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CASE 0:22-cr-00124-NEB-TNL Doc. 583 Filed 06/21/24 Page 1 of 11
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
Criminal No. 22-124(7) (NEB/TNL)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
)
Plaintiff, )
) GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO
v. ) DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR
) RELEASE PENDING
MUKHTAR MOHAMED SHARIFF, ) SENTENCING
)
Defendant. )
)
The United States of America, by and through its attorneys, Andrew M. Luger,
United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M.
Jacobs, Chelsea A. Walcker, Matthew S. Ebert, and Daniel W. Bobier, Assistant U.S.
Attorneys, respectfully submits the following response to defendant’s motion for
release pending sentencing. Dkt. #564.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Defendant’s Trial and Conviction
Defendant Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff was convicted of participating in a
massive fraudulent scheme to obtain federal child nutrition program funds intended
to provide free meals to children in need. The defendant and his co-conspirators
obtained, misappropriated, and laundered more than $40 million in program funds
that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children. They
did so by exploiting changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children
received adequate nutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shariff and his co-
conspirators took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic—and the resulting program
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changes—to enrich themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars
in federal child nutrition program funds.
Shariff moved to Minnesota in October 2020. Almost immediately he joined in
the ongoing scheme to fraudulently obtain federal child nutrition program funds. As
the jury heard at trial, Shariff planned to use the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme
to build and fund the construction of a cultural center. In December 2020, he and
Mahad Ibrahim created a PowerPoint outlining their business plan. The plan
explicitly stated that they planned to use federal child nutrition program money to
fund the Afrique cultural center.
During his trial testimony, Shariff tried to distance himself from this proposal
and claimed that the discussion about the food program related to future plans
following the construction and opening of the Afrique cultural center six months or a
year later. That was not true. In reality, in January 2021, the Dar al Farooq site
began claiming to be serving meals to 2,000 children a day. Within a month, the site
claimed to be serving meals to 3,500 children a day.
Shariff signed and submitted fraudulent meal count forms claiming—falsely—
that the Dar al Farooq site was serving two meals a day, seven days a week, to 3,500
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children. Shariff also submitted fake rosters purporting to list the names of 3,500
children who received meals at the Dar al Farooq site. Shariff sent these fraudulent
meal counts, invoices, and rosters to Feeding Our Future.
In all, Shariff and his co-defendants claimed to have served nearly 2 million
meals from January to November 2021 at the Dar al Farooq site for which they
claimed to be entitled to nearly $5 million in federal child nutrition program funds.
Shariff’s actions did not go unnoticed at the Dar al Farooq mosque. In a text message
exchange, his co-defendants Abdiaziz Farah and Abdimajid Nur discussed social
media posts in which the “youth of Dar al Farooq” accused Shariff of being the “master
mind” of a scheme to use the names of youth basketball players to defraud the federal
child nutrition program.
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Govt. Ex. 51f.
In addition to his fake rosters and invoices, Shariff also convinced a
Bloomington Public School employee to send an inaccurate email supporting his fraud
scheme. At trial, Dinna Wade-Ardley, the director of educational equity at
Bloomington Public Schools, told the jury, speaking of her interactions with Shariff,
that, “I feel taken advantage of, I feel the kids were taken advantage of.”
Shariff testified at trial. He denied participating in any fraud scheme. He
claimed that he served the number of meals claimed at the Dar al Farooq site. And
he disclaimed any knowledge of the meal counts, invoices, and rosters that he
submitted to Feeding Our Future. The jury did not believe him and they convicted
him of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money
laundering, and money laundering.
B. The Attempt to Bribe a Juror
On June 2, 2024, the night before the conclusion of closing arguments and the
beginning of jury deliberations, there was an attempt to bribe one of the jurors in
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defendant’s trial. A woman dropped a gift bag containing $120,000 in cash off at the
home of Juror 52. One of Juror 52’s relatives answered the door. The woman told him
that the money was a present and that there would be more if Juror 52 voted to acquit
the defendants.
After learning of the bribe attempt, Juror 52 called 911. Spring Lake Park
police responded to the call. They called FBI the next morning.
On the morning of June 3, the government informed the Court of the bribe
attempt. That day, the Court granted the government’s motion to revoke the release
of Shariff and his co-defendants. On June 10, 2024, the Court ordered that defendant
Shariff was being detained under 18 U.S.C. § 3143, which governs the detention of
defendants pending sentencing. Dkt. #552.
II. DEFENDANT’S MOTION SHOULD BE DENIED
A. The Legal Standard
Under 18 U.S.C. § 3143, a court “shall order” that a person who has been found
guilty of an offense and who is awaiting sentencing be detained unless the court “finds
by clear and convincing evidence that the person is not likely to flee to pose a danger
to the safety of any other person or the community.”
B. Defendant has not met his burden of showing clear and
convincing evidence that he is not a risk of flight or danger to
the community
Defendant has not met his burden to show by “clear and convincing evidence”
that he is not likely to flee or pose a danger to the community.
Defendant spends the bulk of his motion denying any involvement in the
attempt to bribe Juror 52. Among other things, he argues that the government
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obtained and executed a search warrant on defendant Abdiaziz Farah’s house but not
his own house. This is not true. The government executed a search warrant on
Shariff’s residence in Burnsville on June 13, 2024.
Regardless, Shariff’s mere denial of involvement of an attempt to bribe a juror
falls far short of meeting his burden of showing clear and convincing evidence that he
does not pose a risk of flight or danger to the community.
As noted above, Shariff stands convicted of participating in a massive fraud
and money laundering scheme. His scheme was brazen, shameless, and lucrative. At
trial, he lied to the jury about his role in, and knowledge of, the scheme. He also called
other witnesses who were not credible, including an investor in Afrique who claimed
that she had never received any federal child nutrition money—only to admit on
cross-examination that she had received a $250,000 “loan” in January 2022 from a
defendant charged in another case. Shariff also called an imam from Dar al Farooq
who claimed—falsely and inconsistently with the defendant’s own theory—that he
saw food being distributed at Dar al Farooq on a daily basis.
In light of the nature of his fraud scheme, his own uncredible testimony, and
the bribery attempt, Shariff has not shown by clear and convincing evidence that he
does not pose a danger to the community.
Shariff also poses a serious risk of flight. First, he has a significant motive to
flee in light of his recent conviction. Shariff was convicted for several crimes related
to his involvement in a massive scheme to defraud the federal child nutrition
program. Having been convicted at trial, he now awaits sentencing. He faces a
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lengthy prison sentence as well as the prospect of owing millions of dollars in
restitution.
In addition to a significant motive to flee, Shariff also has a place to which to
flee. He was born in Somalia and lived in Kenya for several years before moving to
the United States. He lived in Egypt as a young adult. And he has family in Kenya.
Indeed, at trial, Shariff cited his ties abroad and links to Somalia and east
Africa as evidence that he was not involved in the charged fraud and money
laundering schemes, but rather simply engaging in normal and culturally acceptable
east African business practices. Shariff called an expert witness who testified at
length that the defendant and others like him retained a “foot in both countries,” with
significant familial, cultural, and financial connections in east Africa.
For his part, as the Court heard at trial, Shariff transferred more than
$1 million from the Afrique Hospitality Group bank account to his own Coinbase
account. Shariff used the funds to purchase bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. Records
obtained from Coinbase show that he sent much of this cryptocurrency abroad,
including to Dubai and Germany.
Shariff also had discussions with his co-defendant, Abdiaziz Farah, about
investing in real estate in Kenya. For example, in a text exchange in May 2021, Farah
told Shariff that he would “get you and Mahad [Ibrahim] on the next one,” referring
to his next Kenya real estate project. Farah then explained that he had “2 lands we
can develop” in Nairobi’s South C neighborhood, on which he suggested they could
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build “Afrique apartments” and “Empire apartments,” referring to their respective
entities involved in the fraud scheme.
In another text exchange in December 2021, Shariff and Farah discussed
opening a Nairobi branch of Afrique Hospitality Group.
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During that same exchange, Shariff explained that he had visited the South C
neighborhood during a recent trip to Nairobi, and again asked when Farah was
“gonna bring” him and Ibrahim “into [the] apartment deal.”
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In short, unlike most criminal defendants, international flight is a real
possibility because he has a country to which he can flee and resume life in a place
where he has lived before and in which he has family.
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III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the government respectfully requests that
defendant’s motion for release pending sentencing be denied.
Dated: June 21, 2024
Respectfully Submitted,
ANDREW M. LUGER
United States Attorney
BY: /s/ Joseph H. Thompson
JOSEPH H. THOMPSON
MATTHEW S. EBERT
HARRY M. JACOBS
CHELSEA A. WALCKER
DANIEL W. BOBIER
Assistant U.S. Attorneys
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