Abdiaziz Farah sentenced to 28 years in Feeding Our Future case<\/p>\n
A man who was convicted on 23 charges in the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud investigation was sentenced on Wednesday to 28 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Abdiaziz Farah\u2019s sentence, handed down by U.S. Judge Nancy Brasel, is the longest punishment so far in the case.<\/p>\n
Farah \u2014 one of the main defendants in the first jury trial<\/a> related to the meal fraud scheme \u2014 was found guilty on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and federal programs bribery totaling more than $40 million.<\/p>\n Among more than 70 defendants, prosecutors put Farah at the top of a $300 million fraud pyramid with the likes of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock and Salim Said. Bock and Said, who were convicted in March, are still awaiting sentencing. <\/p>\n RELATED: Feeding Our Future co-defendants Bock, Said found guilty on all counts in meal fraud trial<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Now Farah is headed to federal prison for his role in stealing taxpayer money meant to help feed underserved kids during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot find any reason for the behavior other than pure, unmitigated greed,\u201d Judge Brasel said in court.<\/p>\n Related stories:<\/strong><\/p>\n Lead prosecutor Joe Thompson was asking for 30 years, calling it the kind of \u201cnightmare\u201d in Minnesota where he recently told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that fraud in government programs could exceed $1 billion.<\/p>\n \u201c[Farah] not only took tens of millions of dollars but laundered much of it abroad and sent much of it to Kenya, among other things,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n We asked if this sentencing gets the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office any closer to recovering more of what was stolen from taxpayers.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it speeds it up. Now that he\u2019s been sentenced, we can actually execute on that forfeiture and sell that property off and return it to the taxpayers,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n With his family in the gallery at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis, Farah said, \u201cI want to apologize to the state and the country that has given me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n But that apology focused largely on his admitted attempt to bribe a juror at the end of his trial last year.<\/p>\n Related stories:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe sense I got was he\u2019s sorry he got caught,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n Farah and four codefendants were charged with bribing a juror with $120,000 in cash during that trial. All have since pleaded guilty to their roles in the plot to convince Juror 52 to acquit the defendants.<\/p>\n As part of his plea agreement, Farah faces additional prison time on top of the 28 years he received on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office estimates it has been able to get back $60-70 million so far, but prosecutors point out that the money Farah sent overseas will likely never be recovered.<\/p>\n Read KSTP\u2019s full Feeding Our Future coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n