A Shakopee, Minnesota restaurant owner is headed to prison for 28 years after his conviction in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel called 36-year old Abdiaziz Farah's involvement 'breathtakingly elaborate," saying he showed utter and flagrant disregard for the laws of the United States.
Investigators say Farah and others submitted $49 million in reimbursements to the federal child nutrition program during the COVID pandemic, claiming to feed 18 million kids at his restaurant and other sites.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Farah personally pocketed $8 million, and bought real estate in Kenya and luxury cars.
Farah 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.
Meanwhile, a 73rd defendant in the case, the executive director of a St. Paul nonprofit, also was charged in the massive fraud scheme on Wednesday.
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.
“This country gave Farah everything," Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph says. "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.”
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, Thompson said Farah “has done untold damage to this state" by “robbing us blind” after finding opportunity in Minnesota.
Seventy-three people have been charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future case; 51 have been found guilty.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.