Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty in $250M Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – A Minneapolis man has been taken down in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahmed Abdullahi Ghedi, 35, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

According to court documents, Ghedi claimed to be operating a child nutrition site in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part of the scheme. He and his co-conspirators falsely claimed to be serving 2,000 to 3,000 meals to children daily, seven days a week, and submitted inflated meal counts, fabricated invoices, and fake attendance rosters to support the claims.

Between December 2020 and November 2021, Ghedi deposited over $2 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds into shell accounts, which he used to buy luxury items, including motor vehicles and credit card spending. He also transferred approximately $560,000 to Cosmopolitan Business Properties LLC, a shell company, to purchase a mansion in Minneapolis.

Ghedi paid kickbacks to Abdikerm Eidleh, a Feeding Our Future employee, totaling $54,000, in exchange for sponsoring and facilitating ASA Limited’s participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Feeding Our Future received nearly $400,000 in administrative fees for sponsoring ASA Limited’s participation in the program.

The scheme resulted in a loss of $7.2 million to Federal Child Nutrition Programs based on fraudulent claims submitted through Feeding Our Future. Ghedi’s plea is the 47th conviction in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

Ghedi is set to be sentenced at a later date. The case is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Harry M. Jacobs, and Daniel W. Bobier are prosecuting the case.