This piece examines Representative Ilhan Omar’s reported social and political ties to people convicted in a large Minnesota welfare fraud ring, outlines who those defendants are, notes the scale of the criminal activity, and highlights the political and community questions that follow from their relationships.
Representative Ilhan Omar has not been charged with wrongdoing in the Minnesota nutrition program fraud, and that legal presumption matters. Still, the details that have come out about who was involved and how close some of those people were to elected officials raise serious concerns for voters who expect accountability and judgment from their leaders.
Investigations into the Feeding Our Future scandal and related schemes have shown a wide network of alleged scammers who siphoned off government funds intended for child nutrition. The alleged thefts ran into the hundreds of millions, with prosecutors describing a sprawling conspiracy of fake vendors, sham sites, and diverted payments. That scale makes it hard for public officials to claim ignorance without answering plain questions about what they knew and when.
Certain individuals tied to the fraud are known to have connections to Omar, and those connections are now part of the public record. One notable figure is Salim Ahmed Said, whose role in the scandal and links to community events involving Omar have been widely reported. His convictions on multiple federal counts and the sums prosecutors say he pocketed make him a central example of how the scheme operated and who benefited.
Salim Ahmed Said, 33, is the owner of Safari Restaurant, which is where Omar held her 2018 campaign victory party.
He was convicted in March 2025 on 21 counts including wire fraud, federal programs bribery and money laundering. He allegedly pocketed $5 million from the scheme funneling money through Feeding Our Future for his own enrichments rather than for the child nutrition program.
He is facing decades in prison and is one of the more than 70 defendants charged in the sweeping case. There are 45 convictions so far.
Another person who admitted guilt has an even more direct tie to Omar’s campaigns, according to reporting and court filings. That person operated a phony nonprofit that claimed to serve thousands of meals, and prosecutors say it funneled millions away from its stated mission. Campaign staffing and volunteer networks crossing into alleged criminal operations are a red flag for any public servant.
A different Omar campaign official, a Democratic activist named Guhaad Hashi Said, pleaded guilty in August to running a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, where he falsely claimed to serve 5,000 meals a day and pocketed $3.2 million out of the food program.
Said worked on Omar’s 2018 and 2020 campaigns as an “enforcer” who oversaw aggressive voter mobilization in the Somali community, according to local Alphanews.org.
Hashi reportedly ran a site under the name Advance Youth Athletic Development that falsely claimed to serve up to 5,000 meals a day, and took an estimated $3.2 MILLION out of the food program.
Over four dozen people have now been convicted in connection with the scam.
Community dynamics in Minnesota complicate this story. The Somali-American population in the Twin Cities area is large and closely connected by family and social ties, and that closeness can blur the lines between political outreach and personal loyalty. For public officials who engage deeply with tight-knit constituencies, the obligation to vet associates and avoid conflicts should be even stronger.
Critics are asking whether elected officials did enough to guard taxpayer dollars and whether political benefit ever outweighed scrutiny. One commentator captured that sentiment bluntly, saying elected representatives who regularly attended certain venues should have seen warning signs long before convictions piled up. That kind of critique is political by nature and sharp in tone, but it reflects voters’ expectations for integrity and basic oversight.
Federal prosecutions and ongoing investigations will sort out criminal responsibility and appropriate punishment for defendants. Meanwhile, from a governance perspective the episode raises practical questions about campaign contacts, donor vetting, and how officials relate to community organizers. Those questions deserve public answers so trust can be rebuilt and safeguards put in place to prevent another large-scale theft of programs meant to help children.
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