Fourth Feeding Our Future defendant to plead guilty
Another defendant in the sprawling Feeding Our Future investigation is expected to plead guilty this week.
Prosecutors have charged 50 people with stealing around $250 million from two federal child nutrition programs by putting phony children’s names on reimbursement forms and falsifying other paperwork.
They allegedly hid the cash in shell companies and spent it on real estate, vehicles, travel and luxury goods.
Court records show that Abdul Abubakar Ali, 40, of St. Paul, who pleaded not guilty last month to charges of wire fraud and money laundering, is expected to plead guilty at a Wednesday afternoon hearing.
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Federal prosecutors say Ali ran a meal site called Youth Inventors Lab that falsely claimed to have served 1.5 million meals over a seven month period.
Three other defendants pleaded guilty earlier this month.
Most of the others, including Feeding our Future Founder and alleged ringleader Aimee Bock, have pleaded not guilty.