Food scam

During the pandemic, the USDA waived several standard oversight requirements for child nutrition programs to ensure children were fed while schools were closed. The conspirators used these loosened rules to rapidly open sites that were not subject to rigorous verification. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) obtained the funds for the Feeding Our Future program from federal COVID-19 relief money allocated to the Federal Child Nutrition Program, specifically through waivers approved during the pandemic. Feeding Our Future expanded exponentially, growing from handling approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million by 2021. The Minnesota-based nonprofit used the pandemic-era expansion of federal nutrition programs to sponsor over 250 sites, ultimately, over $240 million in fraudulent funds were disbursed through their scheme. Fake businesses enrolled and created fake meal sites, including invoices, and list of children to receive reimbursement for meals not served. They used Excel formulas to assign random ages (between 7 and 17) to the fake names on rosters. Money was laundered through shell companies disguised as "consulting" or "maintenance" firms. Many of the participants were related and most of the 65 people convicted so far are Somalis.