BS BRIEF:
- A new public-records investigation reports that Grit Partners Consulting, founded by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s sister Sahra Noor, was incorporated at a Lakeville residence connected through business filings to several figures convicted in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. The address alone does not establish that Noor or Omar participated in fraud, and neither woman has been charged in the case.
- The scrutiny comes as Minnesota Republicans seek congressional help obtaining Omar’s communications with Feeding Our Future defendants after Democrats blocked a state legislative subpoena in May. Committee Chair Kristin Robbins said lawmakers want to examine Omar’s MEALS Act, contacts with program figures and communications listed among federal trial exhibits.
- Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock was sentenced in May to 500 months—more than 41 years—in federal prison for leading the massive child-nutrition fraud. Federal prosecutors said the network exploited pandemic-era programs and diverted money intended to feed children into shell companies, luxury property and personal spending.
ILHAN OMAR’S SISTER LINKED BY BUSINESS ADDRESS TO WEB OF FEEDING OUR FUTURE FRAUD FIGURES
A newly reported trail of Minnesota business records has brought the sprawling Feeding Our Future scandal uncomfortably close to the family of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The Daily Wire reported Friday that Grit Partners Consulting, a healthcare and leadership firm founded by Omar’s sister Sahra Noor, was incorporated at a home on Hyacinth Avenue in Lakeville.
That same residential address appears in records involving businesses connected to people who later pleaded guilty or were convicted in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, according to investigative reporter Luke Rosiak.
The records do not prove that Noor or Omar participated in the fraud. Neither woman has been charged with a crime in connection with Feeding Our Future, and no public evidence cited in the report establishes that Grit Partners received stolen nutrition funds. The filings nevertheless raise questions about why Noor’s consulting company used an address tied to a network of people and entities at the heart of Minnesota’s largest pandemic-fraud prosecution.
The residence was reportedly occupied by Mashah Ahmed Ali and his wife, Ister Ahmed Afraa, who is also identified in some records as Ismahan Ahmed Afraa.
When contacted by Rosiak, Ali denied knowing about the various companies registered at the property.
“There must be some sort of scam going on. I have no idea.”
He also said:
“For the last 10 years I have a professional job. I have nothing to do with anything.”
Ali reportedly ended the call after being asked about the collection of companies and convicted fraud figures associated with the address. Noor and Afraa did not respond to the reporter’s requests for comment.
According to the report, Afraa formed Sunrise Business Center Inc. at the Lakeville property alongside Hanna Marekegn. Marekegn pleaded guilty to participating in the Feeding Our Future fraud and admitted submitting false claims for meals that were never served. Federal prosecutors charged Marekegn with conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of the original 2022 sweep against dozens of defendants.
The scheme’s operators routinely claimed to be feeding thousands of children each day while fabricating attendance sheets, meal counts and invoices. Marekegn was linked to approximately $7 million in fraudulent proceeds, according to federal case reporting. She claimed that one operation was feeding roughly 4,000 children a day.
Prosecutors said the paperwork was false. The money, however, was quite real. Marekegn later testified that she and others invoked accusations of racism to pressure Minnesota regulators when officials questioned implausible meal totals and suspicious applications. She also purchased an expensive home while publicly portraying her success as an example of the:
“American Dream.”
The American Dream traditionally involves building something, working hard and perhaps buying a house. It generally does not involve billing taxpayers for phantom children eating imaginary lunches.
Afraa also incorporated Sunshine Care Center MN Inc. using the same address, according to the records reviewed by Rosiak. Marekegn listed Sunshine Care Center as an employer on LinkedIn.
Another business associated with the address, Diversity Childcare Center LLC, reportedly named Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock as a point of contact.
Bock was convicted in March 2025 of wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy after prosecutors said she oversaw an enormous network of fake meal sites and corrupt operators.
In May, a federal judge sentenced Bock to 500 months in prison. That is more than 41 years. The Justice Department called her the ringleader of a scheme that stole approximately $250 million from federally funded child-nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government said Feeding Our Future grew from distributing about $3.4 million in federal money in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021 as it sponsored hundreds of purported meal sites.
Many claimed to be feeding numbers of children that prosecutors said were physically impossible. Instead of feeding hungry families, defendants purchased luxury vehicles, jewelry, commercial properties, homes and international real estate.
Afraa also formed a property company reportedly connected through its address records to Sahra Mohamed Nur, another major Feeding Our Future defendant. Nur—not to be confused with Omar’s sister Sahra Noor—ran Academy for Youth Excellence, one of the fraudulent meal sites that used S&S Catering as a vendor.
Federal prosecutors charged Nur with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. She was later sentenced to four years in prison after admitting involvement in a scheme that fraudulently obtained approximately $17 million. Rosiak reported that at least 17 businesses used Nur’s residential address. Among those companies was an entity associated with Afraa, further expanding the overlapping network of homes, firms, childcare centers and consulting businesses appearing in the filings.
The address chain described in the investigation therefore touches:
- Aimee Bock, convicted leader of the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme.
- Hanna Marekegn, who pleaded guilty in a fraud involving approximately $7 million.
- Sahra Mohamed Nur, sentenced for participating in a roughly $17 million operation.
- Sahra Noor, Ilhan Omar’s sister and founder of Grit Partners Consulting.
Again, a shared or associated business address is not proof of shared criminal conduct. Businesses sometimes use accountants, organizers, relatives’ homes or formation-service addresses.
But when the same residential property repeatedly appears alongside companies tied to convicted fraudsters, the public is entitled to ask who used it, why they used it and whether the relationships were personal, professional or merely administrative.
Sahra Noor describes herself as a global-health executive, healthcare strategist and former nonprofit leader. Her consulting company, Grit Partners, says it works in healthcare, leadership development and community well-being. Noor’s professional biography states that she has:
“Secured more than $20 million in funding for health initiatives.”
It also lists work connected to projects backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAID, GAVI and the World Bank.
The public description does not allege those funds were improper. It does, however, underscore that Noor’s consulting and healthcare work has involved substantial amounts of public and institutional money. Noor previously led People’s Center Clinics & Services, a federally qualified health center serving Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside community. While Omar was a Minnesota state representative, the Legislature approved a $2 million state appropriation for the center. Critics have described that funding as an earmark benefiting an organization run by Omar’s sister.
Supporters have said the project addressed legitimate healthcare needs in an underserved neighborhood. No evidence cited in the new address investigation establishes that the appropriation was unlawful. The new questions focus instead on the relationships reflected in corporate filings and whether the public has received a complete account of Noor’s connections to people later convicted in Feeding Our Future.
The report arrives as Omar faces growing pressure from Minnesota Republicans to produce communications related to the fraud case. The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee attempted in May to subpoena documents from Omar. The motion received support from all five Republicans on the committee but fell one vote short of the six votes required under the chamber’s power-sharing rules. All three Democratic-Farmer-Labor members opposed it.
Robbins said the committee had invited Omar to appear and requested documents multiple times.
“The only tool left for us as a committee if we want to get these documents is to issue a subpoena.”
Robbins said lawmakers wanted to understand Omar’s role in passing the federal MEALS Act, her communications with people later implicated in fraud and references to her office appearing in trial exhibits.
“We thought it’d be very helpful to understand from Rep. Omar’s perspective how she thought the MEALS Act has impacted the community.”
She also said the committee wanted to know:
“What communication she had with the fraudsters.”
After the subpoena attempt failed, Robbins asked congressional oversight leaders to help obtain the records.
Democrats argued the demand was politically motivated and expressed concern that information could be weaponized by the Trump administration. Rep. Dave Pinto questioned the timing and said federal authorities would pursue wrongdoing if they believed it existed. Omar has denied involvement in Feeding Our Future fraud and has not been charged. Her defenders note that promoting pandemic food assistance or communicating with constituents does not prove knowledge of a criminal conspiracy.
Her critics argue that her name, staff and political network appear often enough around key figures to justify sworn testimony and full disclosure.
Omar sponsored the MEALS Act in 2020, which expanded access to federal nutrition programs and relaxed certain administrative rules during the COVID emergency. The measure was intended to make it easier to feed children when schools were closed and normal verification systems were disrupted. Fraudsters exploited those relaxed controls on a staggering scale.
Robbins has argued that the legislation:
“Took the guardrails off the federal school nutrition program.”
That description remains politically disputed.
The law did not authorize fraud, and its sponsors did not direct operators to falsify meal counts. The central oversight question is whether lawmakers were warned that safeguards had become dangerously weak and what they did when evidence of abuse emerged. Federal prosecutors have described Feeding Our Future as a vast conspiracy involving bogus nonprofits, restaurants and shell companies. The first indictments charged 47 defendants. The overall case later expanded to dozens more.
Omar’s name reportedly appeared in several Feeding Our Future trial exhibits, including communications referring to her office and requests involving the federal meal program.
That does not establish criminal intent. It does make her refusal to voluntarily provide records more politically costly.
Omar was also among several Minnesota Democrats whose campaigns received contributions from individuals later charged or convicted in fraud cases. Her campaign has said it returned questionable donations after the donors’ legal problems became known. Returning the money is appropriate. It does not answer whether her office had deeper communications with program operators while the fraud was accelerating. Omar also appeared at Safari Restaurant, a major food-program site whose owners were later convicted of stealing millions.
Federal prosecutors said Safari Restaurant received more than $16 million in fraudulent nutrition funds. Omar has said appearances at community businesses do not mean she knew of secret criminal activity.
That is a fair point.
Members of Congress routinely visit local companies, nonprofits and restaurants without auditing their books. The unanswered issue is not whether one photograph proves guilt. It is whether the cumulative relationships, communications, donations, legislative actions and now family-linked business records warrant complete transparency.
