Minnesota man gets 28 years for pandemic-era food fraud
[August 07, 2025]
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a
leader of a sprawling, pandemic-era food fraud plot in Minnesota to 28
years in prison.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, must also pay nearly $48 million in
restitution. He faces potentially more years in prison at a later
sentencing hearing after previously pleading guilty in a juror bribery
case involving a bag of $120,000 in cash.
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Defendant Abdiaziz Shafii Farah walks into United States District Court
during the third day of jury selection in the first Feeding Our Future
case to go to trial in Minneapolis, April 24, 2024. (Leila Navidi/Star
Tribune via AP) |
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Farah is one of dozens of people charged in the Feeding Our
Future case in which prosecutors alleged a scheme to steal $300
million from a federally funded program meant to feed children
during the coronavirus pandemic.
Farah and several co-defendants went to trial last year where he
was convicted of 23 of 24 counts against him. Those offenses
include multiple counts of federal programs bribery, wire fraud
and money laundering.
Prosecutors said Farah exploited the program by opening
fraudulent sites where he claimed to be serving meals to
thousands of children a day. Farah and his associates falsified
meal counts and invoices, including fake children's names,
prosecutors said. He directed the stolen money to others and
perpetuated the fraud through a “pay-to-play” system,"
prosecutors said.
He and his associates stole more than $47 million in program
money, and Farah took more than $8 million over a year and a
half period, according to prosecutors. He used that money to buy
five luxury vehicles and real estate, including property in
Kenya, prosecutors said. That overseas property and money
prosecutors say Farah laundered via China are out of reach of
U.S. law enforcement.
In a statement, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Farah
“has done untold damage to this state" by “robbing us blind”
after finding opportunity in Minnesota.
The Associated Press left a phone message with and sent an email
to an attorney for Farah for comment.
Seventy-three people have been charged in connection with the
Feeding Our Future case; 51 have been found guilty.
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