MOGADISHU, SOMALIA — United States prosecutors say a top suspect in the Minnesota Feeding Our Future fraud case has been arrested in Mogadishu, Somalia. Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, was taken into custody on Thursday and the arrest was announced Friday.
Officials said the case involved cooperation between the FBI and Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency. Prosecutors say the arrest marks a major step in a case that has stretched far beyond Minnesota.
How prosecutors describe him
Federal prosecutors identify Eidleh as the alleged second-in-command to Aimee Bock, who was convicted as the mastermind behind the scheme. The fraud centered on Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit that handled federal money meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authorities said Eidleh fled to Somalia as the case fell apart. Bock was recently sentenced to more than 40 years in prison.
Allegations in the scheme
Prosecutors say Eidleh helped recruit people into the operation and collected bribes and kickbacks, often disguised as consulting fees and sent through shell companies. He is also accused of setting up meal sites under stand-in owners and claiming they served thousands of children each day.
They say he created fake supplier companies to bill the government for food that was never delivered. In 2022, federal prosecutors charged 47 people in what they described as a roughly $250 million fraud tied to a child-nutrition program.
Wider fallout in Minnesota
The case has drawn wider attention because of its scale and its connection to Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country. About 84,000 people of Somali descent live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and most were born in the United States or are naturalized citizens.
Somali authorities have not publicly commented on the arrest, and US and Somali officials have not said how Eidleh was located. A senior Somali official told Al Jazeera the government was concerned about people returning to Somalia to avoid prosecution.
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