Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, surrounded by the prosecution’s trial team, speaks during a news conference after the verdict was read in the first Feeding Our Future case at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis, Friday. Leila Navadi/Star Tribune via AP

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal jury found five of seven defendants guilty Friday for their roles in a scheme to defraud the government of money intended to feed hungry children.

Two defendants on trial associated with the Feeding Our Future nonprofit were found not guilty on any of the charges against them; five were found guilty on a majority of the charges they faced.

“The verdict confirms what we’ve known all along,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a news conference after the verdicts were read in Minneapolis. “The defendants took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

It was a “depraved” and “brazen” scheme, he said, adding that Minnesotans were outraged that defendants took advantage of a crisis and a program intended to feed children. “We’re pleased with the verdict and proud of the trial.”

Defendants Said Shafii Farah and Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, who were found not guilty on any charges, will be discharged, while the other five will be detained.

“The jury listened to the evidence and did their jobs,” Aftin’s attorney Andrew Garvis said after the verdicts were read in a crowded courtroom by U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz.

The jury received the case on Monday night and started deliberating Tuesday. The verdict caps a high-profile trial that stretched into a seventh week after 24 days of testimony and arguments. The six men and one woman on trial were charged with 41 counts, including wire fraud and money laundering.

The defendants were the first to go to trial in a broader case that’s led to charges against 70 people since 2022, when the FBI began investigating the Minnesota meal programs. With $250 million allegedly stolen, prosecutors have called it one of the largest pandemic fraud cases in the country.

At the center of the case are U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse schools, nonprofits and day cares for feeding low-income children after school or during the summer.

Prosecutors alleged the defendants exploited the pandemic when rules and oversight were loosened in the programs, submitting phony invoices and rosters of made-up children’s names. They called more than 30 witnesses who saw no or few meals served, FBI agents and accountants who traced money to personal expenses and a former Feeding Our Future employee who testified about a “booming” fraud scheme of rampant kickbacks and bribes.

Defense attorneys said their clients served real food to real kids, but said FBI investigators never searched some food sites. They argued prosecutors assumed criminal intent of Somali refugees who immigrated here, not understanding their culture of informal transactions based on trust and verbal agreements.

The defendants received more than $40 million for 18 million meals at 50 food sites across Minnesota — from Rochester to St. Cloud. Their food sites were oversee by two nonprofits, Partners in Nutrition in St. Paul and Feeding Our Future in St. Anthony.

The verdicts delivered for each defendant were:

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah – Guilty on all counts but one Wire Fraud

Mohamed Jama Ismail – Guilty on all counts but Wire Fraud

Abdimajid Mohamed Nur – Guilty on all counts but three counts of money laundering

Said Shafii Farah – Not guilty on all counts

Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin – Not guilty on all counts

Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff – Guilty on four counts, not guilty on two counts.

Hayat Mohamed Nur – Guilty on three counts, not guilty on two counts