Overview
- Federal prosecutors unsealed a nine-count indictment charging Ousman Camara with wire fraud, federal programs bribery, and money laundering.
- Authorities say Camara claimed to feed 1,000 children daily in 2020–2021, totaling more than 300,000 meals and seeking over $1 million in reimbursements.
- Investigators allege he sent over $100,000 abroad, including a $90,000 wire to Guandong Aluminum Co. in Hong Kong, paid about $87,000 in kickbacks, and used funds to buy a North Minneapolis building.
- Camara pleaded not guilty at his initial court appearance; a magistrate ordered him to surrender his passport and remove firearms from his home while on release.
- The indictment is part of what DOJ calls the nation’s largest COVID-19 nutrition-funds fraud, with 56 guilty pleas and seven trial convictions to date, and records show USDA barred Camara and his store from SNAP in 2015 for suspected fraud.