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Exposing Cheating in Federal Child Nutritional Aid Programs
Few things are as evil as exploiting programs meant for children.
Let’s talk about some people who did just that:
A Chaska resident has pleaded guilty for his involvement in a $250 million fraud scheme. The scheme exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to court documents, from approximately November 2020 through January 2022, Mohamed Muse Noor, also known as “Deeq Darajo,” knowingly participated in a scheme to defraud a federal child nutrition program designed to provide free meals to children in need. Rather than feeding children, Noor and his co-defendants took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic—and its impact on program regulations—to misappropriate millions of dollars in federal child nutrition program funds for personal gain.
Court documents indicate that Noor was specifically recruited for the Feeding Our Future scheme despite lacking background or experience in food procurement or distribution. In December 2020, Noor submitted his application to be enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh, directed by Aimee Bock, the former Executive Director of the Feeding Our Future non-profit organization. Under Eidleh’s guidance, Noor signed forms with falsified meal counts and fabricated invoices, falsely claiming to feed supper and snacks to 1,500 children daily within weeks of being sponsored by Feeding Our Future. However, Noor did not personally serve any meals to these children and never visited the sites registered in his name by Feeding Our Future.
As detailed in the plea agreement, Noor paid kickbacks to Eidleh in exchange for Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Food distribution sites associated with Noor fraudulently obtained up to $1.3 million in federal child nutrition program funds by falsely claiming to have served meals to thousands of children per day. Almost all of this $1.3 million was either transferred to Eidleh or intercepted by Eidleh without Noor’s knowledge. As part of their arrangement, Noor retained approximately $52,388 in fraudulent proceeds for himself.
Noor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Stories like these show us how important it is to closely monitor funds meant for children.
Houston Tax Preparer Sentenced for Fraudulent Returns
A Houston tax preparer has been sentenced for aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Krystal Wright pleaded guilty on April 17.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown has ordered Wright to serve 24 months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release. Additionally, she was ordered to pay $525,404 in restitution. During the hearing, the court reviewed her criminal history, the duration of her scheme, and the resulting harm to taxpayers, concluding that a prison sentence was warranted. The court expressed hope that Wright would learn from her actions.
Wright was the sole proprietor and only tax preparer at WW2F in Freeport for six years. Most of her clients did not own businesses or discuss any business-related income or expenses with her. After completing a tax return, Wright did not review the documents with her clients and only provided them with the refund amount and the first two pages of the return. This practice prevented her clients from identifying overstated or false items on their tax returns.
Between 2017 and 2020, Wright prepared and filed approximately 83 federal income tax returns containing false and fraudulent items. These included qualified solar electric property costs, charitable contributions, business expenses, wages, salaries, tips, and supplies. The fraudulent filings resulted in a total sustained tax harm of $525,404.
Wright will remain in custody pending her transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodolfo Ramirez and James Hu prosecuted the case. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft, and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, and they maintain a federal conviction rate exceeding 90 percent. The agency has 20 field offices located across the United States and 12 attaché posts abroad.
Stacie's Tax Stuff 