28 years in prison for Feeding Our Future scheme leader who acted with ‘flagrant disregard’ for the law

A brazen leader in the $300 million Feeding Our Future child nutrition fraud scheme was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison on Wednesday, in what Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson called a landmark sentence.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, and his co-defendants stole more than $47 million in program funds by claiming to serve 18 million meals to kids at more than 30 food distribution sites, according to case documents.

Following a seven-week trial in June 2024, Farah was convicted by a jury on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, false statements in a passport application, conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of federal programs bribery, six counts of wire fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office explained:

“Farah was the co-owner of Empire Cuisine & Market, an entity that he enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program in April 2020, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Farah was among the very first defendants to see an opportunity for fraud and exploit it. Farah immediately opened a number of fraudulent program sites and began falsely claiming to serve meals to thousands of children per day. Many of the purported ‘sites’ served no meals at all and were nothing more than parking lots or vacant commercial spaces.

Farah and his co-defendants ‘papered-up’ the fraudulent scheme, including by creating and submitting fraudulent meal counts and invoices. Farah was likewise involved in the scheme’s use of phony rosters with fake children’s names. Few of the names on the rosters matched the names of real students attending the local school districts, and many of the names used by Farah were absurd and obviously fake, names like ‘Serious Problem’ and ‘Britishy Melony.’ In addition, Farah routinely directed the flow of fraudulent funds so that his co-conspirators got their ‘cuts’ of the stolen taxpayer money. To keep the fraud going, Farah engaged in a corrupt ‘pay-to-play’ system, where he paid thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to personnel at Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition.

Farah profited handsomely from his role in the scheme—he personally pocketed more than $8 million during his 18 months of involvement in the fraud. As presented at trial, Farah sent text messages to his co-defendants about their ill-gotten gains, stating ‘in 7 months if things stay the same you are a multi-millionaire with 0 debt’ and ‘Bro the next multi legit millionaires will be me and you.’

Using the taxpayer money meant for needy kids, Farah purchased five luxury vehicles for himself in about six months, including over $300,000 for a Porsche, a GMC truck, and a Tesla. Farah used approximately $4.2 million in fraudulently-obtained taxpayer funds to purchase real estate throughout the Twin Cities and in Kentucky, which included buying two lakefront lots with the aim of building himself a multi-million-dollar home. Farah further sent the taxpayer money he stole overseas, purchasing real estate in Kenya and a high-rise apartment building in Nairobi. Farah laundered the fraud proceeds through China. This overseas money is beyond the reach of American law enforcement—neither these funds nor Farah’s international real estate holdings have been, or can be, seized or forfeited.”

Farah also obtained a new U.S. passport under false pretenses in March 2022, two months after federal agents had executed search warrants and seized his original passport. Less than two weeks later, Farah attempted to leave the country, purchasing a one-way ticket to Kenya, where he owned property paid for with the taxpayer money he stole. Law enforcement charged Farah with passport fraud and took him into custody.

In June 2024, at the conclusion of his seven-week trial, Farah and others attempted to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash in exchange for a not guilty verdict. Farah and four others were indicted in a separate federal case for the juror bribery scheme. Farah has pleaded guilty in the juror bribery case and is pending sentencing in that case before Judge David S. Doty. Wednesday’s sentence does not reflect Farah’s attempt to bribe a juror; he will face an additional sentence in that case at a later date.

In imposing the 28-year sentence, Judge Nancy E. Brasel explained the defendant “came to this country as a refugee” and that “many of the opportunities” in Farah’s life came through public agencies and nonprofit organizations, noting that Farah received housing, school, a full-tuition college grant, and worked in the public sector.

“Given that background, it is ironic at best that, as the government aimed no child went hungry during the pandemic, you saw the opportunity to fraudulently make money,” she said.

“You achieved successes here in the United States and yet you’ve shown utter and flagrant disregard for the laws of the United States,” Judge Brasel continued.

Judge Brasel found that Farah’s crime was “breathtakingly elaborate” and that he acted out of “pure unmitigated greed.” She told the defendant, “The repercussions of your crime will be felt in Minnesota and in your community—the refugee community—for a long time.”

In arguing for a long sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Thompson said, “This country gave Farah everything. A home. Citizenship. A free college education. After that, he went on to public employment with the state of Minnesota. And how did he repay this country and this state? By robbing us blind. He has gotten every opportunity, and this is how he used it. Farah didn’t want the American dream. He wanted to be rich. He wanted to be wealthy. He thought he was entitled to it. He won the lottery of life, he was given everything by this country, and he repaid us with a life of crime. He has done untold damage to this state.”

Farah will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence incarcerated before becoming eligible for parole, and he was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $47,920,514.

Also announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Thompson on Wednesday were charges against the 73rd defendant in the Feeding Our Future case, Hussein Mohamed Farah, who is the executive director of New Vision Foundation, a nonprofit located in St. Paul. Hussein Farah, who does not appear to be in custody, has been charged with one count of wire fraud for submitting phony meal count sheets and collecting $2.7 million on the claims.

– – –

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

The post 28 years in prison for Feeding Our Future scheme leader who acted with ‘flagrant disregard’ for the law appeared first on Alpha News MN.