A key figure in Minnesota's sprawling Somali-linked fraud scandal was sentenced to 30 years behind bars on Wednesday.
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figure → sprawl → Wednesday
Salim Said, 37, was convicted in 2025 of defrauding taxpayers of $44 million in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.
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Said → convict → scheme
He operated Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, which specialized in dishes from Somalia, and is where Congresswoman Ilhan Omar held her 2018 campaign victory party.
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Omar → operate → party
Prosecutors said he vastly overstated the number of meals he was providing hungry children when seeking payment from the government through COVID-19 programs.
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he → say → programs
Said was claiming a 'ridiculous daily distribution of 6,000 meals' while FBI cameras showed 40 people a day collecting food, prosecutors said in a court filing.
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prosecutors → claim → filing
'The defendant and his sites did not serve thousands of children; he served a calculated, lucrative lie,' prosecutors said.
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prosecutors → serve → lie
'For 21 consecutive months, Said made thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims, day after day, month after month.'
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Said → make → month
The prosecutor continued: 'Each submission represented meals purportedly provided to underprivileged children, yet the listed children themselves were entirely fictitious.'
Salim Said, 37, was convicted in 2025 of scamming $44 million from taxpayers in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme
He operated Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, which specialized in dishes from Somalia, and is where Congresswoman Ilhan Omar held her 2018 campaign victory party
Instead, Said used the money to fund his luxurious lifestyle and bought a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate and an $87,000 pickup truck, according to the government.
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Said → continue → government
On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
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judge → sentence → prison
'You took more than taxpayers' dollars to enrich yourself.
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You → take → yourself
You took the reputation of our state down with you,' US District Judge Nancy Brasel said at the hearing.
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Brasel → take → hearing
Said was tried in federal court jointly with Feeding Our Future mastermind Aimee Bock.
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Said → try → Bock
Feeding Our Future was a nonprofit that stole $250 million in federal funds from the Federal Child Nutrition Program while falsely claiming was serving 91 million meals to hungry children.
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that → steal → children
Instead, taxpayers' money funded expensive lifestyles, including Bock and Said's.
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money → fund → Bock
Bock was sentenced by Brasel to more than 41 years in prison in May.
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Bock → sentence → May
Brasel made an example of Bock as she sentenced her to prison and admonished her in front of the packed Minneapolis courtroom.
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she → make → courtroom
Said used the money to fund his luxurious lifestyle and bought a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate and an $87,000 pickup truck, according to prosecutors
Said was tried in federal court jointly with Feeding Our Future mastermind Aimee Bock (pictured).
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Said → use → Bock
She was sentenced to more than 41 years in prison in May
'
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She → sentence → May
This was a vortex of fraud and you were its epicenter,' Brasel told Bock.
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Brasel → tell → Bock
'A sentence of less than 500 months would not do justice to the people of Minnesota, who in a very real sense were the victims of this fraud.'
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who → do → fraud
Assistant US Attorney Rebecca Kline told the court that the government believed that 'disabling Aimee Bock from ever meaningfully participating in society ever again [was] the only just outcome.'
Before being sentenced, Bock was in tears as she apologized and said, 'I don't have the words to express just how horrible I feel,' according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
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I → tell → Tribune
'I know I'm responsible.'
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I → know → ?
Most of the defendants charged in connection with the scam are Somali and hold American citizenship, though Bock is white.
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Bock → charge → citizenship
Another fraudster charged in the Feeding Our Future scheme, Muna Wais Fidhin, 45, was found guilty of using $1 million of taxpayer dollars meant to feed hungry children to pay off her personal expenses last week.
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fraudster → charge → expenses
Evidence showed she submitted fake invoices served more than 300,000 meals at her two food sites, for which she claimed to be entitled to approximately $1 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
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she → show → funds
The Aporia
