Andrew M. Luger, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
A Minneapolis man, Abdikadir Ainashe Mohamud, also known as "AK," has admitted to wire fraud in connection with a $250 million scheme that exploited a child nutrition program funded by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that from April 2020 to January 2022, Mohamud falsely claimed to operate a child nutrition site in Willmar, Minnesota. His operation, Stigma-Free Willmar, was under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. In October 2020, he arranged with the owner of FaaFan restaurant to use it as a front for his food site operations and claimed to serve meals to 3,000 children daily.
Mohamud established a shell company named Tunyar Trading and purported it as a meal vendor for his food site. From November 2020 through December 2021, he and his associates falsely reported serving approximately 1.6 million meals.
The fraudulent activities included submitting fake meal counts and invoices while transferring over $2.5 million from Tunyar Trading for personal gain and creating another shell company called Five A’s Projects LLC for further fund transfers.
Additionally, Mohamud paid more than $225,000 in bribes from Tunyar Trading LLC to Abdikerm Eidleh of Feeding Our Future for facilitating the fraudulent scheme's participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. As compensation for its role, Feeding Our Future received nearly $500,000 in administrative fees.
Stigma-Free Willmar fraudulently obtained over $5.3 million based on these claims. As part of his plea agreement, Mohamud must relinquish property acquired with illicit funds and return over $378,207 seized from his bank account.
Mohamud entered his guilty plea before Judge Nancy E. Brasel at the U.S. District Court; sentencing will be scheduled later.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the FBI and IRS – Criminal Investigations unit alongside the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson along with colleagues Harry M Jacobs, Matthew S Ebert Daniel W Bobier are leading prosecution efforts while Assistant US Attorney Craig Baune manages asset forfeiture proceedings.
