2 weeks Ago By Olivia Estright
MINNEAPOLIS — Two more people from Rochester pleaded guilty to participating in the Feeding Our Future fraud case. Six people, who worked at Brava Restaurant & Cafe LLC in Rochester, were charged with 29 counts relating to wire fraud and money laundering after the restaurant received $4.3 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds meant for feeding children.
Sharmake Jama, one of the principals of Brava Restaurant, entered a guilty plea on Jan. 29 . ADVERTISEMENT Days later on Jan.
31, Ayan Jama, the other principal of Brava Restaurant, admitted that she used more than $775,000 of the funds to pay for personal expenditures, including property in Alanya, Turkey, and homes in Rochester and Columbus, Ohio. Zamzam Jama, who worked at Brava Restaurant, was the third to change her plea to guilty for money laundering on Feb. 5.
According to the indictment, Zamzam used more than $111,000 on a Toyota Rav4 and a home in Rosemount. Sentencing hearings for the three defendants have not been scheduled as of Feb. 5.
Beginning in October 2020, Brava Restaurant began submitting weekly meal count sheets to Feeding Our Future, claiming the site fed thousands of children each day. According to the indictment, the restaurant claimed it was entitled to reimbursement of hundreds of thousands of dollars each month despite having only a small fraction of food costs. Jama, along with five other Brava Restaurant workers listed on the indictment, received and disbursed the program funds through shell companies to "make expenditures for their own benefit that had nothing to do with feeding children," the indictment said.
The three other defendants listed on the indictment include Asha Jama, of Lakeville; Fartun Jama, of Rosemount; and Mustafa Jama, of Rochester. "Ultimately, Sharmake Jama and Ayan Jama falsely claimed that the Brava Restaurant site served more than 1.7 million meals in Rochester as part of the Federal Child Nutrition Program in a little over one year," the indictment said.
ADVERTISEMENT The Department of Justice filed federal criminal charges in 2022 against 70 defendants for their roles in the $250-million fraud scheme during COVID-19. The second jury trial for the fraud scheme began on Feb. 3 for Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future.
Mohamed Ismail, the first defendant sentenced for his involvement in the Feeding Our Future case, received 12 years in October 2024. Last week, Mukhtar Shariff, another defendant in the case, was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison .
Shariff was convicted following the June 2024 trial where several defendants were accused of attempting to bribe a juror..
