Feeding Our Future: guilty plea #31, 32 in the books, #33, 34 on deck [Updated]
Yesterday, at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, two guilty pleas were entered in the sprawling free-food scandal.
Zamzam Jama was first up Wednesday morning. Zamzam, Defendant No. 44 in the case, is part of the six-member Jama family group associated with the Brava Restaurant and Cafe of Rochester.
Zamzam pled guilty to one count of money laundering and faces 10 to 16 months in prison. She agreed to forfeit a residential property in Rosemount, a Toyota RAV4, and $114,000 from a corporate bank account. Her total restitution comes to $490,000.
Two of her family members pled guilty last week. Two more are scheduled to plead guilty later this week. Yesterday, Zamzam became guilty plea No. 31 and the 36th person convicted in the case, so far.
Yesterday afternoon, Abduljabar Hussein, Defendant No. 50 in the case, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is facing three to four years in prison.
His wife, Mekira (Defendant No. 48), had already pled guilty last Friday to that same count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The husband and wife worked the fraud through the nonprofit Shamsia Hopes:
Mekfira’s guilty plea (p. 3) indicates that the couple paid kickbacks to Aimee Bock of at least $12,000 in the scheme. Bock, Defendant No. 1, is currently on trial with a co-defendant, Salim Said, Defendant No. 3. Opening statements in the Bock/Said trial are scheduled for Monday, February 10.
Mekfira is facing four to five years in prison. The couple have agreed to forfeit their Shakopee home (or cash equivalent), a Tesla, a GMC Sierra truck, and a Porshe Cayenne as part of their restitution in the case of the $9 million they stole. Prior to the plea agreement, Mekfira had argued that the Porshe was used as a delivery vehicle for her nonprofit.
Two sentences are upcoming in the case. Sharon Ross will be sentenced tomorrow morning. Ross is Defendant No. 60 in the case and ran a St. Paul-based nonprofit, House of Refuge Outreach.
[Update: Ross was sentenced to 43 months in Federal prison and ordered to repay the stolen $2.4 million. She must report to prison on March 25. She is the first defendant sentenced who was not already in custody. The 43 months was toward the upper end of the 37 to 46 month sentencing guideline.]
Sahra Nur, of the S&S Catering group of defendants, will be sentenced at a later date. Ross and Nur will become the 3rd and 4th defendants sentenced of the 39 convicted, so far.