Feeding Our Future backs the Solutions
An old video has surfaced of a Feeding Our Future defendant testifying in favor of an unrelated nonprofit seeking a multi-million-dollar state government grant. They got the money, of course.
Except where specified below, no person or organization mentioned herein has been accused of any wrongdoing.
Who: Liban Alishire, Feeding Our Future Defendant No. 36, Guilty Plea No. 6.
When: March 19, 2021, approximately 2 p.m.
Where: Zoom hearing before the state House of Representatives Workforce and Business Development Committee. The video of the full hearing can be found here.
What: Testimony in favor of HF 875, providing $4 million in taxpayer grants to the nonprofit African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS). Of that amount, $3 million was to be set aside for “building construction.”
HF 875 was sponsored by state Rep. Jay Xiong (DFL-St. Paul). As it happened, on the day of the 2021 bill hearing, Rep. Jay Xiong was unavailable. HF 875 co-author Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Minneapolis) filled in that day, presenting the bill to the committee.
The state senate version of the bill (SF 861) was sponsored by Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin). You will recall that Sen. Hoffman accepted $3,000 in campaign donations from Feeding Our Future Defendant Nos. 48 and 50 and their direct relatives.
The House committee that heard HF 875 was chaired at the time by Rep. Mohamed Noor (DFL-Minneapolis). The previous year (2020) Rep. Noor had accepted a $320 campaign donation from Mr. Alishire (later returned). In December 2021, Rep. Noor accepted a $500 campaign donation (later returned) from Alishire’s JigJiga business partner, Khadar Adan, Defendant No. 38 in the case. Mr. Adan is currently on his fifth overseas trip since being indicted alongside Alishire in September 2022. Adan has pled not guilty and is expected to stand trial later this year alongside a third co-defendant.
Mr. Alishire was the first witness to testify in favor of HF 875 that afternoon. From the context of the hearing video and meeting minutes, it appears that Alishire was an invited witness.
His testimony runs a little under four minutes and he is introduced by Chair Noor at the 0:01 mark:
Alishire mentions his JigJiga events center at 0:17. The caption of the video lists Alishire’s business as Ace Interpretation, Inc. The federal indictment mentions that he also had a shell company named Ace Distribution.
The indictment dates Alishire’s involvement in the free-food scam back to September 2020. The indictment specifically mentions (p. 9, paragraph 27) that during this month of March 2021, Alishire claimed to be feeding at least 2,500 children per day, 7 days a week. It’s a miracle he could spare the four minutes.
In Alishire’s January 2023 guilty plea, he admits to taking more than $2.4 million out of the free-food program, keeping $712,000 for himself. More than two years later, he has yet to be sentenced in the case. Sentencing guidelines call for him to serve 3 to 4 years in prison.
At the 3:22 mark of the video, Alishire expresses his support for both the bill and AEDS as an organization. He mentions “banks” twice in his testimony, implying that he either has, or expected to, receive funding from AEDS. Cheeky.
In its most recently filed tax return, AEDS lists as its address an office at 1821 University Ave. St. Paul. However, the organization proudly occupies a new address on N. Snelling Avenue.
Founded in 2009, the nonprofit AEDS was a relatively modest company until it began receiving significant money from state government. Over the past 10 years, here is the money received by AEDS through the state government agencies Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the state Arts Board, and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA).
Over the past 10 years, AEDS has received more than $8 million from these state agencies. The nonprofit also receives significant grant money from private foundations.
HF 875 did not pass in 2021 or 2022. In 2023, Democrats took complete control of state government. In 2023 the AEDS bill was split into separate efforts. HF 2003, sponsored by Samakab Hussein (DFL-St. Paul) provided the $3 million, now dedicated “to renovate and equip a building in St. Paul,” rather than building construction. Rep. Jay Xiong sponsored a separate bill (HF 2072) that would provide a $3 million grant to AEDS to underwrite a business loan program to be operated by AEDS.
In the 2023 bonding bill, AEDS received a $1.5 million direct appropriation (earmark) for the building renovation project. Here is the result on Snelling Avenue.
As bonding projects go, it’s difficult to see the “statewide significance” in a refurbished storefront in St. Paul.
In the 2023 state budget, AEDS also received an additional $2 million earmark. The organization’s most recent tax return (2023) indicates they are sitting on a cash hoard exceeding $5 million, an amount far greater than any one year’s worth of revenue.
The next state budget bill is currently being negotiated in conference committee at the state capitol. The idea this year was to avoid earmarks to nonprofits. We’ll see how that goes.
To repeat: except where specified above, no person or organization mentioned above has been accused of any wrongdoing.