Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison put out a press release yesterday celebrating his latest courtroom victory,
Jury finds Emadeldin Ibrahim liable for submitting $188K in false claims to state.
The case arose out of the larger Feeding Our Future scandal and credit for catching the scheme has to go to Wells Fargo bank, almost like a modern-day version of the classic TV western. To be clear, Ellison gives credit where credit is due,
Attorney General Ellison’s office and MDE were alerted to this case when the Sudanese Community Association and their bank, Wells Fargo, identified deposits into their account which they believed to be improper. Wells Fargo segregated the money and brought the matter to Attorney General Ellison’s office, which reviewed the evidence and pursued recovery of this money under the Minnesota False Claims Act.
Here, “MDE” refers to the state Dept. of Education, which oversees the free-food program in Minnesota. The Sudanese Community Association is a nonprofit whose identity was unwittingly misused in furtherance of the scheme.
The case itself (No. 27-cv-22-13107) was filed in Hennepin County’s state civil court. It is not a criminal case. The underlying facts are quite convoluted, involving claims and counterclaims. The original lawsuit, filed back in 2022, predates the filing of criminal charges in federal court in the larger Feeding Our Future scandal.
The civil lawsuit involves another free-food nonprofit, Partners in Nutrition d/b/a Partners in Quality Care. Partners itself has never been charged with any wrongdoing in the larger Feeding Our Future scandal.
As for Mr. Ibrahim, Ellison notes,
The jury awarded the State $188,350 in damages, which will automatically be trebled under Minnesota False Claims Act.
I can’t find another example of a similar civil lawsuit filed by the Attorney General seeking the recovery of money taken in the free-food scandal. Perhaps his courtroom success this week will inspire more such efforts.
To provide additional positive reinforcement, I will add this case to ScandalTrackerTM.
