Yesterday afternoon, your correspondent took in a couple of hours of Feeding Our Future jury trial No. 3, at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis.
Muna Fidhin, 45 of Burnsville, is Feeding Our Future defendant No. 75 (out of 81) and operated the M5 Cafe and related M5 Care nonprofit. She operated free-food distribution sites through both the Feeding Our Future (FOF) and Partners in Nutrition (PIN) nonprofit networks. Prosecutors say she received $656,000 from the free-food program.
In the trial session I attended yesterday, the 14 jurors and alternates heard testimony from state Dept. of Education official Emily Horner. She testified on the basics of the federal child nutrition programs and gave an overview of the FOF and PIN operations. For Horner and presiding judge Nancy Brasel, this is their third time through this material, following the courtroom trials of 2024 and 2025.
Later, Horner and the prosecutor dug into the specifics of the application submitted by Fidhin for M5’s participation in the free-food program. The trial began on Monday and is expected to run for two additional weeks.
Meanwhile, over in downtown St. Paul at the federal courthouse, another, unrelated fraud trial was wrapping up. Lou Raguse of KARE-11 reports,
St. Paul woman convicted in first Housing Stabilization Services fraud case to go to trial:
She was found guilty on three counts of health care fraud, but not guilty on two other counts in federal court.
From KARE-11,
Sharmaine Meadows, owner of Cradle of Love, was accused of swindling Medicaid out of nearly $3.7 million between August 2020 and October 2025.
Sentencing will be held at a later date.