Somali Socialist Running For Minneapolis Mayor Defended Fraudsters Who Stole Food From Poor Kids

Omar Fateh, the Somalian American democratic socialist running for mayor of Minneapolis, once went to bat for the fraudsters behind a $250 million scam that involved stealing from a government child nutrition program during the COVID pandemic.

Later, when the infamous Feeding Our Future scam in Minnesota was exposed, Fateh returned $11,000 in campaign donations that he received from donors tied to the scam.

Fateh is now running for Minneapolis mayor, and earlier this month, he rocketed to the top of the race when the city’s local Democratic Party endorsed him.

Feeding Our Future was a key player in the massive fraud scheme — the nonprofit distributed federal money meant for low-income children to groups running fake meal distribution sites, who, in turn, gave Feeding Our Future kickbacks, prosecutors said.

Fateh fought for Feeding Our Future when Minnesota moved to pause the group’s funding, saying it didn’t keep records properly.

In June 2021, Fateh attended an event with Feeding Our Future celebrating the group’s legal victory over the state on the funding freeze.

“I want to thank also Aimee and her team, Feeding Our Future for making this first court victory a reality,” Fateh said at the event.

Aimee Bock, the ringleader of the fraud scheme, was found guilty earlier this year on all charges related to the scam, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery.

Fateh also said at the event that he had met with state officials and confronted them about the funding.

“In that meeting, we were asking what was going on, and we asked very directly, was there any evidence of fraud? Was there any concerns or suspicions?” Fateh told the audience. “And they told us that there was zero evidence. Nothing was there. So to us, that was immoral, what was going on.”

A staffer from Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office also spoke at that event and said that Feeding Our Future “sticks to the truth, and the truth wins.”

At one point, Fateh was also photographed with one of the scammers, Liban Yasin Alishire.

Alishire operated a fake food site that falsely claimed to serve 800,000 meals to low-income children between February and October 2021, according to the indictment against him. He also created a shell company that he used to buy a luxury resort in Kenya with the stolen taxpayer dollars.

Alishire ultimately pled guilty to fraud, with prosecutors saying he pocketed $712,084 in stolen taxpayer dollars.

The next year, Fateh condemned the fraud.

“In 2021, I supported the USDA programs that were allegedly stolen from,” Fateh said in a statement in 2022. “Providing free nutritious meals to kids in urban food deserts is something the state is morally obligated to do. Getting rich by exploiting those same children and using them as cover is the opposite of what I stand for, what the people elected me for.”

Fateh also returned $11,000 in campaign donations, a total of 11 donations, seven of which came from people specifically named in search warrants related to the scam. The donations were made in the summer of 2021 when the scam was in full swing.

Fateh has radical goals for Minneapolis, including making it the “last line of defense” against Donald Trump and a “safe haven” for transgender surgeries.

The state senator, 35, is running on an uber-progressive platform that includes cracking down on the police, getting “economic justice” for LGBT and minorities, and keeping Minneapolis a sanctuary for not just illegal migrants, but also for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, all while spending lots of taxpayer dollars.