Feeding Our Future news: Gar Gaar nonprofit to dissolve

In a press release issued last week, the state’s Attorney General, Keith Ellison, announced a settlement in which the free-food nonprofit Youth Leadership Academy, d/b/a Gar Gaar Family Services (GGFS), agreed to dissolve.

The settlement agreement can be read here.

We’ve written frequently about the nonprofit Gar Gaar in the nearly three years since the Feeding Our Future scandal broke. Although neither Gar Gaar nor anyone employed by the company (with one exception, noted below) has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing, the nonprofit sits near the center of the scandal.

You will recall that the Feeding scandal involved two food-related government programs: the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The Minnesota Star Tribune reported last week on Gar Gaar’s role in the latter.

Gar Gaar received $21 million in reimbursements for serving 7 million meals—the top provider of summer meals in Minnesota in 2021.

That $21 million alone was enough to rank Gar Gaar as the third-largest, free-food nonprofit in Minnesota. Gar Gaar participated directly with the state Department of Education (MDE) in the summer food program. Gar Gaar also participated in the year-round CACFP program through other nonprofits. All told, Gar Gaar reported more than $25 million in revenue for 2021, the only year for which the nonprofit filed a required tax return.

The Attorney General notes that the nonprofit is already all but out of business. The AG’s audit shows the nonprofit earning only $30,500 in revenue in 2023.

In addition to not filing tax returns, the Attorney General reports (paragraph 9) that Gar Gaar never registered with the AG’s office, as required by state law.

The 2021 tax return reveals that Gar Gaar’s two principals–Khadija Ali and Priya Morioka–earned six-figure salaries for running the nonprofit.

In his investigation:

the Attorney General alleges that Gar Gaar paid more than $100,000 to a for-profit company owned by two of Gar Gaar’s officers.

 Paragraph 7 of the settlement elaborates:

As we’ve previously documented, Ali is an award-winning local businesswoman. To this day, Ali serves on the boards of the prestigious Minneapolis Foundation and the Citizens League.

For her part, Morioka was previously appointed by Gov. Tim Walz to serve on his Workforce Development Board but later removed.

Both women are significant political campaign contributors, almost exclusively to Democrats. The most recent donations came this year. Together, over the years they have donated more than $20,000 and the recipient list includes all the top Democrats: Biden, Walz, Ellison, Klobuchar, Smith, and Omar.

Both women, along with former Gar Gaar board member (and former DFL secretary of state) Mark Ritchie were banned by MDE from participating in the free-food programs.

Although the ban was not a direct result of the Feeding Our Future case, there are numerous connections between Gar Gaar and the sprawling free-food scandal.

Most prominently, former Gar Gaar employee Ladan Ali was indicted in the unrelated Feeding Our Future bribery case, as the bagwoman. Ladan Ali later pled guilty.

The bribery case arose from the spring 2024 trial of the Empire Cuisine group of Feeding Our Future defendants. As I noted at the time, Gar Gaar’s name came up during the trial, in conjunction with feeding sites operated by the nonprofit.

The Attorney General last week documented other Gar Gaar/Feeding Our Future connections:

More than two years ago, I’d previously documented the connections between Gar Gaar and another Haji Kitchen figure. Fahad Nur is Defendant No. 32 in the larger case and continues to be a fugitive from justice.

Under the terms of the settlement with the AG’s office, Gar Gaar must begin the dissolution of the company within 60 days. The agreement was executed shortly before Thanksgiving by Khadija Ali.

In other Feeding Our Future news:

You will recall Mahad Ibrahim, Defendant No. 17, was to have been tried earlier this year along with his seven Empire Cuisine co-defendants. However, just before the April start of the trial Ibrahim’s lawyer became unavailable. His stand-alone trial has now been set for April 2025.