Star Tribune
Nonprofit tied to Feeding Our Future fraud case closes amid MN AG probe
A Shakopee-based nonprofit linked to the massive Feeding Our Future food aid fraud case has agreed to dissolve amid an investigation by the Minnesota attorney general, according to recent filings in Scott County District Court.
Attorney General Keith Ellison launched its probe of Shamsia Hopes after a federal grand jury in 2022 indicted Mekfira Hussein, its founder and president, and her husband on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme prosecutors say stole $250 million from a federal child nutrition program during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
According to state and federal court records, Hussein agreed to dissolve her nonprofit in Scott County a day before she and her husband, Abduljabar Hussein, pleaded not guilty in their federal criminal case.
“Minnesota nonprofit corporations are obligated by law to spend money on their mission alone, not to enrich their founders or the founders’ families,” Ellison said in a statement Tuesday. “Illegal activity like this risks eroding Minnesotans’ faith in our non-profits, which would be a genuine shame given the important work non-profits do across our state every single day. Shamsia Hopes’ misuse of charitable assets is as disappointing as it is unacceptable, and I am glad to be shutting them down.”
A message was left seeking comment from Hussein’s attorney.
Ellison’s office found that Shamsia Hopes ignored governance requirements that resulted in the misuse of assets by Hussein. The probe found that Hussein ran Shamsia Hopes “almost completely by herself” despite a state law requiring that nonprofit corporations be managed by a board of directors. Instead, she controlled Shamsia Hopes’ finances with hardly any oversight and acted as its president, secretary, treasurer and director despite being indicted in November 2022.
Ellison’s office said Hussein used nonprofit assets on a $93,250 Porsche and to pay off her and her husband’s $173,438 mortgage. They also found that she steered at least $5.4 million to Oromia Feeds LLC, a company set up by her husband – who was a vice president of Shamsia Hopes from 2015 to 2020. Oromia Feeds claimed to provide food to children at Shamsia Hopes’ sites in Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, and Fridley. According to the federal charges, a scant amount of the money routed to Oromia Feeds was actually spent on food despite claims by Shamsia Hopes that it served 5,000 meals to children seven days a week.
The agreement to dissolve still needs approval from a judge in Scott County. Under the agreement, Ellison’s office could still elect to bring claims against Hussein or anyone else. Shamsia Hopes would stop accepting donations and begin the dissolution process within 60 days of a judge’s approval.
Both MSA schools have foundations to support their missions, though the report found that MSA “did not obtain required financial reports from its affiliated foundations, including their annual financial statements or their annual reports about fundraising activities.”
The Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Foundation was inactive between 2020 and 2023 because the foundation board members had moved out-of-state, according to the report. And the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Foundation did not file as a nonprofit corporation with the Office of the Secretary of State until the auditor’s office inquired about a filing status in May.
In his letter, Wilding said that, by next month, a school administrator for each school will be assigned to act as a liaison between each school and its foundation. But, he added, “The [Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Foundation] is considering its future and may not continue their operations. If this is the case, we will obtain financial documentation of their fund disbursements for record keeping.”
Over the last several months, Wilding wrote, MSA has updated or implemented new procedures to address several concerns, including how payroll and deposits are monitored and how both petty cash expenses and travel expenditures are approved.
A quarterly review of donation acceptance forms will begin in 2025, he said. MSA’s fiscal services director will also work with the state Department of Education “on the process for returning overreported expenditures” — a process Wilding wrote should be completed by January 2025.
Star Tribune
Sentence topping 8 years for man whose ricochet gunshot struck Minneapolis girl, 11, in face
A 45-year-old man received a prison term Tuesday topping eight years for squeezing off automatic gunfire moments into New Year’s Day in Minneapolis that ricocheted and struck a girl in the face while she was looking out her second-story bedroom window.
James William Turner, of Fridley, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition in connection with the shooting of Laneria Wilson, 11, on Jan. 1 near 23rd and Bryant avenues N.
With federal sentencing guidelines recommending a sentence of anywhere from 8⅓ to nearly 10½ years in prison, Judge Ann Montgomery opted for the lowest point in that range and added three years of court supervision after his release.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors pointed out to Montgomery that “instead of celebrating New Year’s with her friends or family, [Laneria] spent the evening having bullet fragments removed from her face. The victim could easily have been killed. Moreover, the bullet that struck the 11-year-old appears to be one of 24 shots Turner fired that night — 24 bullets that could have injured or killed innocent people.”
Prosecutors also noted that Turner’s criminal history spans his entire adult life and includes convictions for second-degree assault in Anoka County and domestic assault in Ramsey County. Those convictions barred him from possessing guns or ammunition.
Defense attorney F. Clayton Tyler asked that Turner receive a five-year term, arguing that he has abstained from illicit drugs and alcohol since his arrest and has completed mental health therapy.
Also, Tyler added, while Turner admitted to firing the automatic rifle, “he did not do so maliciously or with intent to hurt or frighten anyone. On the contrary, he considered himself close friends with the child’s mother and had previously babysat the child.”
Laneria’s mother, Shenedra Ross, told the Star Tribune in May that since the shooting, she moved her family about two hours west of Minneapolis, where they had lived previously. In the days after being shot, just shy of her 12th birthday, Ross said, Laneria had difficulty coping and was afraid to be near windows.
A 34-year-old Dilworth man who was hit in the head by a stray bullet Saturday while deer hunting is not expected to survive.
According to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Jace Srur was shot by someone within his hunting party in rural Moorhead on Nov. 9. Authorities had responded around 8 a.m. and provided first aid before an ambulance arrived and Srur was air lifted to Sanford Hospital.
As of Tuesday, Srur’s injuries were considered “life-threatening and non-survivable,” according to the sheriff’s office. The shooting is still under investigation.
On the same day, a 37-year-old man was injured in a hunting accident in Lee Township, Minn., however, his injuries weren’t life threatening.
Saturday was the start of Minnesota’s firearm deer hunting season.
