Minnesota Child Nutrition Fraud Figure Salim Said Sentenced to 30 Years: Claimed 6,000 Meals a Day in $44 Million Scheme
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel on Oct. 28, 2026, sentenced restaurant operator Salim Said to 30 years in federal prison, finding him responsible for about $44 million in a pandemic-era federal child nutrition fraud scheme and ordering him to pay more than $44 million in restitution. The sentence is the latest in the sprawling case centered on the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, in which dozens of people have been convicted.
Said operated Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, which specialized in dishes from Somalia. In 2025 a jury convicted him, alongside Feeding Our Future leader Aimee Bock, on 21 counts including wire fraud, conspiracy, federal programs bribery and money laundering. Bock, found to have devised the overall plan and recruited Said and others into the federal food program, is serving a 42-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors said Said made thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims for 21 consecutive months, day after day, month after month, each submission purporting to represent meals provided to underprivileged children who were entirely fictitious. His restaurant claimed a daily distribution of about 6,000 meals, while FBI surveillance cameras showed roughly 40 people a day collecting food. "The defendant and his sites did not serve thousands of children; he served a calculated, lucrative lie," prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Said used the proceeds to buy a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate and an $87,000 pickup truck, and expanded meal sites through a nonprofit to locations including Willmar, St. Cloud and Mankato. The government sought a 40-year sentence, describing Said as an architect of the roughly $250 million scheme, while the defense asked for 12 years.
"You took more than taxpayers' dollars to enrich yourself. You took the reputation of our state down with you," Judge Brasel told Said at sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Kline argued that public programs depend on trust and that the crime would affect Minnesota for generations.
Said, a native of Somalia, denied the allegations when he testified at his 2025 trial, saying many meals were delivered off site, but at Wednesday's sentencing he expressed remorse. His defense attorney Barry Zone disputed that Said was the scheme's architect, saying his client was never in Bock's position.
During the pandemic, changes to the federal child nutrition program allowed restaurants to participate and food distribution to extend beyond schools. State auditors found that Minnesota's Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future but often told the group to police itself. The scale of the fraud repeatedly drew criticism from President Donald Trump, who faulted Governor Tim Walz for failing to stop it; Walz said in January that he would not run for reelection, according to the Associated Press.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：本案宣判地 Minneapolis 市中心街景。Greg Gjerdingen 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Downtown Minneapolis, where the sentence was handed down. By Greg Gjerdingen, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
