Overview
- Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, who U.S. authorities say was second in command in the Feeding Our Future scheme, pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday after being returned from Somalia.
- Eidleh faces 31 federal counts including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal-programs bribery, and money laundering, and prosecutors allege he deposited more than $5 million in bribes into shell-company accounts.
- Federal agents and Somali intelligence arrested Eidleh in Mogadishu after about four years on the run, and U.S. prosecutors say his capture shows international cooperation in the long-running probe.
- A federal judge found Eidleh unable to afford private counsel and appointed two public defenders, while the broader investigation has resulted in roughly 79 people charged and the ringleader receiving a multi-decade sentence.
- The case centers on alleged diversion of roughly $250 million in pandemic-era child nutrition funds, and Eidleh's return and plea move prosecutors closer to trials that could trace how payments and shell accounts funneled money away from feeding programs.