MINNEAPOLIS — Salim Said, a Minneapolis restaurant operator who prosecutors described as a central figure in the Feeding Our Future fraud, was sentenced on Wednesday, October 28, to 30 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. FOX 9, whose reporter was inside the courtroom, reported that Said was also ordered to pay more than $44 million in restitution. The Associated Press reported the government holds Said responsible for $44 million in fraud, some of it committed by people he recruited.
Said operated Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, a restaurant specialising in dishes from Somalia. Prosecutors said he vastly overstated the number of meals his sites claimed to serve when seeking reimbursement from a federal child-nutrition programme during the COVID-19 pandemic — money that was supposed to feed needy children.
6,000 meals claimed, 40 people on camera
The gap between the claims and the reality was at the heart of the prosecution case. Said was claiming a “ridiculous daily distribution of 6,000 meals” while FBI cameras showed about 40 people a day collecting food, prosecutors said in a court filing. “The defendant and his sites did not serve thousands of children; he served a calculated, lucrative lie,” prosecutors said.
“For 21 consecutive months, Said made thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims, day after day, month after month,” prosecutors said. “Each submission represented meals purportedly provided to underprivileged children, yet the listed children themselves were entirely fictitious.” Pre-sentencing reporting put Said's conviction at 21 felony counts, including wire fraud and money laundering, and prosecutors had asked the judge to impose 40 years.
What the judge said — and what the defence argued
“You took more than taxpayers' dollars to enrich yourself. You took the reputation of our state down with you,” Judge Nancy Brasel told Said at the sentencing, according to the Associated Press. The government said Said spent the proceeds on a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate and an $87,000 pickup truck.
Said, a native of Somalia, had denied the allegations when he testified at his trial in 2025, saying many meals were delivered off site. At Wednesday's sentencing he changed course and expressed remorse, the Associated Press reported. His defence attorney Barry Zone, who had asked for a 12-year prison sentence, disputed the government's description of Said as the “architect” of the scheme.
Background: how the Feeding Our Future programme was looted
COVID-19 brought changes to the federal programme that normally fed children through schools: restaurants could participate, and food distribution was extended to places outside schools. Said was convicted in 2025 alongside Aimee Bock, the leader of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Bock is serving a 42-year prison sentence for devising the overall plan to recruit Said and others into the programme, the Associated Press reported. FOX 9 described the wider scheme as a $250 million fraud, and prosecutors have called it Minnesota's largest fraud scheme to date.
The oversight failure is part of the record. State auditors found that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future, but often told the group to police itself. Dozens of people have been convicted in the sprawling case, which has repeatedly drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who ridiculed Democratic Governor Tim Walz for failing to stop it and partly cited it as grounds for an immigration crackdown in the state's largest cities. In January, Walz said he would not run for reelection after sustained criticism over theft in programmes that rely on federal cash.
The case is one of the largest pandemic-relief frauds in the United States: a programme built to feed children was billed for meals prosecutors say never existed, for children who were fictitious. Every dollar recovered through restitution goes back toward a loss the government puts, in Said's part alone, at $44 million.
What happens next
Said's sentencing is the latest punishment in a case that is still working its way through the federal courts, with dozens of defendants already convicted. He now begins a 30-year federal term, and the restitution order of more than $44 million reported by FOX 9 stands against him. For Minnesota taxpayers and for the child-nutrition programmes the money was meant for, the recovery effort — and the political argument over how the fraud went undetected for 21 months — will continue long after this sentencing.
Sources: The Associated Press (sentencing, courtroom statements, background); FOX 9 Minneapolis–St. Paul (courtroom reporting, restitution figure, prosecutors' 40-year request).