Burnsville Charter Schools Must Make Reforms After Misuse Of Funds: AG

ST. PAUL, MN — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Friday that a charter school in Burnsville will enact reforms to improve board oversight and other accountability measures.

Ellison's investigation into Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, the founder and executive of Gateway STEM Academy, found that he "violated his fiduciary duties to Gateway by steering nearly $300,000 to companies owned or controlled by three of the school’s directors or officers, including a company that Farah co-owned."

Previous directors and officers also violated their fiduciary duties to Gateway by failing to sufficiently oversee Farah and failing to maintain policies and procedures that would have detected and prevented the conflicts of interests, according to investigators.

Farah was charged in federal court last year in the "Feeding Our Future" fraud scheme. He resigned and was replaced after the charges were made public.

Investigators also found that Gateway funds were paid to companies headed by Mahad Ibrahim ($173,602.65) and Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff ($117,255) while they served as Gateway board members in 2021 and 2022.

Both Ibrahim and Shariff were also charged in the "Feeding Our Future" fraud scheme.

"Nonprofit charter schools must use their resources to further their educational mission, not to benefit insiders," Ellison said in a statement.

"The clear self-dealing by Gateway’s former executive director and some members of its board is extremely disappointing, as are the governance failures that allowed the misuse of funds to happen. I am encouraged that Gateway’s new leadership cooperated with our Office’s investigation, put controls in place to protect the school and its charitable mission going forward, and agreed to additional measures proposed by my office to help ensure a strong fresh start for the school."

Under the terms of an Assurance of Discontinuance filed in Dakota County, Gateway will be monitored as it performs an internal investigation into:

• How the improper transactions occurred
• Ensure sufficient training for directors and officers regarding their duties under state and federal law
• Not work again with the former directors and officers named in the Assurance