Warning signs appeared in Minnesota’s child nutrition programs well before talks of terrorism. Federal investigators uncovered what they call one of the biggest fraud cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Criminals stole at least $250 million in taxpayer money. This cash was meant to feed kids, house vulnerable adults, and help young people with autism. Instead, it funded luxury homes, fancy cars, property abroad, and digital currencies like cryptocurrency. What started as a check for terror funding revealed schemes fueled by greed and poor government oversight.
Feeding Our Future and Huge Meal Scams
Aimee Bock started the nonprofit Feeding Our Future in 2016. The group grew fast during the pandemic when federal money for child meals increased. Prosecutors say Bock and her partners lied about serving millions of meals to poor kids. They used fake lists of kids and exaggerated numbers to get reimbursements from Minnesota’s Department of Education. Court records show only a tiny part of the money went to real food. Some spots claimed to hand out 120,000 meals a day from parking lots or empty buildings.
For example, a small Minneapolis restaurant called Safari, run by Salim Said, got over $32 million. It claimed to serve thousands of meals each day, which did not match its size. On March 19, 2025, a jury found Bock and Said guilty of wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors called the overall Minnesota fraud “staggering” and on an “industrial scale.” They noted Feeding Our Future was just one of several cases being probed.
Leaders’ Greed and Wild Spending
Federal agents charged 92 people in these fraud cases. Eighty-two of them are Somali Americans. Over 50 have admitted guilt, and several others lost at trial. Text messages from the group show they wanted to get rich fast, with no political or ideological goals. One key figure, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, got 28 years in prison. At his sentencing, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson pointed out Farah’s chances in America and said he repaid them by “robbing us blind.”
Judge Nancy Brasel called his actions “pure unmitigated greed.” The thieves spent the stolen money on upscale houses, luxury cars like Mercedes and Porsches, and land in Turkey and Kenya. Some wired cash to China and Kenya for buildings and investments. Farah alone sent over $700,000 to projects in Nairobi. Another bought a big Freightliner truck and a Porsche worth more than $180,000 together. Officials recovered about $75 million so far. They think $175 million is lost in foreign assets, fancy buys, or hard-to-track cryptocurrency.
Oversight Failures and New Frauds
Poor checks let the scams grow. A state audit in June 2024 found Minnesota’s education department saw red flags about Feeding Our Future as early as 2018. When the department tried stricter rules, the nonprofit sued, claiming racial bias. A judge ordered payments to restart and fined the department $47,500 for ignoring the order. Investigators say this let the fraud run for months more. Probes found abuse in other programs too. Housing Stabilization Services, funded by Medicaid for seniors and disabled people, paid out over $300 million from 2021 to mid-2025 before shutting down over fraud. Providers billed for work they never did or greatly overstated.
Kaamil Omar Sallah claimed 3,600 billable hours in one year, which prosecutors said was impossible. He took $1.4 million, then fled to Amsterdam after a subpoena. He moved $150,000 to cryptocurrency before vanishing. “Fraud tourists” from places like Philadelphia came too. Anthony Waddell Jefferson and Lester Brown from there filed $3.5 million in fake housing claims without real programs. Autism centers also cheated. They billed Medicaid millions using untrained teens for therapy. Some gave fake autism diagnoses to kids who did not have it, then paid families kickbacks to stay enrolled.
No Terror Ties, Just Greed
The fraud’s size drew big federal focus. In early December 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent started a probe into possible links to al-Shabab militants in Somalia. This hinted stolen welfare money might aid foreign extremists. But local prosecutors separated money laundering from terror funding. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said on December 17, 2025, there is no sign the charged people were radicalized or aimed to fund al-Shabab. Some money went through informal hawala systems to Somalia. In al-Shabab areas, the group takes taxes or fees on incoming cash. This lets them skim funds without the sender’s help. Investigators found no proof Minnesota defendants meant to support terror. Courts and prosecutors agree the main drive was personal gain.
The schemes hurt real people. Poor kids missed meals, disabled adults lost housing help, and autism families got unqualified care. Shutdowns hit honest providers too. Minnesota’s Somali American community of about 80,000 faces more bias and fear of aid programs. New rules include Treasury orders for better tracking of money to Somalia.
The state audits Medicaid programs and stops payments to suspect providers. Officials aim to recover cash and fix safety-net programs. Unanswered issues like the missing $175 million and rebuilding trust will shape future policies. At its core, this is about greed exploiting weak oversight.
Sources:
“Treasury Investigates Whether Minnesota Welfare Money Reached Al-Shabaab,” CBS News, December 1, 2025.
“In Landmark Sentence, Feeding Our Future Scheme Leader Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison,” U.S. Department of Justice, August 5, 2025.
“Six Additional Defendants Charged, One Defendant Pleads Guilty in Ongoing Fraud Schemes,” U.S. Department of Justice, December 17, 2025.
Feds: ‘No Indication’ Minnesota Fraudsters Were Seeking to Fund Terrorists,” Fox 9 News, December 17, 2025.