreds or thousands of needy children a day during the early months of the pandemic, according to authorities.

Sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled.

Bekam Addissu Merdassa

Merdassa used the nonprofit Youth Inventors Lab as a shell company to carry out his scheme, authorities said. He submitted fake invoices purporting to document the purchase of food from a vendor, S & S Catering, according to investigators.

However, Youth Inventors Lab never received any meals from S & S Catering, authorities said.

Youth Inventors Lab claimed to have served more than 1.3 million meals between December 2020 through June 2021 and as a result, fraudulently received $3,029,786 in reimbursements from Feeding Our Future, according to investigators.

Hanna Marekegn

Marekegn enrolled her company, Brava Cafe, in a federal child nutrition program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, according to authorities.

Marekegn claimed she would be serving meals to up to 4,000 children per day at her restaurant in Minneapolis, investigators said.

However, Marekegn did not have the ability to prepare or serve that many meals each day, according to authorities.

Marekegn was also enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program as a vendor and paid kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee, investigators said.

Marekegn's company claimed to have served more than 2 million meals to children between September 2020 and fall 2021 and obtained about $7.1 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, authorities said.

Hadith Yusuf Ahmed

Ahmed worked for Feeding Our Future and was responsible for monitoring and supporting sponsor sites, according to investigators. He also accepted kickbacks from several sites under the nonprofit, according to authorities.

Ahmed created a shell company, Mizal Consulting LLC, to receive and conceal the kickback payments, investigators said. He disguised the kickbacks as "consulting fees," investigators said.

Ahmed received more than $1 million in bribe and kickback payments while working for Feeding Our Future, according to authorities.

Additionally, Ahmed created a second business, Southwest Metro Youth, in order to submit fraudulent invoices that claimed to be serving meals to 2,000 children a day, investigators said.

Using Southwest Metro Youth, Ahmed obtained more than $1.1 million in federal nutrition funds, according to authorities.