ST PAUL, Minn — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's Office is going on the offensive against what it calls "sham organizations" that allegedly defrauded the Federal Child Nutrition Program.
On Tuesday, the office announced the filing of 23 lawsuits against nonprofits that were either created or revived to defraud the program.
The groups were primarily acting as "sites" that were supposed to administer meals to children who were in need of food, according to a release from Ellison's office.
“Nonprofits are supposed to benefit the public — not defraud it,” Attorney General Ellison said, in a statement. “Most nonprofits work hard and do good work to help the people of Minnesota — but not these sham organizations. I am seeking to permanently shut down these sham nonprofits so they can’t be revived to defraud the public again.”
Ellison's lawsuits follow a series of federal charges against dozens of people accused of fraud in the Feeding Our Future scandal.
In the cases filed by Ellison's office, the nonprofits were all revived or created at the start of the pandemic to capitalize on the federal program and did not appear to have "legitimate" nonprofit activities on site, showed evidence of misuse in bank records when located, were abandoned or gave false addresses, failed to comply with state and federal reporting requirements that would have allowed regulators to detect the fraud, and failed to comply with the Attorney General’s investigation, said the release.
The Academy For Youth Excellence (AFYE), for example, claimed to have served more than 8 million meals as a vendor to sites participating in the federal program. AFYE, which was created by Sahra Nur, would receive funds from the federal program for the meals it claimed to have served. AFYE would then transfer the money to S & S Catering, which was a commercial food company, of which Nur was a co-owner. The catering company received more than $10 million in payments from companies that acted sites in the scheme, according to the A.G.'s office.
The lawsuits were filed in the counties of Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Stearns and Rice, but the A.G.'s office plans to consolidate all of them in Hennepin County, where 16 of the 23 complaints were filed.
The nonprofits the A.G. is seeking the dissolution of are:
- Academy for Youth Excellence
- Advanced Youth Athletic Development
- African Chamber of Commerce Education
- Bet On Better Future
- Community Enhancement Services Inc.
- Gedo Community Services
- Hobyo Health Care Foundation
- Hope Academy for Youth & Women Empowerment
- Minnesota African Chamber of Commerce
- Minnesota’s Somali Community
- Multiple Community Services, MCS
- Optimum Community Services
- Serving Younger Generation
- Somali American Faribault Education
- South West Metro Youth
- Stigma-Free International
- The Free Minded Institute
- United Enrichment with Heart
- Unity Social Service
- Urban Advantage Services
- Xogmaal Media Group and Xogmaal Services
- Youth Higher Educational Achievement
- Youth Inventor’s Lab
According to the release, the dissolution of these organizations "does not preclude future civil remedies against other defendants" or individuals.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
