Star Tribune
State seeks to shut down nonprofits accused of defrauding federal meals program
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office is seeking to shut down 23 nonprofits accused of defrauding federal meals programs, most of which are related to the massive Feeding Our Future investigation.
The 23 civil cases, announced Wednesday, seek to legally dissolve the nonprofits from operating in Minnesota — a procedural step separate from more significant federal criminal cases.
Last fall, federal prosecutors announced the first indictments in the Feeding Our Future investigation, alleging a more than $250 million fraud scheme. Since then, 60 people have been charged, accused of stealing federal money meant to feed children in need while distributing little or no meals and spending the money on lavish homes, cars and trips.
The Attorney General’s Office can’t file criminal charges in the case, but it is responsible for enforcing charitable giving laws in Minnesota. Last January, Ellison’s office sued the leaders behind one of Feeding Our Future’s sites, ThinkTechAct Foundation. The Attorney General’s Office also sought court supervision of Feeding Our Future’s closure as a nonprofit, which is still ongoing.
Asked why it took more than a year after the federal investigation became public to seek to dissolve the organizations, a spokesman for Ellison’s office said it took the agency time to conduct an independent investigation of the 23 organizations — doing site visits, reviewing bank records and other steps to make sure there were no legitimate charitable purposes behind the nonprofits before seeking the “drastic step” of dissolving the organizations.
Some of the organizations the office are seeking to dissolve haven’t been named in federal indictments but were led by people who have been indicted. The state found that the 23 nonprofits were created or revived at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to tap into the federally funded meals program and had a series of state law violations — from misusing bank records to not conducting legitimate nonprofit activities on-site.
“Nonprofits are supposed to benefit the public — not defraud it,” Ellison said in a statement. “Most nonprofits work hard and do good work to help the people of Minnesota — but not these sham organizations.”
The organizations in the civil cases are: Academy for Youth Excellence, Advanced Youth Athletic Development, African Chamber of Commerce Education, Bet On Better Future, Community Enhancement Services Inc., Gedo Community Services, Hobyo Health Care Foundation, Hope Academy for Youth & Women Empowerment, Minnesota African Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota’s Somali Community, Multiple Community Services, Optimum Community Services, Serving Younger Generation, Somali American Faribault Education, South West Metro Youth, Stigma-Free International, the Free Minded Institute, United Enrichment with Heart, Unity Social Service, Urban Advantage Services, Xogmaal Media Group and Xogmaal Services, Youth Higher Educational Achievement and Youth Inventor’s Lab.
Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman’s wife, Ilo Amba, founded Urban Advantage Services. She hasn’t been criminally charged or accused of fraud by federal investigators.
In court documents, state attorneys said Amba established the “sham corporation” to direct money to herself and family, and her organization, which has no apparent legitimate activities or assets, refused to respond to the civil investigation. According to the state Education Department, which oversees the federal funding distributed to the state for these meal programs, her nonprofit received $461,533 in federal reimbursements in 2020 and 2021.
Reached Wednesday night, Osman, who is running for another term in next month’s election, said he wasn’t free to immediately comment on the state allegations. Last month, Ellison endorsed Osman, his fellow DFLer, for re-election.
Another of the organizations named in the new civil cases, Minnesota’s Somali Community, was run by Sharmarke Issa, who resigned from his position at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. He was indicted by federal prosecutors last year.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and her daughter were among the throngs Friday as President Joe Biden delivered the apology that many Indigenous Americans thought would never come.
“I think he really said the things that people have been waiting to hear for generations, acknowledged just the horror and trauma of literally having our children stolen from our communities,” said Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. “It’s a powerful first step towards healing.”
Hundreds of boarding schools operated in the 19th and 20th centuries, separating Indigenous children from their families and forcing them to assimilate to European ways. Many children were abused, and at least 973 died, according to a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Other Minnesotans reacted similarly to Flanagan, saying they welcomed the apology but that additional action is needed to help Indigenous people move forward.
Anton Treuer, a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, wrote in a newsletter that the apology was “a welcome first step on the journey to healing.”
“There is no way to truly right historical injustices for the children buried at Carlisle, Haskell, and other schools, but these words set a new tone for the country and will help heal the anguish so many Natives have carried for so long,” Treuer wrote. “It gives me hope that we can come together to reconcile and heal our troubled nation.”
Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, the first Indigenous woman to serve in the state Senate, called Biden’s apology encouraging.
“This recognition of past wrongdoings is an important step towards healing relationships between the United States and the sovereign nations affected by these past systems,” Kunesh said in a statement. “This dark period of American history must be remembered and taught.”
“I have done everything in my power to remedy this situation, and it continues to get more and more violent by the day,” Moturi wrote. “There have been numerous times when I’ve seen Sawchak outside and contacted law enforcement, and there was no response. I am not confident in the pursuit of Sawchak given that Sawchak attacked me, MPD officers had John detained, and despite an HRO and multiple warrants — they still let him go.”
On Friday, five City Council members sent a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressing their “utter horror at MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.”
Council Members Andrea Jenkins, Elliott Payne, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley went on to allege that police had failed to submit reports to the County Attorney’s Office despite threats being made with weapons, and at times while Sawchak screamed racial slurs. Sawchak is white and Moturi is Black.
The council members also contend in their letter that the MPD told the County Attorney’s Office that police did not intend to execute the warrant for “reasons of officer safety.”
At a Friday afternoon news conference at MPD’s Fifth Precinct, O’Hara said police had been working to arrest Sawchak since at least April, but “no Minneapolis police officers have had in-person contact with that suspect since the victim in this case has been calling us.” The chief pointed out that Sawchak is mentally ill, has guns and refuses to cooperate “in the dozens of times that police officers have responded to the residence.”
O’Hara put aside the option to carry out “a high-risk warrant based on these factors [and] the likelihood of an armed, violent confrontation where we may have to use deadly force with the suspect.” The preference, he said, was to arrest Sawchak outside his home, but “in this case, this suspect is a recluse and does not come out of the house.”
ROCHESTER – The Federal Transit Administration has green-lighted an $85 million grant supporting the development of the city’s planned Link Bus Rapid Transit system.
The FTA formally announced the grant on Friday during a ceremonial check presentation outside of the Mayo Civic Center, one of the seven stops planned for the bus line. The federal grant will cover about 60% of the project’s estimated $143.4 million price tag, with the remaining funds coming from Destination Medical Center, the largest public-private development project in state history.
Set to go live in 2026, the 2.8-mile Link system will connect downtown Rochester, including Mayo Clinic’s campuses, with a proposed “transit village” that will include parking, hundreds of housing units and a public plaza. The bus line will be the first of its kind outside the Twin Cities — with service running every five minutes during peak hours.
“That means you may not even need to look at a schedule,” said Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator for the FTA. “You can just show up at your transit stop and expect the next bus to come in a short time. That is a game changer and a life-transformational experience in transit for those people who are using it and relying on it.”
The planned Second Street corridor is already one of the busiest roads in Rochester, carrying more than 21,800 vehicles a day, and city planners have talked for years about ways to reduce traffic congestion in the city’s downtown. Local officials estimate that the transit line, which will rely on a fleet of all-electric buses, will handle 11,000 riders on its first day of operation and save eight city blocks of parking.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Friday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the project shows Rochester is thinking strategically about how it handles growth.
“If you just plan the business expansion, and you don’t have the workforce, you don’t have the child care, the housing or the transit, it’s not going to work very well as a lot of communities across the nation have found,” Klobuchar said.
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