1 Million Dollars Movie

[Elvisa Schimke]

TheDepartment of Justice announced today federal criminal charges against 47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As outlined in the charging documents, the defendants devised and carried out a massive scheme to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program. The defendants obtained, misappropriated, and laundered millions of dollars in program funds that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children. The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than feed children, the defendants enriched themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the USDA waived some of the standard requirements for participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Among other things, the USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate in the program, as well as allowed for off-site food distribution to children outside of educational programs.

As part of the charged scheme, Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota. These sites, created and operated by the defendants and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed. The defendants created dozens of shell companies to enroll in the program as Federal Child Nutrition Program sites. The defendants also created shell companies to receive and launder the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme.

Despite knowing the claims were fraudulent, Feeding Our Future submitted the fraudulent claims to MDE and then disbursed the fraudulently obtained Federal Child Nutrition Program funds to the individuals and entities involved in the scheme.

In total, Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites throughout the state of Minnesota and fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. The defendants used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel.

United States v. Aimee Marie Bock, et al., 22-CR-223 (NEB/TNL), charges 14 defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering for their roles the Federal Child Nutrition Program fraud scheme. In April 2020, Safari Restaurant enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. The owners of Safari Restaurant and their co-conspirators opened additional sites throughout the state of Minnesota, as well as dozens of shell companies. Over the course of the fraud scheme, the defendants claimed to have served millions of meals. Based on their fraudulent claims, the defendants received more than $32 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which they misappropriated for their own personal benefit, including expenditures such as vehicles, real estate, and travel.

United States v. Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, et al., 22-CR-124 (NEB/TNL), charges eight defendants with conspiracy, wire fraud, federal programs bribery, and money laundering for their roles the Federal Child Nutrition Program fraud scheme. In April 2020, Empire Cuisine and Market LLC enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future and Sponsor A. The owners of Empire Cuisine and Market LLC and their co-conspirators opened additional sites throughout the state of Minnesota, as well as dozens of shell companies. Over the course of the fraud scheme, the defendants claimed to have served millions of meals. Based on their fraudulent claims, the defendants received more than $40 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which they misappropriated for their own personal benefit, including expenditures such as vehicles, travel, real estate, and property in Kenya.

United States v. Qamar Ahmed Hassan, et al., 22-CR-224 (NEB/TNL), charges eight defendants with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering for their roles the Federal Child Nutrition Program fraud scheme. In August 2020, S & S Catering Inc. enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. The owner of S & S Catering and other co-conspirators opened sites across the Twin Cities and claimed to have served millions of meals. Based on their fraudulent claims, the defendants received more than $18 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which they misappropriated for their own personal benefit, including expenditures such as vehicles and real estate.

United States v. Liban Yasin Alishire, et al., 22-CR-222 (NEB/TML), charges three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs, federal programs bribery, and money laundering for their roles in the Federal Child Nutrition Program fraud scheme. The owner of Community Enhancement Services Inc. and other co-conspirators opened multiple sites and shell companies in the JigJiga Business Center in Minneapolis. Over the course of the fraud scheme, the defendants claimed to have served hundreds of thousands of meals. Based on their fraudulent claims, the defendants received more than $1.6 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which they misappropriated for their own personal benefit, including expenditures such as vehicles, real estate, and beach property in Kenya.

United States v. Sharmake Jama, et al., 22-CR-225 (NEB/TNL), charges six defendants with wire fraud, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering for their roles in the Federal Child Nutrition Program fraud scheme. In September 2020, Brava Restaurant & Caf LLC, a site located in Rochester, Minnesota, enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. The owners of Brava Restaurant & Caf and other co-conspirators claimed to have served millions of meals from Brava Restaurant & Caf and falsely claimed to have a contract with Rochester Public Schools. Based on their fraudulent claims, the defendants received approximately $4.3 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which they misappropriated for their own personal benefit, including expenditures such as vehicles, real estate, and property on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

United States Attorney Andrew Luger thanked the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their collaboration and skilled investigative work in bringing these indictments.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs, Chelsea A. Walcker, Matthew S. Ebert, and Joseph S. Teirab for the District of Minnesota are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Baune is handling the seizure and forfeiture of assets.

A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment yesterday charging a prominent activist short seller with multiple counts of securities fraud for a long-running market...

This conduct was in violation of New York Executive Law 63(12), which gives the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) special and broad powers to go after persistent and repeated fraud and illegality, which in this case includes violating other state laws prohibiting the submission of false financial statements, the falsification of business records, and the commission of insurance fraud.

As a consequence of these violations, OAG is seeking, among other relief, to: 1) permanently bar Mr. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump from serving as an officer or director in any New York corporation or similar business entity registered and/or licensed in New York state; 2) bar Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization from entering into any New York real estate acquisitions for five years; 3) award disgorgement of all financial benefits obtained through the persistent fraudulent practices, estimated to total $250 million.

They also issued statements that were in blatant violation of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the United States, despite representing that the statements were prepared in accordance with these principles. They ignored the most basic rules and standards for financial reporting, including:

In the 214-page complaint, which is the culmination of our investigation that included more than 65 witness interviews and review of millions of pages of documents, OAG lays out dozens of examples of this fraudulent activity and how Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization routinely and intentionally misvalued assets to further enrich Mr. Trump. The complaint includes fraudulent conduct across more than 23 different properties and other assets owned by Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization. Some examples of this misconduct include:

The statements were used to obtain and maintain favorable loans over at least an 11-year period. All told, the financial benefit realized from this scheme was approximately $250 million, including interest savings and transaction profits, because of the favorable loan terms they were able to obtain using his false and misleading statements.

The 16 defendants in this case include: Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, the Trump Organization Inc., the Trump Organization LLC, the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, DJT Holdings LLC, DJT Holdings Managing Member, Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey McConney, as well as the entities that received the loans that are the subject of the action, including: Trump Endeavor 12 LLC, 401 North Wabash Venture LLC, Trump Old Post Office LLC, 40 Wall Street LLC, and Seven Springs LLC.

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