A judge in Minnesota sentenced two men to prison on Wednesday for running a massive pandemic fraud campaign.
Ahmed Ghedi was sentenced to over five years in prison, and Abdihakim Ahmed was sentenced to four and a half years. Prosecutors say the pair helped run the fraudulent child nutrition site Feeding Our Future, which claimed to be giving food to thousands of children each day in the Twin Cities area.
The pair received $7.3 million in COVID relief funds meant to help support the program. Instead, they used the money to buy a car and property, as well as share the cash with a Feeding Our Future employee.
The judge also ordered the men to pay restitution, with Ahmed to pay $2,242,590 and Ghedi $2,862,451.
Their sentencing comes months after the mastermind behind the Feeding Our Future scam, Amee Bock, was sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison in May.
Bock ran the Feeding Our Future organization and was convicted of orchestrating $250 million in pandemic relief fraud.
Prosecutors told the court the nonprofit functioned as a “cash pipeline,” relying on a web of fake distribution sites, fabricated lists of children and kickbacks.
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During sentencing, Bock told the federal court, “I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone.”
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The sprawling investigation has led to the convictions of dozens of people, many hailing from the state’s large Somali community.
The Feeding Our Future scheme spurred the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter, which led to violent protests and multiple fatal federal officer-involved shootings.
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
