Salim Said, a central organizer in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud case, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel imposed the sentence on Said, 37, after his 2025 conviction on all 21 counts against him, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. The case involved a taxpayer-funded program meant to feed needy children, not provide a private revenue stream for people gaming the paperwork.
Prosecutors connected Said and the network around his former Minneapolis business, Safari Restaurant, to roughly $44 million in fraudulent claims. That figure was part of the wider Feeding Our Future scandal, which prosecutors have described as a $250 million fraud scheme. This was not a bookkeeping error or a small-time hustle. It was an alleged operation built around false claims, bribes and money laundering, with taxpayer money treated like an unattended cash drawer.
The Associated Press reported that Said claimed Safari Restaurant was distributing an astonishing 6,000 meals per day. Federal surveillance painted a radically different picture, with prosecutors saying cameras showed an average of only about 40 people arriving daily to collect food. That is not exactly a rounding error. The government said Said was responsible for $44 million in fraud, including money taken through operations run by people he recruited.
The sentence was among the longest imposed in the case. Prosecutors asked for 40 years, while the defense requested 12. Judge Brasel said Said stole taxpayer money for personal enrichment, damaged public confidence in government and dragged Minnesota’s reputation down with the scheme. Those are not minor concerns when the money was supposed to support children during a national emergency.
Minnesota Public Radio reported that Said personally submitted thousands of phony meal claims and paid bribes to Feeding Our Future insiders. Prosecutors told the court that Safari stood at the top of the operation’s fraud recipients and that Said helped turn stealing from the public into a scalable business model. That phrase sounds like something from a startup pitch, except the investors were taxpayers and the product was allegedly fictional meal counts.
The court also ordered Said to serve three years of supervised release after prison. He could face deportation because he is a legal permanent resident. Judge Brasel had already ordered the forfeiture of millions of dollars, vehicles and real estate tied to the proceeds.
Said apologized at sentencing and said he was “deeply sorry for his role.” Prosecutors argued that his remorse came only after he denied responsibility, minimized the scheme and testified falsely during the trial. The ugly core of the case remains hard to miss: money intended to feed low-income children was diverted into a criminal operation instead.
Social media users also resurfaced an older video showing Rep. Ilhan Omar promoting Safari Restaurant’s meal-distribution work. The clip shows that public promotion, but it does not show what Omar knew about the restaurant’s books or its fraudulent claims. That distinction matters, even when social media is eager to turn an old video into a complete investigation.
The wider Feeding Our Future case has already produced dozens of convictions and several extraordinary prison terms. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said founder Aimee Bock received a 500-month federal sentence earlier this year and described her as the ringleader of a scheme involving fake invoices, fabricated attendance rosters and false meal counts. Federal prosecutors said the network opened more than 250 meal sites and fraudulently obtained hundreds of millions of dollars. The money funded luxury cars, real estate and other personal purchases while defendants claimed they were serving enormous numbers of children.
Said now joins Bock and other major figures facing severe punishment. Thirty years in federal prison is a crushing sentence, and it reflects the damage prosecutors said this operation caused to taxpayers, children and public trust. Government programs may be complicated, but the basic rule is simple enough: money set aside to feed children is not a personal ATM.
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