
A former senior policy aide to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was one of two brothers who pleaded guilty this week for their roles in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick.
Abdi Nur Salah, 37, of St. Paul, who formerly served as an aide to the mayor and who also donated money to Frey’s election campaign, pleaded guilty to wire fraud along with co-conspirator Abdulkadir Nur Salah, 38, of Columbia Heights in a scheme to defraud the federal program administered by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) under Gov. Tim Walz’s administration.
According to court documents, the co-defendants knowingly participated in a scheme to defraud a federal child nutrition program designed to provide free meals to children in need from approximately April 2020 through January 2022. The co-conspirators obtained, misappropriated, and laundered millions of dollars in program funds that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children.
The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rather than feed children, the defendants took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic—and the resulting program changes—to enrich themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in federal child nutrition program funds.
According to court documents, Abdulkadir Nur Salah was co-owner and operator of Safari Restaurant, a site that received more than $16 million in fraudulent federal child nutrition program funds. Abdi Nur Salah registered Stigma-Free International, a non-profit entity used to carry out the fraud scheme with sites throughout Minnesota, including in Willmar, Mankato, St. Cloud, Waite Park, and St. Paul.
As part of their plea agreement entered Tuesday, each defendant agreed that a variety of assets and money were derived specifically from their fraud scheme and are thus subject to forfeiture to the United States. For Abdulkadir Salah that includes: $309,993.51 seized from Bell Bank account for Cosmopolitan Business Solutions d/b/a Safari Restaurant; $435,512.44 seized from Bell Bank account for 3017 LLC; $472,889.08 seized from Northeast Bank account for 3017 LLC; real estate property located at 2722 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. For Abdi Salah, that includes $343,418.98 seized from Star Choice Credit Union account for Stone Bridge Development, LLC; real estate properties located at 8432 Noble Avenue North, Brooklyn Park, Minn. (known previously as Kelly’s 19th Hole) and 2529 12th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn.
Both pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court before Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz. Their sentencing hearings will be scheduled at a later date.
The case is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
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