Woman accused of bribe in Feeding Our Future trial got at least $1.6 million as ‘fake’ vendor, new records show

The woman who allegedly tried to bribe a juror in the first Feeding Our Future trial last year with a bag full of $120,000 in cash also controlled a company that received at least $1.6 million from other entities involved in the fraud scheme, according to a document unsealed Tuesday by a federal judge.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, a 31-year-old from Seattle, created a food vendor called Afro Produce in St. Paul in 2018, according to corporate filings with the Minnesota Secretary of State.

In 2020 and 2021, Afro Produce showed up as a purported food supplier for several companies controlled by individuals who have since pleaded guilty for their roles in the $250 million fraud scheme. Prosecutors allege dozens of people stole money from a federally funded child nutrition program by submitting grossly inflated claims, according to court records and testimony in this month’s trial of Feeding Our Future director Aimee Bock and an alleged accomplice, Salim Said.

Bock has been accused by prosecutors of organizing the pay-for-play scheme, one of the country’s largest pandemic-related frauds.

Pauline Roase, a forensic accountant with the FBI, testified Tuesday in Bock and Salim’s trial that she reviewed the bank records of Afro Produce and “could not quantify whether there was any food purchased at all or if these were just fabricated invoices.”

In a search warrant unveiled Tuesday, FBI agent Kevin Kane said conspirators used Afro Produce to cover their tracks by submitting “fake invoices” documenting the purchase of food that was never delivered by the St. Paul company, which listed its business address as 2554 Como Av.

Similar invoices have been the subject of testimony in the trial of Bock and Said, with FBI agents showing Afro Produce invoices that claimed to document the purchase of hundreds of thousands of dollars of food by companies accused of defrauding the meals program.

In the search warrant, Kane noted that Ali received a series of “large checks” from Afro Produce in 2021 and 2022. The warrant includes photocopies of three checks totaling $40,000 made out to Ali from Afro Produce.

Ali’s attorney, Eric Newmark, said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the search warrant and declined to comment.

Ali also was connected to Gar Gaar Family Services, a Minneapolis nonprofit booted from the meals program in late 2021 by the Minnesota Department of Education after collecting more than $21 million in federal reimbursements for serving 7 million meals.

According to the search warrant, Ali listed Gar Gaar as her employer when she opened a bank account in 2021.

The owners of Gar Gaar Family Services haven’t been charged with any crimes. The organization asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to reverse the state’s decision, but the court determined the state followed federal rules. Gar Gaar agreed to dissolve last year after an investigation by Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office found it violated laws regarding its operations and financial transactions.

Ali pleaded guilty last fall to federal charges and admitted she had pocketed $80,000 given to her by defendants on trial to bribe the juror.

The rare incident, the first attempted bribe of a juror in Minnesota in more than 60 years, was condemned by prosecutors as an attack on the justice system and led the judge in the case to sequester jurors for their safety as they deliberated last year. Extra security measures were added to the courtroom as well as in this month’s trial.

Ali’s next court hearing is Thursday to discuss if she violated conditions of her release after a DWI arrest in February. According to charges filed in Hennepin County District Court, a State Patrol trooper stopped Ali after she rear-ended another car and fled the scene. Her breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.28%.