The waivers opened the floodgates for scores of Somali eateries to join in, like Safari, where Omar herself filmed a promotional video claiming “every day Safari provides 2,300 meals to children and their families” in May 2020. She also held her 2018 election night party there.
By that July, Safari claimed to be feeding 5,000 kids a day. Its co-owner, Salim Said, has been convicted of defrauding the government of $16 million – the highest sum in the scheme – and is awaiting sentencing.
“A lot of the sites were working directly with her, being that a lot of the operators were from the same Somali community,” Bock said of Somalia-born Omar.
“There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff — and I presume her personally — to work through some of those gaps with the waivers,” Bock added.
