Ilhan Omar filmed a promo video at the restaurant stealing $16 million from children's meal money – and called it a success.
Now the convicted mastermind of the $250 million scheme is naming her from a jail cell.
And what Omar said when asked about it tells you everything.
Aimee Bock Named Omar by Name From Sherburne County Jail
Aimee Bock founded Feeding Our Future, the nonprofit at the center of the largest COVID fraud case in American history.
A jury convicted her in March 2025 of conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud.
Prosecutors want her locked up for 100 years.
This week she called the New York Post by video from Sherburne County Jail and said six words that should end a congressional career.
"I struggle to believe that she wouldn't have known."
That is the convicted mastermind of a $250 million fraud scheme, on record, naming a sitting member of Congress.
"A lot of the sites were working directly with her, being that a lot of the operators were from the same Somali community," Bock told the Post.
"There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff – and I presume her personally – to work through some of those gaps with the waivers."
The MEALS Act Gave Feeding Our Future the Waiver That Killed Every Oversight Requirement
On March 11, 2020, Ilhan Omar introduced the MEALS Act.
That bill gave the USDA authority to issue waivers stripping the standard oversight requirements from federal child nutrition programs – no site inspections, no verification, no guardrails of any kind.
Omar didn't just fail to stop the fraud.
She wrote the law that made it possible.
When waivers expired and threatened to cut off the money, Bock says Omar's office personally intervened.
"There had been a couple times early on that there were some gaps – a waiver would be set to expire on maybe the 15th of a month, and then the renewal didn't kick in until the 1st," Bock said.
Omar kept the pipeline open every time it was about to close.
Omar Filmed Her Promo Video While Said Was Stealing Millions
Safari Restaurant was the crown jewel of the fraud.
Co-owner Salim Said stole $16 million – the highest individual total in the entire case.
In May 2020, while the fraud was actively running, Ilhan Omar walked into Safari and filmed a promotional video claiming "every day Safari provides 2,300 meals to children and their families."
By July, Safari was claiming to feed 5,000 children per day.
Said spent the stolen money on a $2 million Minneapolis mansion and a $9,000-per-month Nordstrom habit.
He is convicted and awaiting sentencing.
Omar also held her 2018 election night party at Safari, and the restaurant's owner donated to her campaign.
The Minnesota House committee demanded every communication Omar had related to that promotional video.
She produced nothing.
Feeding Our Future Put Omar's Name in Six Court Exhibits and She Refuses to Explain Any of Them
Omar's name appeared in at least six court exhibits during Bock's federal trial – emails and texts between Omar's congressional office and the convicted mastermind.
One email chain carried the subject line "help with USDA food program."
Another set of messages was titled "Ilhan's Office."
Every exchange, according to Bock, was about keeping the waivers alive.
The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee concluded this week that Omar, Tim Walz, and Keith Ellison "played critical roles in creating and enabling" the fraud.
Omar refused to produce her communications with convicted fraudsters.
She "completely ghosted" the state hearing – the committee chairwoman's exact words.
Omar's personal wealth jumped from nearly nothing to up to $30 million by 2024.
She called it an accounting error.
Walz Knew, Ellison Knew, and Omar Will Not Answer for Any of It
Bock warned Minnesota state officials about suspicious restaurants in writing as early as 2021.
One official wrote back that the department "takes no position if fraud has taken place."
"I have the emails that show that I told you, so you knew," Bock said.
Democrats in Minnesota shielded Omar from a state subpoena – the vote fell one short of the two-thirds threshold needed.
Walz ran the state while $250 million walked out the door.
Ellison was attorney general.
Omar wrote the waiver law, promoted the biggest fraudster's restaurant on camera, had her name in six federal trial exhibits, and watched her net worth explode while the fraud consumed her district.
She has never answered a single question about any of it under oath.
Bock faces a century behind bars.
Omar faces a microphone she keeps walking away from.
Sources:
- Gabrielle Fahmy, "Minnesota 'Squad' Rep. Ilhan Omar knew about $250M COVID meal fraud, scheme 'mastermind' claims in jailhouse interview," New York Post, May 16, 2026.
- "Rep. Ilhan Omar ignores subpoena request over alleged Minnesota fraud ties," Fox News, May 2026.
- "House Oversight Committee Asks Ethics Committee to Probe Ilhan Omar," The Daily Signal, May 11, 2026.
- IRS Criminal Investigation, "Federal jury finds Feeding Our Future mastermind and co-defendant guilty in $250 million pandemic fraud scheme," March 19, 2025.