Mogadishu, Somalia — A Minnesota man accused of helping run one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the United States has been taken into custody in Mogadishu, US prosecutors said, more than three years after he was indicted in the Feeding Our Future case.
Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, was arrested on June 25 in the Somali capital, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said Friday.
Prosecutors described Eidleh as “one of the orchestrators” of the scheme, which they say stole hundreds of millions of dollars from a federal programme meant to feed children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Justice Department said Eidleh was first charged in September 2022. He faces 31 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, federal programme bribery, money laundering conspiracy and money laundering.
Court records showed Eidleh had not yet entered a plea and did not show whether he had appointed a lawyer.
Arrest in Mogadishu
US officials gave few details about how Somali authorities located and detained Eidleh or when he could appear before a court in Minnesota.
But they credited the FBI and Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency for helping track him down.
“This defendant was a central figure in one of the largest fraud schemes in Minnesota history,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
“He not only stole taxpayer dollars, but he also robbed vulnerable children of critical resources they desperately needed,” McDonald said.
“Rather than answer for his crimes in the United States, he fled to Somalia in a futile attempt to evade justice.”
US Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the arrest showed that suspects accused of stealing from government programmes could not evade prosecution by leaving the country.
“Eidleh’s capture shows that, if you commit fraud against the American taxpayer and try hiding across the globe, the long arm of justice will find you,” Rosen said.
FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson said the arrest also showed the reach of US law enforcement partnerships.
“The FBI’s partnerships with law enforcement worldwide again send a message – the FBI’s reach is far and wide, we will track down and bring to justice any fugitive, from anywhere,” Dotson said.
“The FBI extends its sincere appreciation to the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia for their outstanding partnership in locating and apprehending Eidleh so he may be brought to justice.”
Pay-to-play claims
Feeding Our Future was a Minnesota non-profit that sponsored meal sites under the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which expanded during the pandemic as Washington relaxed some rules to help feed children outside schools.
Prosecutors say the organisation and its associates used the programme to enrol fraudulent meal sites across Minnesota, claiming they were feeding thousands of children every day, and then diverting federal reimbursements.
The Justice Department said Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites and fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in federal nutrition funds.
Authorities say Eidleh worked for Feeding Our Future and helped recruit and support sites under its sponsorship.
According to the indictment, Eidleh and other employees solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from individuals and companies seeking approval to operate fraudulent websites.
Prosecutors say Feeding Our Future ran a “pay-to-play” system in which site operators kicked back part of their proceeds to employees, including Eidleh, often disguising the payments as “consulting fees” through shell companies.
The indictment also alleges that Eidleh created his own child nutrition sites using nominee owners, falsely claimed they served meals to thousands of children a day, and created shell companies that appeared to sell food to those sites.
He then submitted fraudulent invoices and deposited more than $5 million in kickbacks, bribes and other proceeds into accounts linked to his shell companies, prosecutors said.
Wider prosecution
The arrest comes one month after Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, was sentenced to 500 months in prison — more than 41 years — for her lead role in the scheme.
Bock was convicted at trial alongside Salim Said, a former co-owner of Safari Restaurant. Prosecutors said the two oversaw a network of meal sites that falsely claimed to have served millions of meals.
“Over forty-one years in prison is the cost this fraudster will pay for stealing from children,” McDonald said after Bock’s sentencing.
The Feeding Our Future investigation has become one of the largest fraud prosecutions in Minnesota history.
By March, prosecutors said they had secured 63 convictions across the wider case, calling it the largest number of convictions in a single fraud investigation by the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office in recent memory.
The Justice Department has said 78 defendants have been charged in the broader Feeding Our Future investigation, which it described as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.
Fraud crackdown
Federal investigators have kept the case as a priority as Washington intensifies action against pandemic-era fraud and alleged abuse of benefit programmes.
The Justice Department said the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the US Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson said the detention in Somalia showed the reach of US law enforcement partnerships.
“The FBI’s reach is far and wide,” Dotson said. “We will track down and bring to justice any fugitive, from anywhere.”
He said Eidleh’s alleged fraud “took millions of dollars from programs designed for children and families in need”.
The indictment remains an allegation, and Eidleh is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.