Crowds in closed park and FBI tipsters: Trial unveils details in alleged meal fraud scheme

Thousands of meals apparently served in a barricaded suburban park. Reams of documents showing the same names of kids receiving meals day after day. A nonprofit insider first tipping off the FBI.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys began to unveil new details this week in the first Feeding Our Future-related trial in which authorities allege a sprawling fraud scheme in the federal child nutrition program. Jurors got a first glimpse of how millions of dollars flowed through the St. Anthony nonprofit Feeding Our Future and related organizations in what prosecutors say is one of the largest pandemic-related fraud schemes in the country.

Defense attorneys, though, struck back at the allegations, saying defendants followed complex federal rules and served real food. As they tried to cast doubt on the FBI's investigation, they blamed Feeding Our Future and other nonprofits managing the program for poor oversight.

https://www.startribune.com/crowds-in-closed-park-and-fbi-tipsters-trial-unveils-details-in-alleged-meal-fraud-scheme/600363657/