MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A Minnesota man accused of helping steal $250 million from a federal child nutrition program was arrested Thursday in Mogadishu, Somalia, after spending nearly four years as a fugitive, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
The arrest of Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, marks a significant development in the sprawling “Feeding Our Future” fraud case — one of the largest fraud schemes in Minnesota history. Eidleh was indicted in September 2022 alongside dozens of co-defendants, but prosecutors say he fled the country roughly two months before federal search warrants were first served, putting him beyond U.S. reach for years. His capture, made possible through cooperation between the FBI and Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, signals that the federal pursuit of defendants in the case has gone fully international.
Eidleh was taken into custody in the Somali capital on June 25, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen, who announced the arrest in a news release the following day. Neither U.S. nor Somali officials have publicly disclosed how investigators located Eidleh or the precise circumstances of his apprehension. It remains unclear when he will be returned to the United States to face trial, and court documents do not yet show whether he has retained an attorney. He has not had an opportunity to enter a plea. FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson credited Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency for helping locate and detain Eidleh, saying the arrest once again demonstrated that “the FBI’s reach is far and wide.” Rosen added that the capture sends a clear message to anyone who believes they can escape fraud charges by fleeing overseas — that the long arm of justice will find them.
According to prosecutors, Eidleh held a senior role inside Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit that administered a federal child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization claimed to help distribute millions of meals to children in need, but prosecutors say only a small fraction of the federal money was ever used to feed anyone. Court documents allege that Eidleh was responsible for recruiting and supporting Federal Child Nutrition Program meal sites operating under the nonprofit’s sponsorship. He and other employees are accused of running what the indictment describes as a “pay-to-play” scheme: operators of fraudulent meal sites kicked back portions of their illicit proceeds to Feeding Our Future staff, including Eidleh. Those payments were often disguised as consulting fees and routed through shell companies to hide their true purpose. Prosecutors allege Eidleh deposited more than $5 million in bribes, kickbacks and fraud proceeds into accounts tied to those shell companies. Court records also indicate that some of those funds were used to make a $95,000 payment toward a mortgage on a home in Burnsville.
The mechanics of the alleged scheme were elaborate. Eidleh is accused of creating Federal Child Nutrition Program meal sites using nominee owners — stand-ins whose names appeared on paperwork while he allegedly controlled the operations behind the scenes. Prosecutors say those sites then falsely claimed to be serving thousands of children per day, generating reimbursement claims backed by fabricated records. Eidleh allegedly compounded the fraud by setting up shell companies that posed as meal vendors for those same fake sites, then submitting fraudulent invoices to collect federal nutrition program funds for food that was never actually delivered. The rest of the money drained from the program, prosecutors say, was laundered through additional shell companies and spent on real estate, luxury vehicles and travel. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division called Eidleh “a central figure in one of the largest fraud schemes in Minnesota history,” saying he “not only stole taxpayer dollars, but also robbed vulnerable children of critical resources they desperately needed.”
The Feeding Our Future case began to unravel publicly in January 2022, when FBI agents raided the nonprofit’s offices in St. Anthony, Minnesota. Federal prosecutors have since charged 79 individuals in connection with the scheme, and 66 of them have been convicted or have pleaded guilty, according to court records. Eidleh’s alleged superior within the organization, Aimee Bock, was identified by prosecutors as the ringleader of the entire operation. Bock was convicted and sentenced in May to 500 months — more than 41 years — in federal prison. Eidleh is described in reports from local television station KSTP as Bock’s right-hand man, considered second-in-command in the scheme. U.S. Attorney Rosen described Eidleh to CBS News as “a big fish” who recruited businesses into the fraud and paid bribes to loot public money. Investigators estimate the broader scope of the Feeding Our Future fraud could ultimately exceed $1 billion when all related activity is accounted for.
Eidleh faces 31 federal counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. A conviction on those charges could result in a substantial federal prison sentence, though no trial date has been publicly set and it remains unclear when Eidleh will be transferred back to the United States. The case is being investigated jointly by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations. McDonald, speaking on behalf of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said the arrest reflected the work of FBI partners who tracked Eidleh despite the international complications. A senior Somali government official told Al Jazeera that Somali authorities have grown concerned about individuals — including dual nationals and citizens of other countries — returning to Somalia specifically to avoid prosecution in other nations.
The Feeding Our Future prosecution has taken on broader political and social dimensions in recent years. The Trump administration pointed to the case as partial justification for an immigration enforcement surge targeting Minnesota’s Somali community, which is the largest Somali population in the United States, with approximately 84,000 people of Somali descent living in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. Federal immigration enforcement agents deployed heavily to the Minneapolis area in connection with that crackdown. Somalia was also placed on the administration’s travel ban list when President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025. McDonald, in his statement Friday, emphasized that the arrest demonstrates the government’s commitment to pursuing fraud defendants regardless of where they attempt to hide. “Rather than answer for his crimes in the United States, he fled to Somalia in a futile attempt to evade justice,” McDonald said. “That attempt ended thanks to the exceptional work of our FBI partners.”
As of Friday, Eidleh remained in custody in Somalia pending arrangements for his return to the United States. With 66 of 79 charged defendants already convicted or having pleaded guilty, federal prosecutors are expected to continue pressing forward on remaining open cases, including Eidleh’s, once he is back on American soil and formally arraigned.
