An Eagan woman has pleaded guilty for her involvement in an alleged $250 million fraud scheme that diverted federal aid money intended for children’s meal programs in Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kawsar Jama, 42, submitted at least $4.5 million in bogus claims in connection with one of the single largest instances of pandemic aid fraud in the country, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced on Tuesday.

Jama pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. She remains out of custody on supervised release ahead of sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.

It’s the latest guilty plea tied to massive alleged fraud at the nonprofit Feeding Our Future between 2020 and 2022. A total of 70 individuals have been charged in connection to the case so far.

According to the indictment, Jama, who operated Gedo Community Services and Ahlan Childcare Center, obtained the funds in reimbursements for food sites she claimed to operate in Pelican Rapids, Burnsville and Minneapolis. She bought luxury vehicles and a home in Eagan.

One of the main food vendors for Jama’s sites was Haji Osman Salad, through his business, Haji’s Kitchen. Salad provided Jama with false food invoices, which she used as part of her fraudulent claims for reimbursement from the Federal Child Nutrition Program.

Jama’s site in Pelican Rapids, a small town in west-central Minnesota with a population of around 2,600 people, fraudulently claimed to have served more than 233,000 meals from September 2021 to December 2021, with Haji’s Kitchen as her supposed food supplier.

In total, Salad defrauded the government of nearly $11.5 million intended for the federal nutrition program, prosecutors said. Salad, 34, was one of three defendants who pleaded guilty to wire fraud last week.

The Feeding Our Future office was in this building at 3055 Old Highway 8 in St. Anthony, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

The nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which was based in St. Anthony, received federal dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture via the state education department. The money was intended to reimburse nonprofits for meals served at locations like day care centers, after-school programs and summer camps.

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