A Minneapolis woman pleaded guilty on Friday to wire fraud for her role in the Feeding Our Future scheme, and admitted to running a business that stole millions from the government by falsely inflating the number of meals it claimed to serve to children.

Khadra Abdi, 42, admitted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis that she stole more than $3.4 million in fraud money from the federal government as part of the Feeding Our Future scheme between 2020 and 2022. As part of her plea agreement, Abdi’s other charges related to wire fraud and money laundering will be dismissed at sentencing.

Abdi operated a Hopkins-based business called Shafi’s Tutoring and Homework Help Center, which was created prior to the pandemic and the Feeding Our Future scheme. In April 2020 Abdi signed a contract with Aimee Bock, the executive director of Feeding Our Future, for Shafi’s Tutoring to serve as a site to feed low-income children under the Federal Child Nutrition Program.

The tutoring business claimed to have served 1.1 million meals to children, federal charges say. Instead, only a “small fraction” of those reported meals were served, and the business falsely-inflated its meal number reports, prosecutors said.

Abdi gave some of the $3.4 million in fraud money to other members of the scheme, and used at least $202,000 to pay herself, charges say. Some of the funds allegedly went to personal spending for credit card and loan payments, cable TV, clothing and nail salon services.

Abdi admitted that she purchased two vehicles partially with fraud money. She agreed to forfeit properties and vehicles she bought with fraud money, and she is required to pay back the $3.4 million she received as restitution.

Asked by U.S. Assistant Attorney Matthew Ebert if her co-defendant Abdulkadir Awale operated as a fraudulent food vendor who did not provide food to Shafi’s Tutoring as reported on invoices, Abdi initially pushed back.

“Food was served at the site,” Abdi said through a Somali interpreter. “I cannot speak to the invoices.”

The case has garnered national attention both for the salaciousness of a high-profile university official making pornographic movies and publicly talking about it and the questions it raises about free speech rights.

Gow argued that his videos and two e-books he and his wife, Carmen, have published about their experiences in adult films are protected by the First Amendment.

”You don’t need the First Amendment to protect ‘The Star Spangled Banner,”’ Gow’s attorney, Mark Leitner, told the committee. ”You don’t need the First Amendment to protect easy and comforting speech. It’s exactly the opposite. We need the First Amendment precisely when the danger of stifling, controversial, unpopular speech is at its highest. And that’s what we have here.”

Harrison, the university’s attorney, countered that the videos themselves are legal, but they are not protected speech under his employment contract.

”Gow’s pornography videos are not protected by the First Amendment,” Harrison said.

Gow has gotten what he wants, which is attention on his books and videos, Harrison said.

BISMARCK, N.D. — The adult son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer is scheduled to change his not-guilty plea on Friday in the crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy last year.

Ian Cramer, 43, was charged with homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and drug- and driving-related offenses in the Dec. 6, 2023, pursuit and crash that killed Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin, 53.

Cramer was initially charged with manslaughter, later upgraded to the homicide offense, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine. In April, Cramer pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A notice filed Wednesday indicated his change of plea, but court filings didn’t provide details.

Cramer’s father, Kevin Cramer, a Republican running for his second Senate term, has said his son ”suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.”

Before the crash, Ian Cramer’s mother had taken him to a hospital because of mental health concerns. When she stepped out of the vehicle, Ian Cramer crawled into the driver’s seat and sped in reverse, smashing through a closed garage door to the ambulance bay and fleeing the hospital, Bismarck police said.

He later fled again when a deputy confronted him in Hazen, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Bismarck, and hit speeds over 100 mph (160 kph), continuing even after a spiked device flattened two tires, according to court documents.

More spikes were set up, and Cramer swerved and then crashed head-on into Martin’s patrol vehicle, launching the deputy about 100 feet (30 meters), authorities said. Martin was pronounced dead at a hospital.