Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is facing questions over her personal connections to Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud schemes that defrauded taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Federal investigators revealing some stolen taxpayer money funded the al-Shabaab radical Islamic terrorist organization.
Omar accepted $7,400 in campaign donations from three defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud case, including two men associated with Safari Restaurant, which allegedly received $16 million in fraudulent federal child nutrition funds. She repeatedly used the restaurant for campaign appearances and parties —
I posted this video earlier …
Do you all want to know the kicker to this video?
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced on April 20, 2023 H.R. 2777 the "School Meals During School Closures Act.
She defrauded 250 Million from "The feeding our future Act." The same act she introduced. pic.twitter.com/zErLwE7d3y
— JBartlett (@JBartle44051086) November 11, 2025
That’s just the beginning of Omar’s connections to the potentially billion dollar fraud scandal. Manhattan Institute researchers Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo reported that her deputy district director, Ali Isse, lobbied on behalf of Feeding Our Future.
Omar also made multiple appearances at Safari Restaurant, including hosting her 2018 victory party there and appearing in a 2020 campaign video distributing meals at the restaurant.
The Feeding Our Future scandal represents the largest pandemic-era fraud prosecution in the United States. The nonprofit received $3.4 million in federal funding in 2019, but that amount skyrocketed to $197 million by 2021. Prosecutors say the fraud was widespread in the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota, and conspirators used fake meal counts, doctored attendance records, and fabricated invoices to claim they were serving thousands of meals daily to underprivileged children.
Almost no children were fed by conspirators, authorities say. Millions in taxpayer funds were simply pocketed.
Of the 78 people charged in the scheme, more than 50 have pleaded guilty and seven have already convicted at trial, including the organization’s leader Aimee Bock. The stolen money was used to purchase luxury vehicles, real estate around the world, and funneled back to families in Somali rather than feeding American children.
Many of those individuals were connected to Omar, either directly or through community connections.
On CNN Wednesday, host Jake Tapper asked Omar about how this massive fraud conspiracy, centered around the Somali refugee community, got so big so fast.
“Can you shed any light on why the fraud got so out of control in Minnesota?” Tapper asked.
“I think what happened is that, when you have these kind of new programs that are designed to help people, you are, oftentimes, relying on third parties to be able to facilitate,” Omar responded. “I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up, they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created.”
The fraud conspiracy extends far beyond the Feeding Our Future organization. On September 24, federal prosecutors announced charges against Asha Farhan Hassan in a $14 million autism services fraud scheme. Hassan, who was also charged in the Feeding Our Future case, allegedly recruited Somali children for unnecessary therapy, securing fake diagnoses and paying monthly kickbacks of $300 to $1,500 per child to their parents. Minnesota’s autism welfare services claims jumped from $3 million in 2018 to $400 million by 2023.
Separate fraud has been uncovered in Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program. Federal prosecutors announced charges against multiple defendants in September for allegedly stealing millions from that program as well, which was designed to give housing assistance to vulnerable populations.
Beyond Omar, many Minnesota Democratic Party leaders received donations from individuals involved in the fraud schemes.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey received $9,000 in donations from nine different Feeding Our Future defendants in 2021. State Senator Omar Fateh returned $11,000 in donations from people named in search warrants. Attorney General Keith Ellison’s campaign received a $2,700 donation in May 2022, four months after FBI search warrants were executed, from a defendant accused of stealing $1.6 million.
One defendant, Abdi Nur Salah, served as a senior aide to Mayor Frey until 2022. State Senator Omar Fateh lobbied Governor Tim Walz in increasing taxpayer support for the Feeding Our Future organization. Minneapolis Council Member Jamal Osman’s wife operated a phony Feeding Our Future meal site that received more than $400,000 in funding.
Hundreds of suspicious federal workers attempted to blow the whistle on the hundreds of millions of fraud payments, but were reportedly silence by Walz’ administration.
David Gaither, a former Minnesota Republican state senator, said racism allegations were used to snuff out descent inside Minnesota’s “woke” community.
President Donald Trump has seized on the scandal, calling Minnesota “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and moved to end deportation protections for Somali immigrants.
Omar’s campaign manager Jeremy Slevin claimed in a statement that the Minnesota representative returned all the fraudulent money that made her way into her campaign coffers.
“Rep. Omar’s campaign immediately donated the contributions to local food assistance charities as soon as the FBI investigation was made public back in February. She encourages all other elected officials who have received donations from these named individuals to donate their contributions to local food assistance charities.”