Maplewood deli owner gets 4½ years in Feeding Our Future fraud
Maplewood deli owner Abdihakim Ali Ahmed was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution for his role in the Feeding Our Future fraud.[1]
Federal prosecutors said Ahmed, operating through Gurley Deli and ASA Limited LLC, falsely claimed to serve 2,000 to 3,000 children each day and billed for more than 1.6 million meals between September 2020 and 2021.[1] Investigators say Ahmed and co-conspirators submitted about $7.3 million in fraudulent Child Nutrition Program claims and paid over $49,000 in bribes to a Feeding Our Future employee.[1] They say fraud proceeds were used to buy a Brooklyn Park bar and a 2022 Mini Cooper.[1]
In spring 2020, as COVID-19 closed schools, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded the Federal Child Nutrition Program and waived some rules. That allowed nonprofits such as Feeding Our Future to sponsor hundreds of new meal sites and disburse far more federal funds. Minnesota Department of Education staff flagged implausible claims and alerted the FBI in April 2021, and the FBI opened a formal investigation the next month. Federal agents executed search warrants at Feeding Our Future offices on January 20, 2022, uncovering fabricated rosters and other evidence that helped build the case.
Ahmed pleaded guilty in March 2025 to wire fraud and money laundering and is among 66 people convicted so far in the roughly $250 million scheme.[1] Only about $75 million of the stolen funds had been recovered as of early 2025, leaving victims and federal officials still seeking restitution.
The mainstream summary does not mention the dramatic growth of Feeding Our Future, which expanded from disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, sponsoring over 250 meal sites in Minnesota. This context highlights the scale of the operation and the systemic vulnerabilities that allowed such fraud to flourish. Additionally, while the summary notes that only about $75 million of the stolen funds had been recovered, it does not address the broader implications of institutional failures in oversight, as identified by a 2025 Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor review. This review pointed to inadequate oversight by the Minnesota Department of Education, which failed to act on early warning signs of fraud due to fears of litigation and accusations of racism, exacerbated by USDA pandemic waivers that loosened eligibility verification and documentation standards. These factors suggest a more complex landscape of accountability and oversight failures that the mainstream account overlooks, framing the issue as not just individual malfeasance but as a systemic failure across multiple agencies.[2][3]
Show source details & analysis (1 source)
📊 Relevant Data
Feeding Our Future grew from disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021 while sponsoring more than 250 Federal Child Nutrition Program sites in Minnesota.
Feeding Our Future Ringleader Sentenced to 500 Months — United States Department of Justice
Only around $75 million of the more than $250 million stolen in the Feeding Our Future scheme had been recovered as of early 2025.
Feeding Our Future — Wikipedia
📌 Key Facts
- Abdihakim Ali Ahmed was sentenced to 54 months in prison and over $2.2 million in restitution in federal court for Feeding Our Future fraud.
- Operating through Gurley Deli in Maplewood and ASA Limited LLC, Ahmed falsely claimed serving 2,000–3,000 children daily and over 1.6 million meals between September 2020 and 2021.
- Ahmed and co‑conspirators submitted about $7.3 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program claims, paid more than $49,000 in bribes to a Feeding Our Future employee, and used proceeds to buy a Brooklyn Park bar property and a 2022 Mini Cooper.
- Investigators found attendance rosters used a spreadsheet formula to insert random ages between 7 and 17 for each fictitious child.
- Ahmed pleaded guilty in March 2025 to wire fraud and money laundering and is among 66 people convicted so far in the $250 million scheme.
📰 Source Timeline (1)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time