U.S. Attorney seeks 21+ year sentence in Feeding Our Future fraud case
Sentencing for the five Feeding Our Future defendants convicted at trial back in June is scheduled to occur on October 16. Two other defendants in that trial were acquitted.
This is the federal case that involved an unsuccessful attempt to bribe a juror. To keep track of who’s who between the fraud and bribery cases, I created this chart:
The bribery case was scheduled for trial this fall. However, court filings reveal that the evidence is so voluminous (and still incoming), those proceedings are likely be delayed.
Likewise, several defendants convicted in the fraud case are seeking to delay sentencing. So far, only the sentencing of Mukhtar Shariff appears to be on track for October 16. He was not charged in the bribery case but has been in custody since the end of the fraud trial.
In the broader free-food case, Shariff is Defendant No. 21. At trial he was convicted on four of the six counts he faced. He was the only defendant to testify at trial or to put his own witnesses.
The June trial for fraud featured seven defendants associated with the now-defunct restaurant Empire Cuisine.
Shariff, now aged 33, was better known as the developer of the Afrique cultural center in Bloomington. The center eventually opened under a new name and new management near the megamall.
Shariff’s defense is seeking a prison term of less than five years in the case. The defense argues (p. 29) that Shariff has already suffered enough from this process. They maintain that Shariff was a bit player in the overall scheme.
They argue that the delay in sentencing (from June to October) calls for a lower sentence.
Prosecutors are calling for a sentence of 262 months in prison, or more than 21 years. As aggravating factors, they cite Shariff’s perjury at trial and the perjury of another witness he put on the stand (p. 6). They also note (p. 7) that he recorded 11 hours of trial testimony on his phone, in clear violation of court rules.
In their memorandum, prosecutors note (p. 5) the financial transaction between Shariff and defendants in two other Feeding Our Future groups yet to stand trial: the Safari Restaurant group and the Ikram Mohamed group.
In the meantime, prosecutors are moving ahead with their forfeiture claims against the Empire group. Court filings against the property involved run to hundreds of pages and feature the following:
- More than $7,500,000 in money seized from bank accounts
- Six properties located in Minnesota and Kentucky
- 4 automobiles
- $66,000 in currency
- Lots of jewelry, phones, and personal items seized in searches
All of which totals just a fraction of the money stolen by those convicted.