Eagan woman pleads guilty to wire fraud in Feeding Our Future case

A 42-year-old Eagan woman who used money meant to feed needy children during the pandemic on real estate and high-end vehicle purchases pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud charges.

Kawsar Jama became the 22nd person to admit to their role in the $250 million federal child nutrition fraud case that has led to the indictments of 70 people since 2022. She did so days after a pair of co-defendants in her case made pleas of their own last week.

Jama’s indictment, returned last year as part of a second wave of charges in the sprawling case, alleged a $3.7 million scheme to falsely claim that she served 1.46 million meals to children while under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future between September 2020 and February 2022.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger singled out Jama’s case in a March 2023 news conference announcing charges against her and nine others. Luger said Jama used phony invoices, and none of the children’s names on reimbursement forms matched children enrolled in school locally. Jama allegedly reached out to a friend for help inventing new names as the scheme wore on, and she did not operate a physical location despite claiming to be serving meals at one.

Prosecutors said Jama claimed to operate federal food aid sites in Pelican Rapids, Burnsville and Minneapolis. In Pelican Rapids, Jama allegedly claimed to serve 2,560 meals daily to needy children — despite the town having a total population of about 2,500. Some of the money Jama received from the Federal Child Nutrition Program was instead used to buy real estate and vehicles that included a Tesla Model X and Infiniti QX56 SUV.

To date, no one who has pleaded guilty in this case has been sentenced. Another five defendants were convicted by a jury earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, who is presiding over the cases, did not set a sentencing date for Jama. Jama remains out on supervised release ahead of sentencing.