Tipsheet

Why Are Judges Giving Somali Fraudsters Very Light Sentences?

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 01, 2026 8:00 AM

Millions of taxpayer dollars were stolen as part of the Minnesota "Feeding Our Future" program, and most of the perpetrators were Somali immigrants, who blatantly lied about serving millions of meals while pocketing the cash.

Late last year, outgoing Governor Tim Walz, who let those fraudsters steal $250 million in that program, got very testy with reporters who asked about jailing Somali scammers. "It is Minnesota's investigators, it is these IGs that are over there...that are doing the things that are putting people in jail," Walz said at the time.

Now we know why. Walz was probably aware that judges, even at the federal level, are giving these fraudsters incredibly light sentences.

Judge Nancy Brasel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, just did that twice with Somali fraudsters, sentencing one of them to six months in prison and another to just one year behind bars.

Absolutely shameful.

Here's more on Brasel's sentencing of Abdul Abubakar Ali, who stole $3 million:

A defendant accused of orchestrating $3 million in fraud as part of the broader Feeding Our Future scheme apologized to the court during his sentencing Monday, minutes before a federal judge ordered him to serve one year in prison for his role in the scandal.

“Your honor, I just want to say I’m sorry to everyone that my actions have hurt,” Abdul Abubakar Ali told the judge. “This was a mistake. I will try to correct it for the rest of my life. It’s not something that’s in the past. I’ve let down a lot of people. I promise I will attempt to fix it for the rest of my life. So, I’m sorry.”

Ali initially pleaded guilty in October 2022 after admitting that he used a shell company, known as Youth Inventors Lab, to defraud the federal pandemic meals program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Court documents show that Ali and his co-conspirators submitted fake invoices and claimed to have served more than one million meals despite serving none, helping him to personally pocket more than $100,000.

Judge Nancy Brasel officially gave Ali a prison sentence of one year and one day, a legal technicality that allows Ali the opportunity to transition to a halfway house if he shows good behavior.

Jama is accused of stealing $5.6 million, and here's some info on that:

Feeding Our Future defendant Zamzam Jama was sentenced this morning to six months in jail for her role in the free-food scandal. Prosecutors had requested a sentence of 16 months in prison.

She was one of six defendants from the extended Jama family, associated with the Brava Restaurant of Rochester.

The six were indicted back in September 2022. One of the group died of natural causes back in 2023.

All of the remaining Jama defendants have pled guilty and Zamzam is the first of the Jama group to be sentenced. I wrote about her guilty plea here a year ago. Under the term of her plea deal, the sentencing guidelines called for a jail sentence of between 10 and 16 months. She appears to have received a downward departure from Judge Nancy Brasel.

Jama was also ordered to pay $491,000 in restitution and will spend a year on probation after being released from prison.

It's a slap in the face to all taxpayers that these people stole millions and get a slap on the wrist. They'll never repay a fraction of what they stole.

We have a two-tier justice system.

Yes. She was the one who suggested Brasel for that seat.

There needs to be some mechanism to hold these judges accountable.

There is no deterrent. Most people would gladly spend six months locked up in exchange for almost $6 million.

The Left hates America and President Trump so much, while they love immigrants and criminals, that they'd probably do this for free, frankly.