OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:40 PM – Thursday, August 7, 2025
A 36-year-old Somalian-American man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison in connection with a $300 million COVID-19 pandemic-era fraud case known as “Feeding our Future.”
Abdiaziz Farah, 36, was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. He immigrated to the United States as a refugee and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012, according to outlet KTSP.
He was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison on Wednesday for his central role in orchestrating a massive fraud scheme. He was convicted of wire fraud, passport fraud, federal programs bribery, and money laundering.
In this case, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson advocated for a substantially harsher sentence, highlighting that Farah had been afforded extensive financial support and opportunities by U.S. taxpayers.
“A home. Citizenship. A free college education. After that he went on to public employment with the state of Minnesota. And how did he repay this country and this state? By robbing us blind. He has gotten every opportunity and this is how he used it. Farah didn’t want the American dream. He wanted to be rich. He wanted to be wealthy. He thought he was entitled to it. He won the lottery of life, he was given everything by this country, and he repaid us with a life of crime,” said Thompson.
According to court documents, Farah was the co-owner of Empire Cuisine and Market, which was enrolled in the federal child nutrition program in 2020.
The documents state that Farah had opened bogus program sites and made false claims of serving meals to thousands of kids every day — all the while being given public funds. However, the majority of the fake “sites” did not serve any meals, as they were parking lots or empty office buildings.
According to the records, Farah purchased five expensive vehicles in six months using funds intended to feed underprivileged children. He also purchased real estate in the Twin Cities, Kentucky, and a high-rise building in Nairobi, Kenya, with taxpayer funds.
Farah attempted to later flee to Kenya when his passport was seized during a search warrant, but he was issued a replacement passport after claiming it was lost, rather than seized, by federal investigators — the actual truth.
Prosecutors further claimed that Farah laundered phony revenues through China, and law enforcement officials in the United States are unable to reclaim any money or properties located overseas. In total, $300 million was stolen during the Feeding Our Future conspiracy, which involved hundreds of defendants.
Near the close of his trial for the document charges, prosecutors claim Farah and four others attempted to bribe a juror in exchange for a “not guilty” ruling. Farah’s two brothers, Said Shafii Farah and Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, as well as Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and Ladan Mohamed Ali, were eventually indicted alongside him for the bribery attempt in June 2024.
Abdiaziz Farah has been sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release, for his role in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. He will be sentenced for his other juror bribery conviction at a later date — to be determined.
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