Sharmarke Issa
All Connections
9 total
All Connections
9 totalAbdi Nur Salah and Sharmarke Issa (Frey-appointed MPHA board chair) co-purchased 2529 12th Ave S Minneapolis for ~$390K on Oct 29 2021 via a $386K cashier's check from Stone Bridge Development LLC, with $200K traceable to Feeding Our Future fraud proceeds.
Co-investors in 2529 12th Avenue South, Minneapolis ($390K, Oct 2021); Salah advocated for Issa's MPHA board chair appointment; Salah's Stone Bridge Development LLC received $900K in fraud checks funding the co-purchase; both charged and pleaded guilty in Feeding Our Future fraud
Frey appointed Issa to MPHA board twice (2019, 2021); Issa donated $250 to Frey 2020 campaign; Frey's aide Salah was Issa's co-investor; Frey placed on Feeding Our Future trial witness list; Frey received ~$9K total from FOF defendants in 2021 campaign
Co-conspirators in child nutrition fraud scheme (0:22-cr-00226); Salad sent Issa $341K check labeled 'donation' — admitted to be money laundering in Issa's plea; Salad's Haji's Kitchen LLC operated 15+ fake meal sites claiming 15M+ meals; both pleaded guilty
$250 donation to Jacob Frey 2020 campaign while serving as Frey-appointed MPHA Board Chair; Issa later pleaded guilty to wire fraud (Sept 2024) for $7.6M FOF fraud through Wacan Restaurant LLC and Minnesota's Somali Community
Abdi Nur Salah and Sharmarke Issa co-purchased 2529 12th Ave S, Minneapolis for $390,000 (Oct 2021) using FOF fraud proceeds (~$200K traceable). Both defendants forfeited their interests in separate plea agreements.
Issa operated Minnesota Somali Community and Wacan Restaurant LLC as CACFP sites under PIQC sponsorship (and simultaneously under Feeding Our Future). Pleaded guilty to $3.59M wire fraud.
Sharmarke Issa operated food sites under both Partners In Quality Care (PIQC) and Feeding Our Future simultaneously. He pleaded guilty to $3.59M wire fraud (charged 2022-09-20). His cross-organizational operation of meal sites demonstrates that the PIQC and FoF networks shared operational participants beyond just leadership.
Muna Wais Fidhin's M5 Care nonprofit and Sharmarke Issa's food sites (Minnesota Somali Community, Wacan Restaurant LLC) both operated under Partners in Quality Care (PIQC) FCNP sponsorship — creating a structural shared-channel connection between the Fidhin/Somaliland network and the Nur Salah/Safari cluster. No direct bilateral financial transaction or communication is documented.
All Findings
13 total
All Findings
13 totalfinancial (5)
Sharmarke Issa operated Minnesota's Somali Community (nonprofit) and Wacan Restaurant LLC as fraud vehicles under Federal Child Nutrition Program, filing fraudulent records claiming at least 2.3 million meals served to children
Sharmarke Issa received $341,000 check from co-conspirator Haji Osman Salad (Haji's Kitchen LLC), deposited into personal bank account labeled as 'donation' — admitted in plea to be money laundering
Issa acquired $785,000 private residence in Edina, MN using fraud proceeds laundered through Bubah Baraka Properties LLC (registered in mother Farhiya Ahmed Mohamud's name); subject to forfeiture in plea
Sharmarke Issa operated ANS Projects LLC as money laundering vehicle to purchase real estate with fraud proceeds
Sharmarke Issa and Abdi Nur Salah co-purchased four-unit apartment building at 2529 12th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN for $390,000; $200,000 of purchase price traceable to Feeding Our Future fraud proceeds
legal (2)
Sharmarke Issa charged in United States v. Haji Osman Salad et al. (0:22-cr-00226, D. Minnesota, Judge Brasel) with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering
Sharmarke Issa pleaded guilty to wire fraud before Judge Brasel (D. Minnesota); admitted to defrauding federal government of $7.6 million in child nutrition funds, personally profiting $3,586,231
political (6)
Jacob Frey appointed Sharmarke Issa to MPHA Board of Commissioners; City Council confirmed in May 2019, making Issa first Somali American, first East African, and first non-US-born person to chair the board
Sharmarke Issa donated $250 to Mayor Jacob Frey's 2020 campaign; Frey received total ~$9,000 from approximately 8-9 future Feeding Our Future fraud defendants in his 2021 mayoral campaign
Sharmarke Issa donated $250 to Jacob Frey campaign in 2020 while serving as Frey-appointed MPHA Board Chair
Sharmarke Issa, whom Mayor Frey appointed as MPHA Board of Commissioners chair in May 2019, donated $250 to Frey's campaign in 2020. Issa was the first Somali American and first East African to chair the MPHA board. He was reappointed by Frey to a second term in November 2021. Issa pleaded guilty to wire fraud on September 18, 2024, admitting to $7.6M total fraud and $3.6M personal proceeds through Wacan Restaurant LLC and Minnesota's Somali Community nonprofit.
Sharmarke Issa, as MPHA Board Chair, led the board search committee and unanimously approved Abdi Warsame as MPHA CEO/Executive Director (January 29, 2020), making Warsame first Somali to lead a government agency in Minnesota
Mayor Frey reappointed Sharmarke Issa to MPHA for second term and designated him board chair (November 2021)
Sharmarke Issa resigned as MPHA board chair after property he co-owned with Abdi Nur Salah appeared in federal court forfeiture filings tied to Feeding Our Future fraud