4th guilty plea entered in Feeding Our Future fraud case

The St. Paul man will face a sentencing hearing at a later date.

Author:
BringMeTheNews
Publish date:
Oct 27, 2022

More than 250 law enforcement personnel took part in executing search warrants related to the case on Jan. 20, 2022. Afterwards, the evidence was brought to the FBI Minneapolis Field Office for processing. Courtesy of FBI.

The St. Paul man will face a sentencing hearing at a later date.

Federal authorities on Thursday announced the fourth guilty plea in the alleged $250 million fraud scheme tied to the Feeding Our Future nonprofit.

Abdul Abubakar Ali, 40, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors say Ali admitted to using a non-profit entitled called Youth Investors Lab as a shell company to co-conspire on a scheme to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program.

According to his guilty plea, Ali submitted fake invoices purporting to document food purchases. However, Ali's nonprofit did not serve any meals to children in need.

In total, Youth Inventors Lab claimed to have served over 1.3 million meals between December 2020 through June 2021 and fraudulently received $3,029,786 in reimbursements from Feeding Our Future.

Federal authorities have so far charged 50 people in connection with the alleged scheme, which is the largest known pandemic fraud case in the nation.