Andrew M. Luger, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
A Rochester man, Sharmake Jama, has admitted to his involvement in a $250 million fraud scheme related to a federal child nutrition program. The scheme took advantage of the program changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, as stated by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that between October 2020 and January 2022, Jama participated in defrauding a program meant to provide free meals to children. Instead of feeding children, he and others misappropriated millions of dollars from the program.
In September 2020, Jama and Aimee Bock applied for Brava Restaurant's enrollment in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under Bock’s non-profit organization, Feeding Our Future. This application was prepared with guidance from Salim Said, co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis.
Jama and other conspirators falsely claimed Brava Restaurant served 2,000 to 3,000 daily meals from late 2020 through 2021. They submitted fraudulent attendance rosters with fake names or incorrect numbers of children supposedly fed.
According to Jama's plea agreement entered today, he claimed Brava Restaurant served over 1.7 million meals in Rochester within just over a year—far exceeding actual figures. These false claims led Feeding Our Future to reimburse more than $5.3 million for meals allegedly provided by Jama and his associates.
Jama’s restaurant received $4.3 million directly from Feeding Our Future and over $900,000 from Safari Restaurant. To facilitate this scheme, shell companies were established for receiving and dispersing funds.
On January 7, 2021, Salim Said registered six shell companies with Minnesota state authorities for Jama and others; Mumu LLC was specifically registered for Jama. In 2021 alone, he deposited at least $872,230 into Mumu LLC accounts—all misappropriated funds.
These funds were used for personal expenses unrelated to child nutrition programs: $88,000 went toward purchasing a GMC Sierra truck while over $500k was spent on real estate properties in Minnesota cities such as Rochester & Rosemount.
Jama pleaded guilty before Chief Judge Patrick J Schiltz at US District Court today—charged with wire fraud & money laundering offenses; sentencing will be scheduled later date-wise.
This case stems from investigations conducted by FBI agents alongside IRS Criminal Investigations Unit plus US Postal Inspection Service officials involved too throughout proceedings so far!
Prosecution handled by Assistant US Attorneys Matthew S Ebert Joseph H Thompson Harry M Jacobs whereas asset seizure forfeiture overseen via Assistant US Attorney Craig Baune’s efforts accordingly thereafter henceforth conclusively finalized upon resolution thereof altogether effectively now fully complete overall ultimately finalized therein entirely thus far indeed!
