(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Ilhan Omar, the radical left-wing Squad member, has been linked to the massive COVID-19 relief fraud scheme in Minnesota, as some of her inner circle personally profited from the $1 billion scam.
The fraud involved Somali-owned businesses claiming they provided meals to people in need and then submitting reimbursement forms to the Minnesota government. Federal prosecutors say many of these meals never existed.
Omar reportedly held parties at Safari Restaurant, one of the businesses implicated in the fraud. She also knew one of Safari’s convicted co-owners and even employed a staffer who pleaded guilty to stealing millions, according to the New York Post.
I posted this video earlier …
Do you all want to know the kicker to this video?
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced on April 20, 2023 H.R. 2777 the "School Meals During School Closures Act.
She defrauded 250 Million from "The feeding our future Act." The same act she introduced. pic.twitter.com/zErLwE7d3y
— JBartlett (@JBartle44051086) November 11, 2025
The connections extend further. Omar introduced the 2020 MEALS Act, the legislation that enabled Feeding Our Future to siphon $250 million. This was the largest single-case COVID-19 relief fraud scheme in history, according to the Biden-led DOJ.
Omar even bragged about the bill in a 2022 tweet.
“In 2020, we passed the MEALS Act, a bill that authorized school meal waivers that protected access to school meals during the pandemic,” Omar wrote. “We also sponsored legislation to make school meals universal and eliminate all school meal debt. Our work to stop the hunger crisis continues.”
The scheme thrived amid little to no oversight by the Minnesota government.
Whistleblowers alleged that the administration of Gov. Tim Walz ignored several red flags, allegedly to avoid upsetting the Somali immigrant community, a key voting bloc.
The fraud was largely perpetrated by Somali-owned businesses.
One of Omar’s campaign staffers, Guhaad Hashi Said, pleaded guilty in August to running a fake meal business named Advance Youth Athletic Development. He claimed to have served 5,000 meals a day while pocketing $3.2 million from the Omar-endorsed program.
Additionally, another Omar staffer, deputy district director Ali Isse, defended Feeding Our Future even after investigators at the Minnesota Department of Education flagged the organization’s invoices as irregular.
“I’m tired of the MDE thing. How many more do we have to fight against” Isse claimed at a Feeding our Future event.
Omar denies knowledge of any wrongdoing and has not been accused of committing a crime.
The scheme has cost taxpayers $1 billion, and critics argue the total losses could be far higher.
