Rep. Ilhan Omar Claims She Knew Nothing About $250 Million Welfare Fraud Scheme

As we've reported, both local and national media are doing their best to generate some good PR for the Somali community in Minnesota. Even the New York Times last week could no longer ignore the fraud that is rampant in Minnesota. "Over the last five years," The Times reported, "law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided. "No one was doing anything about the red flags," Gov. Tim Walz said. "It was like someone was stealing money from the cookie jar and they kept refilling it."

After being asked about the $1 billion Somali fraud scandal in his state on Meet the Press, Walz attempted to shift the blame to President Donald Trump. "There's a big difference between fraud and corruption," Walz told Kristen Welker. "And corruption is something he knows about."

Speaking of knowing about corruption, what did Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar know about the rampant fraud in the Somali community?

New from me: Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced the bill that allowed the $250M welfare fraud scheme to happen in her district, held parties at “core fraud sites,” and had a top staffer convicted of stealing $1.1M from the program—but she claims she knew nothing https://t.co/K6oze2auXg
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) December 4, 2025

The New York Post's Chadwick Moore looked into it:

US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered.
Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions.
Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it.
…
Around $250 million was handed out by the Minnesota government to provide meals to schoolchildren during the pandemic from 2020 onward.
Instead, it was pocketed by corrupt business owners, including Salim Ahmed Said. He’s the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party.
Said was found guilty in August of stealing over $12 million for serving 3.9 million “phantom” meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What did she know? She knew the scheme was ripe for fraud, that those responsible for running it would allow the fraud, and that her people would engage in the fraud and send billions back to Somalia. She didn’t have to know the actual details of the happenings.
— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@TomCrowe) December 4, 2025

No way she didn’t know.
— Timothy Daly (@TimDaly71) December 4, 2025

There is no way she didn’t know about this, and likely benefited from it.
— Taro Tsujimoto (@RCannon74) December 4, 2025

A lot of people are wondering how Omar and her husband have reported a combined net worth of up to $30 million.

So she is responsible for not putting up the "guardrails"?
— Metra Vane (@metra_vane) December 4, 2025

She looked awfully nervous when CNN's Jake Tapper asked her how fraud had gotten so out of control in Minnesota.

Ilhan Omar campaigned in the Safari Restaurant in Minnesota. They also donated to her campaign.

The owner was convicted in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme which stole hundreds of millions of our tax dollars meant for hungry children.

What did @IlhanMN know? https://t.co/5YeTDGyewr pic.twitter.com/uEPaQdL3zi
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 4, 2025

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