Feeding Our Future Fraud Deepens: 70th Conviction, Somali Extradition, and Juror Bribery Sentence
Recent court actions underscore the sprawling fraud network in the $250 million scheme that exploited pandemic child nutrition funds—and raised questions about terror financing ties
Federal agents extradited a top Feeding Our Future defendant from Somalia, a Minnesota man became the 70th convicted, and a fraudster received 10 additional years for bribing a juror with $120,000 cash—three developments in the past week that advance the largest pandemic fraud case in U.S. history to date. The scheme stole at least $250 million from federal child nutrition programs through fake meal counts and shell companies.
Fraudsters claimed to feed millions of children during COVID-19 but spent the money on luxury cars, real estate in three countries, and, according to federal counterterrorism sources, potentially funneled millions to the Somalia-based terror group al-Shabaab. Building off our previous investigation into Minnesota’s fraud pipeline and al-Shabaab connections, these recent developments underscore the ongoing scale of the operation.
The Somalia Extradition
On July 16, Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, was transferred from Somalia to Minnesota to face 31 federal charges, including wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and federal programs bribery. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen described Eidleh as “second only to Aimee Bock in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.”
Eidleh had fled to Somalia after his initial September 2022 indictment. FBI agents, working with Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency and Somali Police Force, located him in Mogadishu in June 2026. His capture marked what FBI Director Kash Patel called the “25th such transfer executed by this FBI in the last month alone.”
According to court documents reviewed by Cross Currents, Eidleh controlled shell companies central to the fraud operation and deposited more than $5 million in kickbacks and bribes into accounts associated with those entities.
The 70th Defendant Convicted
On July 13, Abdirashid Bixi Dool, 36, of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, became the 70th defendant convicted in the sprawling case. Dool pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud for his role in stealing more than $330,000 through two nonprofit organizations— Bilaal Mosque, Inc. and Multicultural Resource Center, Inc. In late 2025, Dool was the 78th person charged in connection with the case.
Court documents show that between March 2021 and December 2021, Dool submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims on behalf of the two entities. The organizations claimed to operate meal sites in Pelican Rapids and Moorhead, Minnesota, serving tens of thousands of meals to children. In reality, prosecutors say, the actual number of meals served was only a fraction of what was reported.
On some occasions, Dool knowingly claimed the sites served over 40,000 meals per week. In total, the two nonprofits claimed to have served over 505,000 meals to children. The fraudulent submissions led the Minnesota Department of Education to pay nearly $1.1 million in federal child nutrition funds to the entities.
The Juror Bribery Scheme
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 37, of Savage, Minnesota, received an additional 10-year prison sentence on July 23 for his role in attempting to bribe a juror during his 2024 trial. U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud ordered the sentence to run consecutively with Farah’s existing 28-year sentence for defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program of $47 million.
According to prosecutors, Farah worked with his brothers and co-conspirators to deliver $120,000 in cash to a juror in exchange for a not-guilty verdict. Farah identified Juror 52 as the best candidate to bribe—believing her to be the youngest and only person of color on the jury.
Farah’s brother, Abdulkarim Farah, conducted surveillance of the juror’s home in Spring Lake Park. On the night of June 2, 2024, as closing arguments were set to wrap up, Abdulkarim drove co-conspirator Ladan Mohamed Ali to the juror’s house. Before the drive, he used a screwdriver to remove the license plate from Ali’s rental car.
Ali delivered a Hallmark gift bag containing the cash bribe to a relative of Juror 52, telling the relative there would be more money if the juror voted for acquittal. Abdulkarim recorded video of the delivery. After the bribe was disclosed in court, he deleted the Signal encrypted messaging app from his phone to destroy evidence.
Judge Tostrud praised the juror for rejecting the bribe, calling her actions “heroic.” Despite the bribery attempt, jurors convicted Farah and four others. Farah had personally pocketed more than $8 million from the fraud scheme, using it to purchase a Porsche, several other luxury vehicles, domestic and foreign real estate, and luxury travel.
The Scheme’s Structure
Feeding Our Future, founded in 2016 by Aimee Bock, served as a sponsor for organizations enrolling in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. In 2019, the nonprofit received $3.4 million in federal funding. By 2021, that figure had skyrocketed to nearly $200 million.
The FBI’s September 2022 charges alleged that Feeding Our Future and its network of more than 250 sites throughout Minnesota fraudulently claimed to serve 125 million meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. In reality, few meals were ever provided.
Bock and her co-conspirators created shell companies to enroll in the program as food sites. They submitted false documentation, including fraudulent meal counts and fake attendance rosters. In one case, prosecutors found a roster created using names from listofrandomnames.com, with an Excel formula inserting random ages between 7 and 17 into age columns.
Bock was sentenced to 500 months in prison, 41.6 years, on May 21, 2026. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel described Bock as the “epicenter” of a “fraud vortex.” The fraud ring fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
The Somalia Connection and Terror Financing Allegations
The case has raised persistent questions about where stolen funds ultimately flowed—questions Cross Currents previously explored. Multiple defendants fled to Somalia after being charged, including Eidleh. According to a November 2025 report in City Journal, federal counterterrorism sources confirmed that “millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab.”
The report cited multiple law enforcement sources describing a network of “hawalas”—informal clan-based money-traders—routing funds from Minnesota to Somalia. One source told the publication:
“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
Glenn Kerns, a retired Seattle Police Department detective who spent 14 years on a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, told City Journal he investigated money networks spanning Seattle to Minneapolis, with significant cash flowing on commercial flights to hawala networks in Somalia. One network, Kerns discovered, sent $20 million abroad in a single year.
“I pulled all of their records and, well shit, all these Somalis sending out money are on DHS benefits,” Kerns stated. “We had good sources tell us: this is welfare fraud.”
In December 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the Trump administration was investigating whether Minnesota tax money reached al-Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.
In January 2026, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith and every Republican committee member wrote to the IRS calling for an overhaul of nonprofit oversight. The letter cited the Feeding Our Future case and stated: “Reports also suggest that some of this money may have ended up in the hands of the notorious Al-Shabaab terrorist group.”
The Ongoing Investigation
Nearly 80 people have been charged in the Feeding Our Future case. So far, 70 have been convicted — some at trial, most through guilty pleas. Nineteen have been sentenced, with prison terms ranging from 16 months to Bock’s 41.6 years.
Federal prosecutors have recovered more than $60 million from 60 bank accounts, 45 pieces of property, and numerous vehicles and additional items. The investigation has involved more than 100 search warrants, 100 seizure warrants, and the review of more than 1,000 bank accounts.
Eidleh made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Docherty on July 17, 2026. Dool faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled at a later date.
The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca E. Kline, Matthew C. Murphy, Austin L. Bowyer, and Matthew D. Evans are prosecuting the cases.
This shouldn't be a partisan issue-taxpayer money belongs to everyone. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough eyes to keep track of where the money is actually going, which is all the more reason to donate to local charities where you live. At least then you'll know that your money is going to aiding those in need and not lining someone's pocket.