Minneapolis convenience store owner is 77th charged in Feeding Our Future scheme
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The Feeding Our Future fraud investigation continues to expand with a new federal indictment unsealed Thursday. Ousman Camara, the owner of K’s Grocery and Deli on West Broadway Avenue in north Minneapolis, is the 77th person charged in the case since late 2022.
Camara, 45, is charged with nine counts including wire fraud, money laundering and federal programs bribery. The evidence is similar to that laid out in previous cases.
Around September 2020, Camara allegedly enrolled his store in taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs under the sponsorship of the now-defunct nonprofit Feeding Our Future.
Prosecutors allege that Camara claimed to have served breakfast and lunch to 1,000 children each day, seven days a week at the store and sent in fraudulent reimbursement requests to back up his claims. Seven months later, in April 2021, he set up a nonprofit called K’s Foundation, which Camara also allegedly used to claim reimbursement for meals never served.
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Investigators said that Camara falsely claimed to have served 300,000 meals and collected about $1 million in late 2020 and throughout 2021.
The indictment also notes that in 2015 the U.S. Department of Agriculture disqualified Camara and K’s Grocery from participation in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program commonly known as food stamps, because of suspected fraud. Prosecutors did not offer any additional detail about those allegations, and Camara was never charged with a crime in connection with SNAP.
Investigators allege that Camara spent the money to “fund his lifestyle” and pay credit card bills. He also allegedly sent a wire transfer for $90,000 to “Guandong Aluminum Co.” in Hong Kong, which is the basis of one of the three money laundering charges.
K’s Grocery was among the businesses targeted by rioters during the civil unrest in 2020 that followed the police murder of George Floyd. MPR News reporters spoke with Camara about his experiences and followed up three years later. In 2023, Camara recalled spending nights in his store to try to stop vandals and thieves.
“There was one time they stole an ATM from the store. My cash register got broken into a few times. It was just stealing stuff that is available,” Camara said.
Camara said at the time that he received grant funding from neighborhood groups to replace his cash register and broken windows. But federal prosecutors say he also used stolen taxpayer money to buy the retail building that he had been renting.
Property records show that Camara paid $220,000 for the property in 2021. The two cashier’s checks that he allegedly had drafted to complete the purchase are the basis of the other two money laundering counts.
The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office also alleges that Camara paid about $87,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh in exchange for Feeding Our Future’s meal site sponsorships.
Eidleh is alleged to have been a key player in the scheme along with Feeding Our Future founder and executive director Aimee Bock. The two were among the first four dozen people indicted in late 2022. Eidleh fled the United States before he could be prosecuted and remains at large.
In March, a jury convicted Bock and restaurant owner Salim Said on all charges, including bribery and money laundering. Both are jailed and awaiting sentencing.
Four of the five defendants convicted in the first Feeding Our Future trial in 2024 have received sentences ranging from four and a half to 28 years.
Camara pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance and arraignment late Thursday morning. His attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, declined to comment on the charges.
Prosecutors did not seek pretrial detention, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko ordered Camara to surrender his passport and remove his firearms from his home while on release.
