Relative of Sen. Bobby Joe Champion pleads guilty in $6 million pandemic aid fraud scheme

A Minneapolis non-profit executive and business consultant pleaded guilty in federal court to leading a scheme to defraud a number of federal, state, local, private programs and other sources of funding, resulting in a loss of over $6 million, and also to illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick.

Tezzaree El-Amin Champion, 28, who is reported to be the great nephew of Minnesota DFL Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, engaged in a fraud scheme from 2020 until 2024 through two Minneapolis-based entities he founded and controlled: a marketing company he owned, Futuristic Management LLC, and a non-profit organization he led, Encouraging Leaders, according to court documents.

Encouraging Leaders, under Champion’s direction, submitted at least 42 grant and public-contract applications with related follow-up correspondence containing materially false misrepresentations, in order to obtain funding. Fraudulent applications were submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, the Center for Disease Control Foundation, the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Otto Bremer Trust, the Greater Twin Cities United Way, and others.

The false statements included false rosters of Encouraging Leaders’ board of directions; false assertions that Encouraging Leaders had been independently audited; false claims that certain local governments, companies, and community organizations had agreed to partner with Encouraging Leaders; requests for payment based on overstated hours of work; and false claims that Encouraging Leaders administered events that either never occurred or were organized by others.

Charges say Champion misused significant portions of the funds that Encouraging Leaders received in response to the applications, including by transferring funds to himself and using organizational funds for personal matters. Based on the fraudulent applications, Encouraging Leaders sought more than $3.8 million in funding through 42 grants and was awarded 27 grants for more than $2.7 million in funding. Encouraging Leaders actually received approximately $1.5 million in funding as part of the scheme.

Through Futuristic Management, Champion recruited and assisted clients in submitting fraudulent applications to Hennepin County’s Small Business Relief grant program as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. The applications dramatically overstated applicant incomes and expenses and were supported by fake tax records and fake lease documents that Champion obtained.

Champion also submitted nine fraudulent applications on his own behalf. Simultaneously, Champion defrauded Hennepin County, for whom his company was serving as a business advisor under the County’s Elevate Business program. As part of the program, Champion agreed to provide free marketing services to local small businesses. But rather than provide free services, Champion billed and received payments from the County for services for which he had already been paid by his clients. Many of these clients were the same businesses and individuals Champion had assisted with false PPP, EIDL, and SBR applications.

Champion also used his company to fraudulently obtain loans marketed by PayPal Business Loan and issued by WebBank. In the PayPal applications, Champion overstated his company’s gross sales and attached fake Wells Fargo bank statements inflating his bank balances and deposits. In total, the part of the scheme relating to Futuristic Management resulted in a loss of more than $2.1 million.

Additionally, Champion intimidated clients by showing them a firearm and telling them he always carried a firearm, according to the charges.

During the investigation of Champion’s offenses, law enforcement searched Champion’s home. Officers found Futuristic Management financial records, a safe containing $127,000 in U.S. currency, and a Ruger LCR .357 revolver with Champion’s DNA on it. Due to a 2018 conviction in Hennepin County for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, Champion is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.

Champion, who is the son of Minneapolis North basketball star Khalid El-Amin, was found liable in 2023 in a separate state case for a civil judgment for ripping off former boxer Thomas Jones for at least $128,000 through a fake property investment scheme. Elements of that case were detailed in the federal indictment and contributed to the charges in the federal case.

Champion pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday before Judge Katherine M. Menendez to one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of illegally possessing a firearm as a felon. Champion agreed to pay restitution of at least $3,479,575 to the victims of his offenses. Earlier this month, Champion’s co-defendant, Marcus A. Hamilton, pleaded guilty to participating in the Futuristic Management part of the scheme. Sentencing hearings for both defendants will be scheduled at a later date. Neither defendant appears to be in custody.

The federal case was the result of an investigation conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Minneapolis Police Department’s Special Crimes Investigations Division.

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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.

Crime Watch MN

Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.