Aide to Mayor Frey said he took leave amid fraud investigation. City records say he was fired

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey fired former aide Abdi Salah the same day news broke that Salah had been named in court records filed in connection with a massive fraud investigation — though he didn't directly cite the probe as a reason for dismissal.

In a letter dated Feb. 17, the mayor told Salah he was terminating him for multiple reasons. He said Salah had "failed to submit" a form requiring workers to disclose employment outside of the city and "repeatedly failed to make good on" a commitment to work in the office three times each week.

The mayor wrote that Salah was "consistently missing important meetings with myself and City staff and failing to produce written materials on deadline."

The letter, released in response to a records request, describes Salah's departure from the mayor's office differently from the version Salah told in an interview with the Star Tribune. Salah did not respond to a message seeking comment Friday. He told the paper last month that he had asked for a leave and would not return to work.

"My wife is due. I'm expecting a baby. That's why I left. I took a leave and the mayor let me," Salah said at the time. "I'm not going back to work. I want to commit to what is important now, which is ensuring that I support my family at this time as we expect a newborn."

Reached this week, Salah's attorney, Brian Toder, declined to comment while the investigation into fraud allegations is pending. Salah has not been charged with any crimes, and he and Toder have previously said they dispute the allegations outlined in court documents.

The FBI on Jan. 20 searched the St. Anthony-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future as part of a sprawling investigation into what was described as a scheme to misappropriate tens of millions of dollars meant to feed needy children. The group's executive director, Aimee Bock, has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed she is being persecuted for working mostly with minority businesses.

The day after the search, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture lawsuit seeking to seize 14 properties, including two they say are tied to Salah. According to the lawsuit, Salah and an unnamed partner used $200,000 in program funds to buy a four-unit residential building on 12th Avenue S. in Minneapolis for $390,000 in October.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also moved to seize a $1 million property on Noble Avenue in Brooklyn Park that was allegedly purchased primarily with misappropriated funds in October by Salah and others.

The termination letter says that Salah met Jan. 31 with Frey's chief of staff and policy director and "indicated that you would be completing the Declaration of Outside Employment form by the end of the day. You failed to submit the form promised."

The termination letter does not specify what type of outside employment city officials wanted Salah to disclose. Federal authorities have linked him to owners and business associates of Safari Restaurant, which allegedly misappropriated $15 million from the government's meals program for needy children.

Bock said in an e-mail that Salah "was never employed by [Feeding Our Future] as a contractor, consultant or employee" and that "the Safari Team" told her Salah "was never employed or contracted by any of the sites in their network."

In court documents filed this week, Salah said he is the president and 50% owner of ANS Projects LLC, which owns the building in south Minneapolis. He also said he is president and a 20% owner of Five A's Projects LLC, the company that owns the property in Brooklyn Park. The other partners of Five A's are all Safari owners or associates, according to the FBI's forfeiture suit.

While they have acknowledged his role with the two companies, Salah and his attorney have disputed the government's allegations.

"There's a lot of things in this document that the government got wrong. And we look forward to defending it," Toder said in an interview last month. "He had a legitimate consulting business arrangement and he personally was not involved in anything that was alleged. We're looking forward to getting our discovery from the government and defending this."

Asked for more details on what the mayor's office knew about Salah's outside employment, Tara Niebeling, a spokesperson for Frey, issued a statement saying, "The City does not comment on specific reasons for employment action."

She said the mayor's office "reminded all staff of the enterprise-wide requirement that outside employment forms be submitted when applicable. Such reminders are standard and are shared on an annual basis. Any employee who believes the policy requires them to complete a form in their individual circumstance must submit the form."

The Star Tribune and the Sahan Journal reported Feb. 17 that Salah had been named in the forfeiture lawsuit. Salah's termination letter is dated the same day.

Staff writer Jeffrey Meitrodt contributed to this report.