Media reports indicate that another nonprofit was searched by the FBI yesterday in connection with the sprawling Feeding Our Future scandal.
Please note that no person or company named below has been accused of any wrongdoing, except as specified. The Feds filed a search warrant on Tuesday for the St. Paul-based nonprofit New Vision Foundation (NVF). In the normal course of things, the nonprofit, founded in 2016, does not do food,
New Vision Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create pathways to success by motivating disadvantaged youth in Minnesota through coding and digital literacy classes.
The Sahan Journal reported yesterday,
Federal agents raided a St. Paul education business Thursday morning in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud case.
According to a search warrant unsealed Thursday, New Vision Foundation, a nonprofit that says it trains underserved youth in technology, operated two food sites and claimed to serve more than one million meals to children at its St. Paul site in 2021.
MPR News also has a report on the raid.
The food distribution sites were located in St. Paul and Waite Park and operated under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Tax returns filed by New Vision Foundation indicate that the nonprofit experienced a one-time spike in revenue during the year (2021) they engaged in the food business. From Propublica,
According to their 2021 tax return, New Vision reported revenue of $3.5 million. Of that revenue, New Vision attributes over $2.9 million to the food program. The tax return lists $2.6 million in payments to three named food vendors. As discussed in the search warrant and media reports, the nonprofit commissioned an independent financial audit of its books for 2021, which “found material noncompliance and material weakness in internal controls.”
Records maintained by the state of Minnesota indicate that between 2020 and 2023, New Vision received almost $300,000 in grants from the state Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
An NVF press release dated March 10, 2025, indicates that the nonprofit will receive an additional $500,000 grant from DEED.
The nonprofit’s most recent tax return (2023) indicates that the company receives more than 1/3 of its total revenue from government grants.
The search warrant was filed on Tuesday and executed on Thursday. The warrant indicates (page 2, paragraph 6) that the FBI is searching for evidence of wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. The warrant names (p. 3, para. 9) Hussein Farah as CEO and indicates (para. 10) that the FBI and IRS visited the nonprofit’s offices last month.
Farah’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he is a Bush Fellow (class of 2018).
The search warrant describes all three of New Vision’s principal food vendors. Star Distribution (p. 9, para. 31) is associated with Ikram Mohamed and Suleman Mohamed (Defendant Nos. 63 and 64 in the case.) Both have pled not guilty in the case and are awaiting trial.
Campus Trading & Supplies LLC (p. 18, para. 54), the FBI reports, is located at an apartment in Eden Prairie.
New Vision’s biggest food vendor was Ahlan Restaurant of Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. Ahlan received over $2.2 million from New Vision, according to the FBI (p. 20, para. 56). The FBI indicates (p. 20, para. e), that Ahlan also received $569,000 from an entity associated with Sharmarke Issa, Defendant No. 34 and Guilty Plea/Conviction No. 24 in the case. Issa has yet to be sentenced.
A photograph of the Waite Park site included in the warrant (p. 17) is dated January 2025.
Media reports and the warrant detail disagreements among the nonprofit’s board members about participation in the food program. Several board members quit or were forced out, according to these reports.
Further, Sahan Journal reports that Farah and one of his attorneys formerly served on the Journal‘s board.
Unless specifically noted above, no person or company mentioned in this post has been charged with any crime.