Kenyan ‘masterminds’ accused of laundering millions from U.S. in Sh5.1B food fraud

A Kenyan national has been named by US prosecutors as a key overseas operator in what authorities describe as the largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in American history, accused of helping funnel millions of dollars meant to feed hungry children into real estate investments in Kenya.

Ahmednaji Maalim Aftin Sheikh, 28, a Kenyan citizen and resident, has been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit international money laundering for his alleged role in the sprawling Feeding Our Future scandal. 

US investigators say Sheikh acted as the offshore linchpin of the scheme, helping hide and invest stolen federal funds far from the reach of American law enforcement.

According to the indictment, Sheikh worked closely with his brother, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, the leader of the “Empire” group and the central figure in the fraud case. 

Farah was earlier sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted of orchestrating a scheme that siphoned tens of millions of dollars from a US child nutrition programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.

US prosecutors allege that between 2020 and 2022, Farah and his co-conspirators fraudulently claimed to have served millions of meals to vulnerable children, stealing more than $40 million (Sh5.1 billion) in public funds. A significant portion of that money, court documents say, was transferred to Sheikh in Kenya.

Sheikh is accused of helping launder and conceal the funds by investing them in Kenyan real estate through a network of sham companies and bulk cash transfers.

Among the properties cited by investigators is an apartment building in Nairobi’s South C neighbourhood, near Nairobi National Park, as well as land in Mandera, close to the Kenya–Somalia–Ethiopia border

Prosecutors say the brothers openly discussed their growing wealth in text messages, exchanging photos of large sums of cash sent from the United States to Kenya.

In one exchange cited in the indictment, Farah allegedly told Sheikh he would become “the richest 25-year-old,” while other messages showed cash transfers running into hundreds of thousands of dollars

The case also highlights complex family and immigration links. Sheikh later married Farah’s sister-in-law in Nairobi, and US authorities say an application was filed seeking to sponsor his immigration to the United States.

Prosecutors further allege that Sheikh applied for the US Diversity Visa Lottery while declaring he was unmarried, despite being legally married at the time

US officials argue that these moves formed part of a broader effort to shield illicit wealth and secure mobility beyond the scrutiny of investigators.

Sheikh’s indictment comes months after his brother Farah received a landmark 28-year prison sentence, one of the longest ever imposed for Covid-related fraud in the US.

A federal judge described Farah’s crimes as “breathtakingly elaborate” and driven by “pure unmitigated greed,” noting that money meant to protect vulnerable children during a global crisis was instead used to fund luxury purchases and overseas investments, including property in Kenya

US authorities say much of the money moved abroad, including assets allegedly handled by Sheikh, remains beyond their reach.

Sheikh is the 74th defendant charged in the Feeding Our Future investigation. US officials stress that the indictment is an allegation and that he remains innocent unless proven guilty in court. If convicted, he faces severe penalties under US money laundering laws.

For Kenyan authorities and the public, the case casts an uncomfortable spotlight on how Kenya’s property market and financial systems can be exploited to absorb illicit global funds, and how local actors can become central players in international fraud schemes, even when the crimes themselves are committed thousands of kilometres away.