Minnesota restaurant operator gets 30 years for $44 million child-food fraud

FBI cameras recorded about 40 people a day collecting food at Salim Said's Minneapolis restaurant site. Said was claiming 6,000 meals a day.

The 37-year-old Safari Restaurant operator was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for his role in Minnesota's Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which used a COVID-era child-nutrition program to seek reimbursements for meals prosecutors said were never served. Prosecutors put Said's share of the fraud at about $44 million, including money taken by people he recruited.

The numbers: Prosecutors said Said submitted thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims over 21 consecutive months. The claims listed meals supposedly provided to underprivileged children, but prosecutors said the children named in them were fictitious. At his 2025 trial, Said denied the allegations and said many meals had been delivered off site, according to Al Jazeera. He expressed remorse at Wednesday's sentencing.

Where the money went: The government said Said used stolen funds to buy a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate and an $87,000 pickup truck. His lawyer, Barry Zone, had sought a 12-year sentence and disputed the government's description of Said as the scheme's architect.

US District Judge Nancy Brasel told Said that he had taken more than taxpayer money. “You took the reputation of our state down with you,” she said.

Zoom out: Said was convicted in 2025 alongside Aimee Bock, the leader of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Bock is serving a 42-year sentence for devising the scheme and was ordered to repay $242 million. The program became easier to use during the pandemic, when restaurants could participate and food distribution expanded beyond schools. State auditors later found that Minnesota's education department received repeated complaints about Feeding Our Future but often told the organization to police itself.

The thing to watch is how Minnesota's education department handles complaints about food-program operators after those audit findings.