Former Mayor Frey aide sentenced to 33 months for Feeding Our Future role
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A former policy aide to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to wire fraud in the Feeding Our Future scheme.
Abdi Nur Salah, of St. Paul, was sentenced to 33 months in prison with two years of supervised release for his role in the scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ MORE: Feeding our Future fraud case: Former Frey aide set to plead guilty
Former Frey aide sentenced in Feeding Our Future scheme
Big picture view:
Court documents state that when the Minnesota Department of Education announced it would stop approving food sites run by restaurants and other for-profit companies, Salah acquired Stigma-Free International, a nonprofit, to carry out the fraudulent scheme, according to court documents.
He then transferred ownership of the organization to his co-conspirators, who used it to open a number of new Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout Minnesota, including in Willmar, Mankato, St. Cloud, Waite Park and St. Paul, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
By the numbers:
Prosecutors say that from November 2020 to November 2021, Salah's co-conspirators fraudulently claimed to have served nearly five million meals to children at the Stigma-Free International sites.
Court documents say they submitted fraudulent attendance rosters and invoices to back up those claims. Based on those fraudulent claims, Feeding Our Future paid out more than $10 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program reimbursements to the Stigma-Free International sites.
Salah also created and used multiple shell companies to receive and launder his share of the fraud proceeds, according to court documents. He then used those funds to purchase homes, real estate and businesses. In total, Salah received approximately $1,660,000 in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
Salah was originally charged by indictment on Sept. 13, 2022, and pleaded guilty on Jan. 28, 2025. He was sentenced Oct. 1, 2026, making him the 31st defendant sentenced in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.
Local perspective:
Salah was also arrested for felony drug and DWI offenses earlier this year, court records show.
U.S. Marshals took him into custody immediately after federal court proceedings.
‘We will continue to bring fraudsters to justice’
What they're saying:
FBI Minneapolis Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Benni Jonsson shared the following statement on the sentencing:
"Abdi Nur Salah and his co-conspirators used taxpayer money meant to support hungry children to buy themselves a life of luxury. In defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program of more than $1.6 million, what this defendant bought himself is a federal prison sentence. We will continue to bring fraudsters to justice and defend the American taxpayer."
Defense attorney expresses shock at the outcome
The other side:
Brian Toder, Salah's defense attorney, was caught off-guard by the judge's decision.
"I was surprised because the plea agreement, we agreed that he was a minimal participant," Toder said. "And that was the reason why we didn't take this to trial, among other things. And even though it said he was a minimal participant, that plea agreement is only between the parties. The judge can do whatever she wants to do. And in this case, the judge put a lot of emphasis on the fact that he was a government employee when this happening."
Toder had initially asked the judge for Salah to be sentenced to home detention.
The Source: This story uses information shared by the U.S. Department of Justice and previous FOX 9 reporting.