A south Minneapolis day care center owner is the latest person accused of taking part in Minnesota’s massive Feeding Our Future scam.
Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, faces a single charge of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Minnesota. Authorities arrested her on Feb. 12, when they say she was supposed to take the first leg of a round-trip flight to London.
According to a newly unsealed criminal complaint, Mahamud, owner of the day care Future Leaders Early Learning Center, received reimbursements through a children‘s meals program that federal prosecutors say has been pilfered to the tune of $300 million.
A review of suspected fraudulent invoices, a forensic examination of bank records and an admission by a Feeding Our Future conspirator are among the evidence FBI investigators included in an affidavit supporting criminal charges for Mahamud.
An attorney for Mahamud did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, Feb. 19.
The day care has been enrolled to serve the meals to children through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s program since at least 2018, according to court records. During the pandemic, the federal government expanded the program and lowered certain administrative requirements to reflect the international emergency.
Feeding Our Future, a larger Minnesota nonprofit, helped administer the program. Mahamud’s day care was among the sites where children could be served meals.
Before the pandemic, Future Leaders Early Learning Center provided a “modest” number of meals through the program, typically filing claims of about $10,000 per month, according to an affidavit prepared by FBI Special Agent Jared Kary of the Minneapolis office.
