Somalia arrest in Feeding Our Future case still leaves suspect abroad

Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh was taken into custody in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 25, but nearly two weeks later he still had not been brought back to the United States, leaving one of the Feeding Our Future suspects abroad.

Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, was among the defendants originally charged on September 13, 2022, in a 31-count indictment 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. He worked for Feeding Our Future, recruiting and supporting Federal Child Nutrition Program sites under the organization’s sponsorship.

Court filings link Eidleh to helping create shell companies, set up fraudulent meal sites in the names of nominee owners, submit fake invoices and deposit more than $5 million in kickbacks, bribes and other fraud proceeds into accounts tied to those shell companies. Court filings also link more than $225,000 to Stigma-Free Willmar, more than $100,000 to Stigma-Free Mankato and additional kickbacks to ASA Limited.

Somalia’s intelligence service assisted in the operation. Court documents did not show whether Eidleh had a lawyer or had entered a plea.

Founded in 2016, Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 Federal Child Nutrition Program sites in Minnesota and grew from about $3.4 million in federal funds disbursed in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, exploiting pandemic-era changes meant to keep children fed while schools and community programs were disrupted. In 2022, 47 defendants were charged in the case, tied to at least $250 million in alleged losses.

Feeding Our Future falsely claimed to have served 125 million meals. The Trump administration has seized on the case. The state's Somali community includes about 84,000 people of Somali descent in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them U.S.-born or naturalized citizens. Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock was sentenced in May 2026 to 500 months in prison.