Minneapolis Men Plead Guilty in $250M, $6M Fraud Schemes

Two Minneapolis men have recently pleaded guilty to significant fraud schemes involving federal funds. Abdikadir Ainashe Mohamud, 33, admitted to wire fraud for his role in a $250 million scheme that exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program, where he falsely claimed to operate a child nutrition site and submitted fake meal counts, resulting in over $2.5 million in fraudulent transfers. Meanwhile, Tezzaree El-Amin Champion, 28, pleaded guilty to defrauding various pandemic aid programs out of more than $6 million through his consulting firm, Futuristic Management, and his nonprofit, Encouraging Leaders, which submitted numerous false applications for funding. Champion's fraudulent applications involved multiple government and private agencies, leading to significant financial losses. Both cases highlight serious abuses of federal assistance programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, with sentencing hearings pending. These guilty pleas reflect ongoing efforts by federal authorities to clamp down on pandemic-related fraud.