Andrew M. Luger, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
A Rochester woman has admitted her involvement in a $250 million fraud scheme that took advantage of a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, as stated by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that Ayan Jama, aged 45, participated in defrauding a federal child nutrition program meant to provide free meals to children from December 2020 through January 2022. Instead of helping children, the defendants misappropriated millions of dollars from the program funds for personal gain during the pandemic.
Jama was identified as one of the key figures behind Brava Rochester in Minnesota. In September 2020, Brava Restaurant and Aimee Bock sought enrollment in the Federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future, Bock’s non-profit organization. The enrollment was facilitated by a co-conspirator who prepared application paperwork under Salim Said's guidance, co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis—another business implicated in defrauding the food program.
Between late 2020 and 2021, Jama and her associates falsely claimed Brava Restaurant served up to 3,000 daily meals to children, leading to fraudulent receipt of millions from federal funds. They submitted fake attendance rosters listing names of children who supposedly received meals. However, these names were either fake or did not match actual numbers.
Jama's plea agreement disclosed that she falsely claimed over 1.7 million meals served at Brava Restaurant within a year—a figure far exceeding reality. As a result of these false claims, Feeding Our Future disbursed more than $5.3 million in reimbursements for alleged meals served by Jama and her co-conspirators. Out of this amount, Brava Restaurant directly received $4.3 million from Feeding Our Future and over $900,000 from Safari Restaurant owned by Salim Said.
The conspirators established shell companies to handle funds from the federal child nutrition program. On January 7, 2021, Salim Said registered six shell companies with Minnesota’s state on behalf of Jama and others; he registered East Africa LLC specifically for Jama. She deposited at least $407,070 into East Africa LLC accounts using misappropriated funds.
These funds were used for personal expenses unrelated to feeding children: $254,041 went towards purchasing a home in Rochester, Minnesota; $168,000 bought another home in Columbus, Ohio; and $356,795 purchased property along Turkey's Mediterranean Coast.
Last Friday at U.S District Court before Chief Judge Patrick J Schiltz., Jama pleaded guilty to one count each for wire fraud & money laundering charges; sentencing awaits scheduling.
This case results from an investigation conducted jointly by FBI agents alongside IRS-Criminal Investigations division members plus U.S Postal Inspection Service officials—prosecuted primarily under Assistant US Attorneys Matthew S Ebert Joseph H Thompson Harry M Jacobs supervision while asset seizure forfeiture handled separately via Assistant US Attorney Craig Baune efforts.
