# First Feeding Our Future trial *Federal criminal trial in the Feeding Our Future prosecutions, District of Minnesota; verdicts returned June 7, 2024.* The first Feeding Our Future trial was a federal criminal trial in the District of Minnesota, the first in the prosecutions arising from the [[Feeding Our Future]] matter. On September 20, 2022, the United States Attorney announced federal charges against 47 defendants in that matter, with alleged losses of $250 million. The charges were allegations as of that date.[^1] On June 7, 2024, the trial ended in convictions. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota reported five defendants found guilty, among them [[Abdiaziz Shafii Farah]] and [[Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff]].[^2] Six months before the verdicts, on December 8, 2023, the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General resolved a matter concerning [[Gateway STEM Academy]], a charter school in [[Burnsville]], by an Assurance of Discontinuance.[^3] Farah and Shariff were two of the three Gateway STEM leaders named in that settlement.[^3][^2] The record therefore shows two outcomes for the same two men: a state settlement in December 2023 and federal convictions in June 2024.[^3][^2] ## Who - [[Abdiaziz Shafii Farah]] and [[Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff]] were convicted on June 7, 2024, of defrauding the [[Federal Child Nutrition Program]]. Both had been named as Gateway STEM leaders in the December 2023 Assurance of Discontinuance.[^2][^3] - The prosecution was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota.[^2] ## When - September 20, 2022: the United States Attorney announces federal charges against 47 defendants in the Feeding Our Future matter, with alleged losses of $250 million.[^1] - December 8, 2023: the Minnesota Attorney General enters an Assurance of Discontinuance with Gateway STEM Academy, Burnsville. Three school leaders are named, including Farah and Shariff.[^3] - June 7, 2024: verdicts in the first Feeding Our Future trial. Five defendants are found guilty, including Farah and Shariff.[^2] ## How many - 47 defendants were charged in the September 2022 announcement.[^1] - Five defendants were found guilty at the first trial.[^2] - Two of the three Gateway STEM leaders named in the December 2023 state settlement were among those convicted.[^3][^2] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue record (entry AI-Dakota-048) pairs the state and federal outcomes for the same actors. It describes the December 2023 settlement as concerning money moved out of the Burnsville charter school to the leaders' own companies.[^3] It sets that settlement beside the June 7, 2024 federal jury convictions for defrauding the federal child nutrition program.[^2] The at-issue record characterizes the state's remedy for these leaders as a training requirement and the federal remedy as a jury verdict. This article has not reproduced the settlement's terms from the Attorney General's release.[^3][^2] ## Notes [^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, *U.S. Attorney Announces Federal Charges Against 47 Defendants in $250 Million Feeding Our Future* (Sept. 20, 2022) — federal charges against 47 defendants in the Feeding Our Future matter, alleged $250 million; allegations as of that date. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/us-attorney-announces-federal-charges-against-47-defendants-250-million-feeding-our-future [^2]: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, *Five Defendants Found Guilty for Their Roles in $250 Million Fraud Scheme* (June 7, 2024) — guilty verdicts at the first Feeding Our Future trial, including Abdiaziz Shafii Farah and Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/five-defendants-found-guilty-their-roles-250-million-fraud-scheme [^3]: Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, *Gateway STEM Academy Assurance of Discontinuance* (Dec. 8, 2023) — state settlement with Gateway STEM Academy, Burnsville, naming three school leaders. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2023/12/08_GatewaySTEMAcademy.asp