4 days ago
Minnesota Man Is Sentenced to 28 Years in Federal Food Aid Fraud
A Minnesota man was sentenced this week to 28 years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded program meant to feed hungry children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The man, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, of Savage, Minn., played a leading role in the scheme, which involved a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, federal prosecutors said.
Mr. Farah, who was the co-owner of a business called Empire Cuisine & Market, and other defendants stole more than $47 million from the program by claiming to have served 18 million meals to children at more than 30 food distribution sites, prosecutors said.
After enrolling Empire Cuisine in the Federal Child Nutrition Program in April 2020, Mr. Farah opened several food sites and began falsely claiming to have served thousands of children a day, prosecutors said. In fact, many of the sites served no meals at all, prosecutors said.
As part of the scheme, he created bogus paperwork, submitted fraudulent claims, doled out proceeds to others involved and paid kickbacks, prosecutors said.
Mr. Farah personally stole than more than $8 million from the program during the 18 months he was involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. He used the money to buy a Porsche, a GMC truck and a Tesla, as well as real estate in Minnesota and Kentucky, prosecutors said. He also diverted more $700,000 to a Kenyan real estate partnership, they said.
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