Keith Ellison

Fox News reports that 45‑year‑old Gandi Mohamed is scheduled for a change‑of‑plea hearing Thursday in Minnesota and is expected to plead guilty or no contest in a federal scheme that prosecutors say siphoned about $14 million from a U.S. child nutrition program by falsely claiming to serve meals. He would be the sixth member of his family to be convicted in the case, which has become a flashpoint because the family had previously attended a 2021 meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, where they and others pressed him for more funding and discussed campaign donations. After that meeting, Mohamed gave Ellison the maximum $2,500 campaign contribution, which Ellison later returned to the Justice Department in 2025; Ellison has denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not know attendees were involved in fraud and did nothing for them. The case is feeding aggressive political attacks from Republicans who allege a broader cover‑up around Minnesota social‑services fraud, and watchdogs quoted in the story argue that full trials, rather than plea deals, might better expose the scope of the scheme to the public. On social media, the scandal is being used as ammunition in wider debates over oversight of federal nutrition and Medicaid dollars, vetting of community grantees, and the political class’s willingness to police its own donors.