Safari Restaurant Owner in Minneapolis Sentenced to 30 Years for $44 Million Fraud

A U.S. federal court has sentenced Salim Saaed, operator of a safari restaurant in Minneapolis, to thirty years in prison following his conviction for defrauding a government-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal Judge Nancy Brasel handed down the sentence on Wednesday, telling the 37-year-old Saaed: "You took more than taxpayers' money to enrich yourself, and you took with it the reputation of our state."

According to charging documents, Saaed claimed to distribute 6,000 meals daily, while FBI surveillance cameras revealed that only 40 people were receiving food daily. Over a consecutive 21-month period, Saaed submitted thousands of fraudulent meal claims for children whom prosecutors described as "completely fictional." The government assessed his liability at $44 million, which he used in part to purchase a house for $1.2 million, commercial properties, and a pickup truck for $87,000.

Saaed denied the charges during his 2024 trial, claiming that many meals were delivered off-site, but he expressed remorse before the court when the sentence was issued. Defense attorney Barry Zohn contested the prosecution's characterization of his client as the "architect" of the scheme, and had sought a sentence of 12 years.

Saaed was convicted in 2024 alongside Amy Bock, director of the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future in Minnesota, who was sentenced to 42 years in prison as the scheme's architect and was ordered to repay $242 million. The case drew repeated criticism from President Donald Trump, who used it as a pretext to escalate immigration enforcement campaigns in Minnesota's major cities, while Governor Tim Walz announced in January that he would not seek reelection.