13th guilty plea in Feeding Our Future case

We’ve reached a baker’s dozen of convictions in the free-food scandal. Yusuf Ali is the latest defendant to plead guilty in the case. Ali, defendant No. 30 in the scandal, was charged as part of the S&S Catering group of defendants.

The plea was entered in Federal court in Minneapolis this morning.

As discussed below, Yusuf Ali and his business partners (guilty pleas Nos. 1, 4, and 7) reportedly took a combined $3 million out of the free-food programs. We covered the rise and fall of this part of the network in this series of posts.

His nonprofit, Youth Inventors Lab, was located at 2434 University Avenue in St. Paul, a one-story office building.

This storefront was “Subject Premises 3” in the January 2022 search warrant covering the S&S Catering-related entities.

In the indictment in the case, the Department of Justice alleges (p. 15) that the Youth Inventors Lab operation took more than $3 million out of the free-food programs. The indictment (pp. 28-29) documents $336,010 in payments to Ali and his companies.

In his plea agreement, as is typical in these cases, Ali pled guilty to a single count. The plea agreement (p. 3) puts Ali’s net take at $278,010. That’s the amount he owes in restitution.

The sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of 15 to 21 months (p. 7).

The 14th guilty plea is expected to be filed in this case on Thursday.