Feeding Our Future: conviction #46 coming next week

Posted on the federal court calendar for next week is a guilty plea hearing for Ahmed Artan, Defendant No. 8 (of 71) in the sprawling free-food scandal.

If all goes according to plan on June 12, Artan will become the 46th person convicted in the case, either through courtroom convictions or guilty pleas.

I say that because more than a year ago Artan was scheduled to plead guilty but changed his mind at the last minute and fired his lawyers.

Those figures don’t include two individuals who are expected to plead guilty later this month in the related juror bribery case.

Artan is listed in corporate records as the CEO of Stigma-Free International, the nonprofit who played a prominent role of the Feeding Our Future courtroom trial earlier this year.

Stigma-Free was founded by the now Minneapolis city council member Jamal Osman, who transferred ownership of the nonprofit to a group of people later convicted in the food fraud.

The Stigma-Free corporation was dissolved by court order a year ago.

According to court records, Artan was involved with the Waite Park and Willmar food distribution sites operated by Stigma-Free.

Artan was one of the “Five A’s” involved in the purchase of a bar/restaurant in Brooklyn Park.