Minnesota Fraud: How a Nairobi Firm Received Millions in Stolen Funds

A Nairobi-registered company has been cited in United States court records as a recipient of funds linked to a large-scale Covid-19 relief fraud involving America’s child nutrition programme.

Capital View Properties Limited was incorporated on 24 February 2021, at a time when national debate in Kenya was focused on the Building Bridges Initiative bill. Company records show it was registered with 1,000 ordinary shares held by five directors who were also shareholders. Its listed address was in South C, Nairobi, and there were no recorded charges or encumbrances against the firm, indicating it had not secured loans or mortgages. At the time of registration, the company appeared to be a standard private entity with no public profile or known international links.

Links to US Fraud Investigation

Within months, Capital View Properties emerged in investigations conducted by United States authorities. Court filings identified the company as one of several recipients of funds transferred by Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, a Somali-born American citizen who was later convicted of orchestrating a wide-ranging fraud scheme.

Farah was sentenced to 28 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $47.9 million (about Sh6.1 billion) in restitution. Prosecutors said the funds were stolen from the US Federal Child Nutrition Program.

Details of the Transfers

According to court documents, Farah sent three wire transfers to Capital View Properties in 2021. The payments were $204,795 on 4 May, $300,000 on 11 May, and $206,428 on 1 June. The total amount transferred was $711,113, equivalent to about Sh91.7 million.

Investigators also recovered messages from Farah’s mobile phone in which he claimed to have invested $6 million in Kenya over a three-year period. The money originated from the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which had relaxed oversight requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic to allow continued food distribution to children during school closures. 

Prosecutors said these changes were exploited by sponsor organisations, including Feeding Our Future, which enrolled for-profit businesses and distribution sites with limited scrutiny.

Responses from Shareholders

Zeitun Garat Abdinoor, a shareholder of Capital View Properties, denied any relationship between the company and Farah when contacted by the Nation. She said the company had no direct dealings with him. The also addressed the involvement of Abdifatah Maalim Aftin, the firm’s largest shareholder with 500 shares. 

Ms Abdinoor said Mr Aftin had been charged in the United States but was acquitted in June 2024. She added that he lives in the US and conducts business with individuals who were named in the wider investigation. The company has not publicly explained how the funds transferred by Farah were used.