Feeding Our Future fraudsters sentenced to prison, ordered to pay restitution

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Another two defendants in the Feeding Our Future scheme were sentenced for their role in stealing millions of dollars from taxpayers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hussein Mohamed Farah was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison with two years of supervised release for wire fraud on Thursday. He was also ordered to pay $471,000 in restitution. 

Ahmed Sharif Omar-Hashim, who is also known as "Salah Donyale," was sentenced to 36 months in prison for one count of wire fraud. 

READ MORE: Feeding our Future fraudster sentenced for co-role in fake deli scheme

Nonprofit pandemic fraud 

Local perspective:

Prosecutors say Farah used his nonprofit, New Vision Foundation, to submit bogus meal count sheets and attendance rosters in order to be reimbursed by taxpayers.

Authorities say the nonprofit received about $2.7 million between February 2021 and January 2022 by claiming to serve meals to children. 

The organization claimed to operate two food distribution sites and was funded under the sponsorship of Feeding our Future. 

Dig deeper:

The criminal indictment states that Omar-Hashim operated a company called "Total Financial Solutions" that provided payroll and bookkeeping services to companies involved in the Feeding Our Future scheme. 

Investigators found that Omar-Hashim fraudulently claimed to serve more than 1.6 million meals to children between Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2021. 

The Source: This story uses information from federal court documents and previous FOX 9 reporting.