A prominent defendant in the Feeding Our Future case whose fingerprints extend to a controversial housing development in Lakeville and a home sale that left an immigrant family in financial strain pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon.
Haji Salad, 34, ran a restaurant called Haji’s Kitchen, which operated out of a small warehouse in Brooklyn Park. Haji used the restaurant as a vendor for food sites that purported to feed 15.7 million meals to underprivileged children with money from the federal child nutrition programs between June 2020 and March 2022.
Haji admitted in court to stealing $19 million from the federal government in reimbursements for meals he didn’t actually provide. He also admitted to pocketing $11.4 million of it for himself.
Haji was originally charged with 24 counts of various crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Haji and prosecutors agreed to a guideline sentence of a little over five years to six-and-a-half years in prison. He also agreed to pay $11.4 million in restitution, and to give up various properties and items he purchased with stolen money.
Haji and his attorney, Paul Applebaum, declined to address questions from the media following the guilty plea.
Dressed in a white checkered button down shirt, black pants and black dress shoes, Haji spoke clearly when answering yes or no questions in court.
Haji also admitted to creating a shell company called U.S. Halal LLC to move around fraud money.
“Was it to give the false impression that you were involved in the food industry when in reality it was a shell company to participate in the fraud scheme?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert.
“Yes,” Haji replied.
In response to a question from U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, Haji stated that other people also used his business entities to commit fraud as well.
Haji is the 20th defendant in the Feeding Our Future case to plead guilty. Five defendants were found guilty and two others were fully acquitted earlier this year after a six-week trial. One of the acquitted, Said Farah, is charged with juror tampering related to that trial.
Prosecutors charged a total of 70 people for using Minnesota nonprofits to allegedly steal a combined $250 from the federal government. The case is the biggest coordinated COVID-19 relief fraud in the nation, according to authorities.
Haji is the lead defendant in a Feeding Our Future case involving eight other co-defendants who, altogether, are accused of stealing $50 million. Four have since pleaded guilty while a sixth defendant is expected to plead on Friday. One of the defendants fled the country and is a fugitive, which leaves two of the nine defendants facing trial in November.
Haji used Partners in Quality Care as a sponsor to access the federal child nutrition programs. The programs provided federal funds to the Minnesota Department of Education, which disbursed it to nonprofits like Partners in Quality Care and Feeding Our Future that served as sponsors.
The nonprofits then distributed the money between smaller organizations that were supposed to use the funds to feed underserved children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, prosecutors say, defendants used the money on luxury items like flashy cars, expensive real estate and lavish international vacations.
Haji spent his share of the money on three residential homes, two commercial buildings, a Mercedes Benz GLE Coupe and a 2019 Range Rover, among other items.
He also contributed $437,000 towards the $2.5 million purchase of a 37-acre parcel of land in Lakeville that is the site of the proposed Nolosha development project. The development promises homes, businesses, a school and a mosque geared toward the East African community.
But the project is under investigation by the FBI and state Attorney General’s Office for taking costly deposits from prospective homeowners even though the developers don’t own the land or have construction permits.
Nolosaha doesn’t own the 37-acre parcel, and is attempting to purchase it from Abdirahman Siraj, who is listed as the owner. Abdirahman’s mother, Ayan Abukar, led the purchase and contributed $1.5 million towards it. Ayan is also a defendant in the Feeding Our Future case, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
Because the land purchase involves money that was fraudulently obtained, it is subject to forfeiture from the federal government, and has a notice on it that effectively stalls development until the Feeding Our Future legal matter connected to it is resolved.
One of the homes Haji purchased was sold at a higher price to an immigrant Chinese family in a transaction examined by a Sahan Journal investigation . Haji bought a four-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot Blaine home in March 2021 for $261,000. Later that same day, he sold it to Deming Lai for a marked-up rate of $290,000 through a contract for deed.
Contract for deed home sales are controversial because they often involve flipping houses at inflated prices, short contracts and high monthly payments that can force buyers to default on their payments, leading to evictions. A 2022 Sahan Journal-ProPublica investigation into the practice prompted state and federal lawmakers to introduce legislation to reform the practice.
Lai, a masseuse, struggled to pay his mortgage and faced foreclosure earlier this year. He eventually borrowed money to make back payments and was able to keep the house.
In 2010, Haji was one of 29 people charged in a sex trafficking case following an FBI investigation. Nearly all of the defendants in the case were Somali. Haji spent six years in detention while awaiting trial on those charges.
A federal appeals court in 2016 dropped the charges, determining that the allegations weren’t credible .
Haji then unsuccessfully sued Heather Weyker, the St. Paul police officer accused of fabricating the sex ring story. Applebaum also represented him in that case.
Applebaum alluded in court Thursday to their long professional association. Many times they’ve agreed with each other, Applebaum said, and sometimes they’ve “vehemently argued with each other” about the facts of the cases.
“Sitting here today, I feel like we have a great relationship,” Applebaum said to Haji. “Would you agree?”
“Yes,” Haji responded.
The post Feeding Our Future suspect pleads guilty to stealing $19 million appeared first on Sahan Journal .
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