Defense set to present case after prosecution rests in Feeding Our Future trial
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Prosecutors have rested their case in the trial of seven people accused of defrauding taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs. Jurors in the first trial to stem from the federal investigation into the nonprofit Feeding Our Future will hear arguments from attorneys for the only defendant who has chosen to call witnesses.
In court on Tuesday, defense attorneys finished cross-examining the government’s final witness, FBI forensic accountant Lacra Blackwell, who was the 33rd person to testify for the prosecution over the past four weeks.
On Friday, Blackwell explained how she traced funds from federal child nutrition programs through Feeding Our Future and another nonprofit, Partners in Nutrition, to the defendants’ bank accounts. Jurors saw bank statements and canceled checks that allegedly show how the defendants spent their money, including on vehicles, real estate and travel.
Prosecutors called Blackwell to bolster their case for the money laundering counts that each defendant faces. During cross examination on Tuesday, Abdimajid Nur’s attorney Edward Sapone asked Blackwell if she found evidence that Nur concealed the origin of the funds used to pay off the remaining $11,000 of his car loan.
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Blackwell said she did not, and gave a similar response when attorney Patrick Cotter asked if his client, Mohamed Ismail, used third parties to hide funds for purchases.
Defense attorneys had initially planned to take two weeks to present their case, but six of the seven defendants told Judge Nancy Brasel that they would not take the stand themselves, and their attorneys each said that they had no plans to call any witnesses.
It’s usually risky for defendants to testify because they waive their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and open themselves up to cross examination by prosecutors.
Mukhtar Shariff is the only defendant who plans to present a case to the jury, though Shariff has not said whether he plans to testify himself. The 33-year-old is the CEO of Afrique Hospitality Group, a catering and event company.
Prosecutors alleged that he funded the development of his business with stolen money, and falsely claimed to have served 3,500 children per day at a meal site in Bloomington.
Shariff’s attorney Frederick Goetz said he plans to call witnesses including University of Minnesota business professor Paul Valler, along with a forensic accountant. Other defense witnesses are expected to include a representative of the food wholesaler Sysco.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys pointed to invoices from Sysco and other food companies to show jurors that the defendants spent at least some of the government funds on food, and that it went to children as intended.
Prosecutors have never said that all of the financial transactions were fraudulent, only that the vast majority were. In arguing against the defendants’ motions to dismiss the charges, which Brasel ultimately rejected, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Walcker said the government presented an “avalanche of evidence” to prove the counts of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering.
The defendants, who all connected to the small Shakopee restaurant Empire Cuisine and Market, are accused of falsely claiming to have served 18 million meals at 50 distribution sites around Minnesota in order to siphon $47 million from two U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition programs that the Minnesota Department of Education oversees on the state level.
The seven are among 70 people charged in what the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office says was a much larger conspiracy to steal $250 million from taxpayers. Eighteen of the defendants have pleaded guilty since the first grand jury indictments were returned in late 2022.
Investigators have recovered a total of $66 million in assets overall. That figure includes $7.6 million in cash from bank accounts controlled by the seven defendants who are on trial, plus vehicles and real estate that they are alleged to have purchased with food program money.