Rep. Ilhan Omar's Minneapolis district office sits inside a community center that received redirected campaign cash from two men who pleaded guilty in the largest pandemic-era fraud scheme in American history, and taxpayers have been footing the rent ever since.
Omar moved her congressional office into the Sabathani Community Center in 2023, and federal campaign finance records show she has since paid the facility more than $46,700 in monthly rental fees. That arrangement might draw little notice on its own. But the 188,000-square-foot building on Minneapolis's south side carries a more troubling distinction: it was one of three food pantries Omar chose to receive $5,400 in redirected campaign contributions she had originally accepted from two operatives in the Feeding Our Future fraud ring, contributions she took while the men were actively stealing millions in federal child nutrition money.
The two donors, Ahmed Abdullahi Ghedi and Abdihakim Ali Ahmed, each gave $2,700 to Omar's reelection campaign, Ghedi in February 2021 and Ahmed in March 2021, according to FEC filings reviewed by the Washington Examiner. At the time of those donations, the two men were running a fake meal-delivery site out of a Somali deli under Feeding Our Future's sponsorship, submitting bogus reimbursement claims that would ultimately siphon $7.2 million in child nutrition funds between September 2020 and September 2021.
Both men later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
Omar's office has said she donated the $5,400 to Sabathani and two other minority-owned food shelves in 2022 "out of an abundance of caution" after Ghedi and Ahmed were named as suspects. Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins, the Republican chairwoman of the state House fraud prevention and oversight committee, told the Washington Examiner that the move followed a familiar playbook.
"She did donate the money, but she had taken their money when they were actively involved in the scheme."
Robbins noted that politicians typically redirect problematic donations to community nonprofits rather than return them to disreputable donors. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also received contributions from the same donors, she said.
"That's what politicians tend to do: They give it to nonprofits in their community when there's a problem with a donation. You wouldn't want them to give it back to the fraudsters."
The practice may be standard. The sequence of events is not. Omar first accepted money from fraud suspects, then sent matching funds to Sabathani, then moved her own congressional office into the building, all within roughly two years. She now pays Sabathani tens of thousands of dollars in campaign-funded rent. Whether that chain of decisions reflects poor judgment, political convenience, or something worse is exactly what Robbins's committee wants to find out.
Omar has refused to hand over records of her office's 2021 correspondence with Aimee Bock, the convicted ringleader of the Feeding Our Future scheme. Court documents entered as government exhibits in Bock's federal trial show that communications between Bock and congressional staffers in Omar's office did occur that year, including an email exchange requesting "Help with USDA Food Program."
The Sabathani arrangement is only one thread in a web of financial and political connections between Omar and figures at the center of the Feeding Our Future scandal. Another runs through Safari Restaurant, owned by Salim Said, whom prosecutors described as a high-ranking Feeding Our Future associate. Safari Restaurant served as the top meal-site sponsor in the fraud network.
Omar held her 2018 election party at Safari Restaurant when she first ran for Congress. FEC disbursement records show she used the venue as an event space and catering service 12 times over the next two years, spending almost $10,000 on food, drinks, and rental fees between 2018 and 2020. Said was later tried alongside Bock in federal court.
In 2020, Omar filmed a promotional video for her MEALS Act legislation at Safari Restaurant. The video, broadcast on Somali TV of Minnesota, directly promoted the bill to Somali constituents. The MEALS Act, formally H.R. 6187, introduced during the 116th Congress, drastically relaxed eligibility requirements for food distributors seeking federal reimbursements during COVID-19 school shutdowns and granted waivers that allowed nonschool-based caterers to claim compensation.
Robbins has argued that those loosened guardrails opened the door to the fraud that followed. As she told the Washington Examiner in a separate interview:
"The reason I believe it happened in such huge numbers in Minnesota is because she knew what was in that bill when maybe other legislators didn't. And she shared that information with her community, and they took advantage of it."
Omar declined multiple requests to appear before the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee to answer questions about her alleged role. Her camp has deflected scrutiny of the fraud probe rather than address the specific financial and legislative connections head-on.
Sabathani Community Center describes itself as a Black-led nonprofit providing "culturally tailored services." The building houses more than 30 businesses, including two home healthcare agencies, a daycare accepting Child Care Assistance Program subsidies, an occupational therapist specializing in "racial identity," a somatic counselor who helps clients "heal from white supremacy," and a psychotherapy practice working with "marginalized" individuals experiencing "community trauma."
Omar's district office, nestled among these tenants, advertises help for constituents seeking Medicare and Medicaid benefits and assistance with "immigration case inquiries." Shortly after Omar moved in, Sabathani spotlighted a resource fair held on site by her office to help residents "navigate issues with federal agencies."
Robbins said the location made political sense for Omar regardless of the fraud questions.
"I'm not surprised that she has her office there because it's a place where her office would get a lot of community engagement."
Sabathani itself has never been accused of criminal wrongdoing or flagged by authorities in connection with the Feeding Our Future case. The center did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Omar's office.
The building does carry its own complicated history. In 2015, federal investigators and Somali community leaders met at Sabathani to discuss ways to disrupt jihadi recruitment in Minneapolis's Somali community. A congressional report from the House Homeland Security Committee that same year found that Minnesota, home to the country's highest concentration of Somalis, had produced more aspiring fighters for ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates than any other state.
Robbins's fraud prevention committee has spearheaded an investigation into Omar's involvement in the Feeding Our Future scandal, and the congresswoman's refusal to produce records has only sharpened the committee's focus. The convicted founder of Feeding Our Future has publicly claimed Omar knew about the fraud, a claim Omar has not addressed on the record.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, continue to pursue convictions. Ghedi's and Ahmed's guilty pleas added to a growing roster of defendants held accountable in the case. The scheme involved dozens of purported food distributors across Minnesota that fraudulently billed a federal child nutrition program for meals never served.
Rep. James Comer has said Omar faces serious legal jeopardy as the Justice Department ramps up prosecutions tied to the Minnesota fraud. And the DOJ's interest in Omar may extend beyond the nutrition scandal, Vice President JD Vance has stated that the department is separately investigating Omar for immigration fraud.
The financial trail is not ambiguous. Omar took campaign money from men who were stealing from a program meant to feed children. She redirected that money to a community center. Then she moved her office into the building and started paying it rent with campaign funds. She promoted legislation that loosened the rules the fraudsters exploited, filmed the pitch at a restaurant owned by a convicted co-conspirator, and now refuses to turn over records that might explain what her office knew and when.
Voters in Omar's district, and taxpayers across the country whose dollars were stolen, deserve answers. So far, all they have gotten is silence and a locked filing cabinet.
