Feeding Our Future fraud: Rochester restaurant scheme defendant to be sentenced

Mustafa Jama, one of the defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, will be sentenced on Wednesday. Mustafa Jama to be sentenced Jama pleaded guilty in February 2025 to a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme . Court records show Jama and five others operated Brava Restaurant in Rochester where they fraudulently claimed to serve meals to thousands of children every day. Federal prosecutors are asking that he serve 16 months in prison. But his defense team is asking for a sentence that does not involve prison time, arguing that Jama's role in the scheme was minimal. The 48-year-old has already forfeited nearly $240,000 along with properties in Lakeville and Ohio. Jama’s sentencing hearing is set for 2 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. Brava Restaurant scheme In October 2020, Brava Restaurant in Rochester was enrolled as a distribution site in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under Feeding Our Future's sponsorship. The owners, Sharmake Jama and Ayan Jama, and their associates, including Mustafa Jama, created several shell companies to funnel approximately $4.3 million the restaurant received from the child nutrition program, according to prosecutors. In 2021, Mustafa Jama and others deposited misappropriated Federal Child Nutrition Program funds into their respective shell entities’ bank accounts, according to court documents . Mustafa Jama used the money to purchase homes in Lakeville and Colombus, Ohio, as well as property along the Mediterranean coast in Turkey. Several of the other defendants have already been sentenced in the fraud scheme .