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Guilty Plea in $250 Million Federal Child Nutrition Fund Fraud Scheme
A man from Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pled guilty for his involvement in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program.
The defendant enrolled two organizations — Community Enhancement Services and Lake Street Kitchen — in the Federal Child Nutrition Program as organizations that provided meals to underprivileged children. Between February and October 2021, Community Enhancement Services falsely claimed to have served over 800,000 meals to underprivileged children, while Lake Street Kitchen falsely claimed to have served over 70,000 meals from December 2020 to April 2021. The fraudulent claims were supported by falsified invoices showing the purchase of food and falsified attendance rosters showing the supposed names of meal recipients.
As a result of the fraudulent claims, the organizations received $1,783,786.45 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds from Feeding our Future, their sponsor entity. The defendant obtained $712,084.00 in fraud proceeds for himself and his entities. As part of his plea agreement, the defendant agreed to forfeit the $712,084.00, a boat and trailer, a Ford F-150 pickup truck, an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, and a Kenyan resort complex located on the Indian Ocean.
Read US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) press release here.
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