21st guilty plea scheduled in Feeding Our Future case
The ever-alert Lou Raguse of KARE-11 TV noticed a late addition to the Federal court schedule for tomorrow. Raguse writes on Twitter (X),
New to the Federal Court docket: Feeding our Future defendant Haji Salad is scheduled to change his plea to guilty on Thursday. That makes three guilty pleas set for this week from a group of 5 that was scheduled for trial Nov. 4. Will the trial still happen for the last 2?
Haji Osman Salad, aged 34, is the lead defendant of the Haji’s Kitchen group of Feeding Our Future defendants. In the official numbering system, Salad is defendant No. 31 in the larger case and his eight (8) co-defendants are numbered 32 through 35 and 54 through 57.
The addition of Salad brings to three the number of guilty pleas from the Haji’s Kitchen group scheduled for this week. If all goes according to plan, this group of nine will have produced a total of six guilty pleas by Friday. I profiled the other two guilty pleas from this week here.
One defendant, Fahad Nur (No. 32), is a fugitive from justice.
That leaves only two remaining defendants (Farhiya Mohamed, No. 35, and Kawsar Jama, No. 54) to stand trial beginning Nov. 4. The Sahan Journal reports that Farhiya is the mother of defendant No. 34, Sharmarke Issa. Issa is a two-time Jacob Frey appointee as head of the City of Minneapolis’ public housing authority. This morning, Issa pled guilty to one count in the Feeding case, becoming guilty plea No. 19.
In his plea agreement filed this morning (p. 3), Issa, aged 42, admitted to taking $7.6 million out of the free-food programs, of which he received $3.6 million. Of that amount, $785,000 went toward buying a home in Edina, which is now subject to forfeiture.
Issa continues to be free on bond as he awaits sentencing. He faces around three years in prison.
Haji Salad appears to be the rare defendant in the case who is not an American citizen. I noted Salad’s apparent links to a notorious Nashville criminal case and a Minneapolis cop killer here.
In the original 2022 indictment in the case, Salad alone is accused of stealing $16 million from the free-food programs. In a March 2023 update to the case, the nine-member Haji group is accused a stealing a total of $50 million.
On a related note, yesterday, the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a press release announcing the dissolution of a nonprofit run by two other defendants in the Feeding Our Future case.
Shamsia Hopes was founded by Mekfira Hussein, defendant No. 48. Along with her husband, Abduljabar (No. 50), the Husseins form their own defendant group, and both were in court last week for a status conference.
At the height of the scandal, Mekfira was put forward to media as the biggest Feeding Our Future success story. Sahan Journal wrote of her back in May 2021,
Mekfira Hussein’s meal programs have been feeding 5,000 children a day in the Twin Cities. A state effort to discipline an intermediary nonprofit forced her to suspend operations.
The filing made yesterday by the Attorney General tells a much different story,
The AG’s office reports that it has confirmed many of the Federal accusations through its own independent investigation.
Back in February 2023, the state revoked the license of an adult day care center linked to the couple.