Feeding Our Future: bribery bagwoman accused of stealing $1.6 million?

That seems to be the implication of reporting by the Minnesota Star Tribune from inside the Federal courtroom during the current free-food fraud trial. The Star Tribune‘s Jeffrey Meitrodt reports:

The woman who allegedly tried to bribe a juror in the first Feeding Our Future trial last year with a bag full of $120,000 in cash also controlled a company that received at least $1.6 million from other entities involved in the fraud scheme, according to a document unsealed Tuesday by a federal judge.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, a 31-year-old from Seattle, created a food vendor called Afro Produce in St. Paul in 2018, according to corporate filings with the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Ali has already pled guilty in the juror bribery case.

To be fair, the Star Tribune has a much more flattering photo of Ms. Ali in its story.

The Star Tribune notes:

Ali also was connected to Gar Gaar Family Services, a Minneapolis nonprofit booted from the meals program in late 2021 by the Minnesota Department of Education after collecting more than $21 million in federal reimbursements for serving 7 million meals.

Ali has not been charged with any crimes related to the underlying fraud scheme, nor has anyone associated with Gar Gaar been charged. We’ve written about Gar Gaar on many occasions, owing to its unusually deep Democratic-party political connections. Gar Gaar agreed to dissolve last year in a civil settlement with the state Attorney General, Keith Ellison.

This February 2022 document produced by the state Department of Education (MDE) in response to a Gar Gaar appeal mentions Afro Produce by name (p. 5, bullets #2 and #4):

I drove by its Como Avenue location last summer:

As the Star Tribune mentions, Ali herself is due back in court on Thursday to determine if a recent DWI arrest would have any impact on her pre-sentencing release in the bribery case.