A Bloomington man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in connection with the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Lisa Kirkpatrick announced this week. Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, 34, was also ordered to pay $47,920.514 in restitution. “The defendant committed a brazen fraud that shamelessly stole taxpayer money intended to feed children during a global pandemic. He lined his pockets, here and abroad, with millions,” Kirkpatrick said. “As the court found, he doubled down on his crimes by obstructing justice. This significant sentence should serve as a clear warning to anyone who would seek to exploit and defraud government programs. You will be held accountable.” When the first 48 defendants were indicted in November 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it already had recovered around $50 million in money and property of the roughly $250 million stolen. Asked this month for an update, prosecutors gave the same figure: about $50 million recovered. The fraud, which took place at a time during the coronavirus pandemic when government funds flowed freely with minimal oversight, now has produced a total of 70 indictments and brought about new government controls around grant dollars. The criminal cases involved the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program, two federal meal programs administered by the Minnesota Department of Education, which reimbursed a long list of obscure nonprofits and businesses for handing out meals to children and their families while schools were closed during the pandemic. Prosecutors allege that numerous nonprofits were paid back for millions of meals they never actually served after filing reimbursement claims with help from an online name generator. Authorities say that as the chief executive officer of Afrique Hospitality Group, Shariff obtained, misappropriated and laundered millions of dollars in program funds that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children. Following a seven-week trial in U.S. District Court in June, Shariff was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering. In handing down the sentence Friday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel said that Shariff’s conduct showed a “staggering lack of respect for the law,” and that taxpayers were “outraged by the brazenness of the crime.” Related Articles Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man accused of helping son hide 4 bodies in Wisconsin cornfield sentenced to 16 years in prison Crime & Public Safety | More than a dozen Minnesotans among Jan. 6 rioters who were spared by Trump Crime & Public Safety | Texas man gets 4 years in federal prison for carjacking at Inver Grove Heights strip club Crime & Public Safety | Washington state woman is arrested in the fatal shooting of a Vermont Border Patrol agent Crime & Public Safety | Oath Keepers founder Rhodes is barred from entering Washington or Capitol without court’s permission