Former Ilhan Omar Associate Pleads Guilty in $2.9 Million Fraud Scheme

A former campaign associate of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has pleaded guilty to participating in a multi-million-dollar pandemic food fraud conspiracy, adding another chapter to the growing list of controversies surrounding the progressive lawmaker’s political orbit.

Federal prosecutors announced that 49-year-old Guhaad Hashi Said — described by Alpha News as an “enforcer” for Omar’s campaign — admitted in court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from a wide-ranging fraud targeting a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The conviction of the 52nd defendant in the Feeding Our Future case is yet another reminder of the vast reach of this fraud and the scale of the crisis we face in Minnesota,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement. “These crimes are not isolated events. They are part of a web of schemes targeting programs that are intended to lift up Minnesotans and bleeding them dry. From where I sit, the scale of the fraud in Minnesota is staggering, and every rock we turn over reveals more. We must be honest and clear-eyed about the scope of this problem, because ending it will take an unyielding, all-hands-on-deck effort from all of us.”

According to court documents, between December 2020 and January 2022, Said exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program, falsely claiming his nonprofit — Advance Youth Athletic Development — was serving thousands of meals daily to underprivileged children. Incorporated in February 2021, the organization was registered to a residential apartment in the Central Avenue Lofts in Minneapolis.

Beginning in March 2021, Said submitted meal count sheets claiming to have served 5,000 meals per day. From March through December of that year, he claimed to have served more than 1 million meals — but in reality provided only a fraction of that number. Prosecutors say he fabricated meal counts, attendance rosters, and invoices to secure reimbursements.

The scheme brought in roughly $2.9 million in federal funds. Between August and December 2021, Said transferred more than $2.1 million from his organization’s bank accounts to a catering business, ostensibly for food purchases, while using other proceeds to buy real estate, cars, and personal items through a network of shell nonprofits and LLCs.

Said now faces up to 25 years in federal prison when sentenced. He previously ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018.

While Omar herself has not been implicated in the Feeding Our Future scandal, the conviction comes against a backdrop of past ethical and political controversies tied to the congresswoman. In 2019, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board foundthat Omar’s state legislative campaign had violated reporting requirements and improperly used campaign funds for personal expenses, ordering her to reimburse $3,469.23.

More recently, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) has called for an ethics investigation into Omar after a clip surfaced of her speaking in Somali, in which a translation circulated online suggested she prioritized Somalia’s interests over those of the United States.

“No sitting member of Congress should be able to blatantly spew anti-American rhetoric and get away with it,” Emmer said in a January statement, urging Omar to “resign in disgrace” over the “Somalia-first comments.”

Omar has rejected the translation as inaccurate, releasing what she says is a more faithful version in which she tells Somali constituents she will work to protect Somalia’s sea access from foreign encroachment while serving in Congress.

“While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea,” she said in her preferred translation. “The United States will not back others to rob us.”

The Somalia remarks echo a pattern of past controversy over Omar’s foreign policy rhetoric, including her 2019 suggestion that pro-Israel lobbying groups were pushing lawmakers to show “allegiance to a foreign country,” coupled with a tweet that read: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.”

The guilty plea by a one-time Omar campaign associate underscores how the Feeding Our Future scandal continues to ensnare high-profile political figures in Minnesota’s Democratic circles. It also adds fresh scrutiny to Omar’s inner network at a time when her own words and past financial violations remain a target for political opponents.

Said will be sentenced at a later date.