Luxury vehicles and personal villas: See how Minnesota fraudsters spent tens of millions meant for hungry youngsters

Luxury vehicles, personal villas and abroad wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of recordsdata and images that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew via a whole bunch of tens of millions in taxpayer {dollars} as a part of one of many greatest COVID-era fraud schemes.

The recordsdata doc a spending spree through which defendants, lots of Somali descent, took taxpayer cash meant to feed hungry youngsters and used it to purchase vehicles, property and jewellery. Videos present them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a textual content message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 12 months previous InshaAllah [God willing].”

The paperwork characteristic reveals from a latest federal trial, lots of that are being made public by CBS News for the primary time. The reveals embrace:

• A affirmation e mail for a keep in an overwater villa with a personal pool at Radisson Blu Resort Maldives
• Lakefront property in Minnesota
• Receipts exhibiting wire transfers to China and East Africa
• First class tickets to Istanbul and Amsterdam
• A 2021 Porsche Macan
• Stacks of money, texted between defendants

At the sentencing of a defendant who used taxpayer funds for vehicles and the Maldives trip, 24-year-old Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel admonished him, saying: “Where others noticed a disaster and rushed to assist, you noticed cash and rushed to steal.” He was sentenced to 10 years in jail and ordered to pay practically $48 million in restitution for his position within the fraud scheme.

Nur is one in every of dozens who siphoned a whole bunch of tens of millions in stolen taxpayer funds — with questions nonetheless swirling about the place all the cash went. The crime has drawn renewed consideration in latest weeks: House Republicans final week launched a probe into Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s dealing with of the instances, and the Treasury Department mentioned it’s going to examine whether or not cash made its method to al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, which is predicated in Somalia. 

“Some huge cash has been transferred from the people who dedicated this fraud,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” Much of that cash “has gone abroad, and we’re monitoring that each to the Middle East and to Somalia to see what the makes use of of which have been.” Multiple federal investigators instructed CBS News there is no such thing as a proof taxpayer {dollars} have been funneled to al Shabaab, and prosecutors have but to current any proof linking any of the fraudsters to terrorism.

“The overwhelming majority of the cash that these of us made went to spending on luxurious objects for themselves,” mentioned Andy Luger, the previous U.S. Attorney who led the workplace which prosecuted Nur and different associated frauds from 2022 till January. “There was by no means any proof that this cash went to fund terrorism nor was there any proof that was the intent of the 70 folks we indicted.” 

A CBS News evaluation of the recordsdata reveals that defendants wired tens of millions in stolen funds abroad, together with to banks and corporations in China. Officials mentioned discovering the final word recipients of cash routed via China shall be difficult as a result of it may be an investigative black gap.  

The defendants additionally transferred practically $3 million to accounts in Kenya.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, who was sentenced to twenty-eight years in jail final month for his position within the scheme, made six separate wire transfers price greater than $1 million to banks in China between February and July 2021, in keeping with data reviewed by CBS News. 

In one textual content, Farah instructed somebody to “please ship $1000 to Mogadishu bakara,” an obvious reference to a one-time al Shabaab stronghold that was the positioning of the notorious 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident through which 18 American servicemembers died.  

Farah owned and operated Empire Cuisine and Market, a Minnesota restaurant that contracted with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future to cook dinner and supply meals to youngsters. Prosecutors say he and his co-defendants billed the state for $47 million, claiming to have served 18 million meals at greater than 30 areas — however they did not distribute a single meal.

Hundreds of paperwork associated to Farah’s case element how he spent cash on luxurious vehicles, funding properties at dwelling and abroad, plus first-class journey to unique locations, together with Istanbul and the Emirates. The defendants used sea planes to journey to resorts within the Maldives, the place in a single video, Farah is seen popping champagne at a personal pool villa in July 2021.

At Farah’s sentencing, a choose mentioned his crimes have been motivated by “pure, unmitigated greed.” Farah’s attorneys didn’t reply to CBS News’ request for remark, together with to a query about whether or not any of the fraud proceeds have been diverted to Al Shabaab. 

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar mentioned Sunday on “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan” that any hyperlink between allegations of fraud by members of the Somali neighborhood and terrorism could be a “failure of the FBI.” 

“If there was a linkage within the cash that they’ve stolen going to terrorism, then that may be a failure of the FBI and our court docket system in not figuring that out,” Omar mentioned.

So far, federal prosecutors have convicted 61 folks within the widening Minnesota fraud scandal. More investigations are ongoing.