Luxury cars, private villas, and overseas wire transfers paint a striking picture of how hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were spent in one of the largest COVID-era fraud schemes in the country, according to files and photos obtained by CBS News.
The documents reveal how Minnesota fraudsters burned through money meant to feed hungry children, instead splurging on high-end cars, lakefront homes, jewelry, and lavish international travel. Videos included in court exhibits show defendants celebrating at an exclusive Maldives resort, popping champagne beside private pool villas. In one text message, a defendant brags, “You are gonna be the richest 25-year-old InshaAllah [God willing].”
Dozens of files from a recent federal trial, many made public for the first time, detail a spending spree that included confirmation emails for overwater villa stays at the Radisson Blu Resort Maldives, records of lakefront property purchases in Minnesota, wire transfers to China and East Africa, first class airline tickets to Istanbul and Amsterdam, a 2021 Porsche Macan, and photos showing stacks of cash exchanged between defendants.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel delivered a sharp rebuke to 24-year-old Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, who used stolen taxpayer funds to pay for luxury cars and a Maldives vacation. “Where others saw a crisis and rushed to help, you saw money and rushed to steal,” the judge said. Nur was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $48 million for his role in the scheme.
Nur is one of dozens of defendants accused of siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars. Questions still remain about where all the money ended up. The case has drawn renewed scrutiny in recent weeks, with House Republicans launching a probe into how Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz handled the fraud. The Treasury Department also announced it is reviewing whether any funds may have ended up with al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.
“A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” He added that much of the money “has gone overseas, and we are tracking that both to the Middle East and to Somalia to see what the uses of that have been.”
Federal investigators said there is no evidence that taxpayer money was funneled to al-Shabaab, and prosecutors have not presented any link between the defendants and terrorism. Andy Luger, the former U.S. attorney who led the prosecutions, said the vast majority of the money was spent on luxury items for personal use, adding that there was never any evidence the funds were intended to support terrorism.
The records show that millions were wired overseas, including large transfers to China, which investigators describe as a major challenge to trace. Nearly $3 million was also sent to accounts in Kenya.
One defendant, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, was sentenced last month to 28 years in prison. Court records show he wired more than $1 million to banks in China in six transactions during 2021. A photo shown in court captured a box filled with cash alongside a message reading “$270,000 dollars.” In another message, Farah instructed someone to “please send $1000 to Mogadishu bakara.”
Prosecutors say Farah operated a Minnesota restaurant that claimed to serve 18 million meals through a nonprofit program, billing the state $47 million without delivering a single meal. At sentencing, a judge said his crimes were driven by “pure, unmitigated greed.”
So far, 61 people have been convicted in the sprawling Minnesota fraud case, and investigations are still ongoing, according to CBS News.