A former campaign associate of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has pleaded guilty to participating in a multi-million-dollar pandemic food fraud conspiracy, adding another chapter to the growing list of controversies surrounding the progressive lawmaker’s political orbit.
Federal prosecutors announced that 49-year-old Guhaad Hashi Said — describedby Alpha News as an “enforcer” for Omar’s campaign — admitted in court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from a wide-ranging fraud targeting a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The conviction many in the Feeding Our Future case is yet another reminder of the vast reach of this fraud and the scale of the crisis we face in Minnesota,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement. “These crimes are not isolated events. They are part of a web of schemes targeting programs that are intended to lift up Minnesotans and bleeding them dry. From where I sit, the scale of the fraud in Minnesota is staggering, and every rock we turn over reveals more. We must be honest and clear-eyed about the scope of this problem, because ending it will take an unyielding, all-hands-on-deck effort from all of us.”
According to court documents, between December 2020 and January 2022, Said exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program, falsely claiming his nonprofit — Advance Youth Athletic Development — was serving thousands of meals daily to underprivileged children. Incorporated in February 2021, the organization was registered to a residential apartment in the Central Avenue Lofts in Minneapolis.
Beginning in March 2021, Said submitted meal count sheets claiming to have served 5,000 meals per day. From March through December of that year, he claimed to have served more than 1 million meals — but in reality provided only a fraction of that number. Prosecutors say he fabricated meal counts, attendance rosters, and invoices to secure reimbursements.
The scheme brought in roughly $2.9 million in federal funds. Between August and December 2021, Said transferred more than $2.1 million from his organization’s bank accounts to a catering business, ostensibly for food purchases, while using other proceeds to buy real estate, cars, and personal items through a network of shell nonprofits and LLCs.
Said now faces up to 25 years in federal prison when sentenced. He previously ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018.
While Omar herself has not been implicated in the Feeding Our Future scandal, the conviction comes against a backdrop of past ethical and political controversies tied to the congresswoman.
In 2019, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board found that Omar’s state legislative campaign had violated reporting requirements and improperly used campaign funds for personal expenses, ordering her to reimburse $3,469.23.
The campaign of Minneapolis far-left mayoral candidate Omar Fateh announced on Friday that he has returned a campaign contribution from the most recent defendant to be indicted in the Feeding Our Future case.
Muna Wais Fidhin of Savage, Minn., was charged by a federal grand jury earlier this month with the fraudulent claim of approximately $1 million in reimbursements from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs and the operation of two counterfeit meal distribution sites.
Fidhin, 44, was the 75th individual to be charged in the extensive case since September 2022. This case has prompted a reckoning among state leaders regarding the widespread fraud in state safety net programs.
Fateh, a DFL state senator, is one of the candidates seeking to unseat Mayor Jacob Frey, the DFL incumbent who is seeking a third term.
On July 10, Fidhin donated the maximum-allowed $1,000 to his campaign. According to state, federal, and city campaign finance documents, the contribution appears to be Fidhin’s inaugural political donation.
Arianna Feldman, the spokesperson for the Fateh campaign, stated in an email to MPR News that Fateh returned the donation on Sept. 4, the same day that federal investigators apprehended Fidhin and a judge unsealed the indictment against her.
According to Feldman, Fateh was unaware of Fidhin’s purported involvement in the fraud conspiracy until her indictment and does not know her.
Fateh returned campaign contributions to his state senate campaign in early 2022 from a number of individuals who would subsequently be criminally accused in the Feeding Our Future case.
Additionally, in 2022, Frey returned the donations to the federal government after a half dozen donors to her campaign were identified in search warrants associated with the Feeding Our Future investigation.
