Fugitive alleged fraudster Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, of Burnsville, Minnesota was arrested Thursday in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia on June 25

Eidleh, 42, was indicted in September 2022 in connection with the Feeding Our Future Covid fraud scheme in Minnesota, considered the country’s largest Covid–era fraud

Indictment charged Eidleh with 31 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering

Feeding Our Future received about $250 million in federal funds while falsely claiming to be serving millions of meals for hungry children – prosecutors

Eidleh allegedly recruited and sponsored Federal Child Nutrition Program sites for the fraudsters, making up to $5million principally through kickbacks

He also allegedly created his own Federal Child Nutrition Program sites, fraudulently claiming to serve meals to thousands of children per day

Prosecutors accused Eidleh of creating shell companies that were supposedly meal vendors and submitting fraudulent invoices to obtain federal nutrition program funds

Fugitive fraud scheme mastermind Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, [photo], of Burnsville, Minnesota, was arrested Thursday in Mogadishu, Somalia. He had been indicted in September 2022 for his role in the Feeding Our Future scam, which prosecutors called the country’s largest Covid–era fraud

One of the alleged perpetrators of Minnesota’s massive Covid fraud scheme was taken into custody in Somalia.
Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, was arrested Thursday June 25, in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
Eidleh of Burnsville, Minnesota, had been indicted in September 2022, along with fellow ringleader Aimee Bock, in connection with the Feeding Our Future scam in Minnesota, a scheme which which prosecutors called the country’s largest Covid–era fraud.
Feeding Our Future received about $250 million in federal funds while falsely claiming to be serving millions of meals for hungry children, prosecutors said.
Abdikerm Eidleh allegedly recruited and sponsored Federal Child Nutrition Program sites for the fraudsters.
He also allegedly created his own Federal Child Nutrition Program sites, fraudulently claiming to serve meals to thousands of children per day. Prosecutors accused Eidleh of creating shell companies that were supposedly meal vendors and submitting fraudulent invoices to obtain federal nutrition program funds.
In total, Eidleh allegedly deposited more than $5 million into his shell companies’ accounts.

‘Mr. kickback’: Eidleh appropriated more than $5 million in federal covid relief funds and related bribes, then fled justice in the US. He was arrested in Mogadishu by the FBI working with the National Intelligence Agency and the Security Agency of Somalia

‘Rather than answer for his crimes in the United States, he fled to Somalia in a futile attempt to evade justice,’ Colin McDonald, said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement division.
McDonald added that Eidleh ‘not only stole taxpayer dollars, but he also robbed vulnerable children of critical resources they desperately needed.’
US authorities had been ‘tracking his whereabouts for a couple of weeks. The FBI thanked the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia for their help in locating and ultimately apprehending Eidleh so he may be brought to justice.
The founding purpose for Feeding Our Future was to provide millions of meals to children in need during the Covid pandemic under a federally–funded child nutrition program. Instead the organization used the money to fund international trips and buy luxury vehicles or expensive real estate, prosecutors said.
Prosecution in the massive fraud case is a result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Aimee Bock [photo], 45, was sentenced to 42 years in prison for masterminding the Feeding Our Future scam. Eidleh was her ‘second in command’ authorities said

Investigators said that the fraud scheme, which also involved the nonprofit Partners in Quality Care, also known as Partners in Nutrition, cost taxpayers around $300 million.
Eidleh is one of 79 people charged in the case, most of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali American community.
Fifty-nine have pled guilty. Seven others, including Bock, were convicted at trials in 2024 and 2025 bringing the number of convictions till date to 65, the DOJ said.
Several people caught in the dragnet testified that Eidleh solicited and collected kickbacks for Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock, who’s serving a 42-year prison sentence.
The September 2022 indictment charged Eidleh with 31 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.

The Feeding Our Future scheme allegedly, received about $250 million in federal funds while falsely claiming to be serving millions of meals for hungry children, according to prosecutors

Daniel Rosen, the US Attorney for Minnesota, alleged that Eidleh was ‘second in command’ to Aimee Bock, founder and executive ‘Eidleh was a key leader and was responsible for bribing and recruiting business to steal from the American taxpayer,’ Rosen said.
Bock, 45, was convicted last March of multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery for her role in the scam.
She was sentenced to more than 41 years in prison in May.
Eidleh is considered ‘one of the key players’ in the scam.
‘His role in recruiting other people to join the fraud scheme really is part of why the fraud became so sprawling as it did,’ authorities said.
Eidleh left the US in November 2021. However by December 2025, he was first located by investigators.

The FBI announced the arrest of the fugitive alleged fraudster

‘It’s an extraordinary effort to locate and effectuate the arrest of someone in a foreign country, even more so in a country like Somalia, which does not have an organized federal government [and] does not have robust federal law enforcement like we do here in the United States,’ a former DOJ official involved with the investigation remarked.
Eidleh has not yet had an opportunity to enter a plea in the case, and while he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, his decision to flee the country will work against him in court, DOJ sources indicated.