Maplewood deli owner sentenced to 54 months for claiming 1.6 million meals at a strip mall
Abdihakim Ali Ahmed, 41, of Minneapolis, owner of Gurley Deli in Maplewood, Minnesota, was sentenced to 54 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution for his part in the Feeding Our Future scheme. He pleaded guilty in March 2025 to wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors found that through a site at his deli he claimed to serve 2,000 to 3,000 children a day, claiming more than 1.6 million meals between September 2020 and 2021, and that he and co-conspirators charged a total of $7.3 million in fraudulent claims through Feeding Our Future.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $7.3 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Child nutrition program fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-27
The facts, as recorded
- Ahmed registered ASA Limited LLC with the Minnesota Secretary of State and submitted his application through Feeding Our Future's executive director. Within three weeks, he and co-conspirators falsely claimed to be serving meals to 2,000 or 3,000 children each day, seven days a week, at a site operated from his deli in a strip mall.
- From September 2020 to 2021 he claimed to have served more than 1.6 million meals at the location.
- Prosecutors said he submitted multiple fake attendance rosters listing names and ages of attendees of an after-school program. Investigators found that the spreadsheets contained a formula that inserted a random number between seven and 17 in the age column for each child on the list.
- Rather than using the funding on meals for children, Ahmed kept hundreds of thousands of dollars, transferring fraud proceeds to a shell company, buying the former location of a Brooklyn Park bar and restaurant, and buying a 2022 Mini Cooper.
- He paid more than $49,000 in bribes and kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee in exchange for sponsoring and facilitating participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program.
- In total, Ahmed and co-conspirators charged $7.3 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program claims through Feeding Our Future.
- He pleaded guilty in March 2025 to wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 4.5 years, 54 months, with more than $2.2 million in restitution. The US Attorney's Office had argued for 57 months and his defense sought a sentence that would have had him serve 24 months.
- Ahmed became the 45th conviction tied to the scheme, and 66 people had been convicted when the sentence was reported.
Why this case matters
It shows how small a site could be and how large the claim. A deli in a strip mall claimed to feed 2,000 to 3,000 children a day, seven days a week, within three weeks of the application. The rosters that supported it carried ages generated by a formula, a random number between seven and 17, according to the court documents.
The paper behind the claim
The documents describe fake attendance rosters with names and ages for an after-school program at the deli. When investigators looked at the spreadsheets behind the lists they found that the age column was produced by a formula, which is a different thing from a roster of real children.
The caveat
Ahmed pleaded guilty and has been sentenced, so the conduct above is what the court documents say and what he admitted, as reported by FOX 9. The report’s address carries the date August 26, 2026, and its text does not state the sentencing date. It describes the amounts as claims charged, not as the amount the program paid, and the restitution of more than $2.2 million is the figure the court ordered.
Sources
- Former deli owner sentenced for role in Feeding our Future fraud. FOX 9. Accessed 2026-10-27. Supports: Every fact above: the ASA Limited LLC site at the deli, the 2,000 to 3,000 children a day, the 1.6 million meals, the rosters with random ages, the use of the money, the $49,000 in kickbacks, the $7.3 million, the plea, the 54-month sentence and restitution, and the conviction counts.