Safari Restaurant Owner Sentenced to 30 Years for Inflated Meal Claims
Salim Said, who claimed to distribute 6,000 meals daily during the pandemic, received a prison term after prosecutors proved the numbers were fictitious.
By Justin Brooks ·
Federal funding rules changed during the pandemic to allow restaurants to serve meals for children outside of school settings. Salim Said capitalized on this shift by operating Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, a Somali cuisine establishment, and submitting reimbursement claims for food he said he provided to needy families. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sentenced Said to 30 years in prison for his role in a $44 million fraud scheme.
Prosecutors alleged that Said vastly overstated the volume of food distributed. Court filings stated that while his records claimed a daily distribution of 6,000 meals, FBI surveillance cameras captured only 40 people collecting food per day at his sites. The government argued that the children listed on the reimbursement forms did not exist. "The defendant and his sites did not serve thousands of children; he served a calculated, lucrative lie," prosecutors wrote in a court document.
Said, who is a native of Somalia, testified during his 2025 trial that many meals were delivered off site to justify the high numbers. He denied the fraud charges at that time. However, at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, he expressed remorse. His defense attorney, Barry Zone, had argued for a 12 year sentence and contested the government's characterization of Said as the architect of the plan. Zone maintained that others played larger roles in designing the scheme.
Judge Brasel noted that Said used the funds to improve his personal wealth. The government identified a $1.2 million home, commercial real estate holdings, and an $87,000 pickup truck among the assets purchased with the money. "You took more than taxpayers’ dollars to enrich yourself. You took the reputation of our state down with you," Brasel said during the sentencing.
The case is part of a wider investigation into a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future. Aimee Bock, the leader of that organization, was convicted alongside Said in 2025. She is currently serving a 42 year prison sentence for devising the overall strategy to recruit partners like Said into the federal program. A judge ordered Bock to repay $242 million to the government.
State auditors later found that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future. The department often told the group to police itself. In January, Governor Tim Walz announced he would not run for reelection. He had faced pressure from President Donald Trump, who cited the fraud to criticize the state's management of federal funds and to support immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis.
Said's conviction and sentence add to the list of dozens of people found guilty in the Minnesota food fraud case. The scheme involved claiming to feed underprivileged children during a period when federal oversight was expanded to accommodate pandemic related needs. The 30 year term is the latest punishment in a series of trials that have spanned the last several years.
Source: WCCB
