Man who admitted to witness tampering pleads guilty to role in Feeding Our Future fraud case

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Saturday March 8, 2025

Abdinasir Abshir, courtesy of Sherburne County Jail

A Lakeville man who was jailed over suspected witness tampering during the trial of Feeding Our Future co-defendants Aimee Bock and Salim Said has now pleaded guilty to his role in the $250 million fraud scheme.

Abdinasir Abshir, 33, pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Friday. He is now the 37th defendant to plead guilty in the case.

According to court records, Abshir registered Federal Child Nutrition Program sites at Stigma-Free Mankato and J’s Sambusa under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.

From November 2020 to November 2021, he claimed to have served meals to 3,000 children a day, seven days a week at J’s Sambusa in North Mankato, a town with a population of roughly 14,000 people. Abshir submitted paperwork purporting to have served 1.6 million meals over that time, and Stigma-Free Mankato fraudulently received $5.4 million in payments.

Stigma-Free paid $100,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh and another $420,000 in administrative fees to Feeding Our Future. Abshir also paid $5,750 to a GoFundMe account for Feeding Our Future created by Bock.

During Bock’s trial, Abshir allegedly intimidated Sharmake Jama, a government witness. During his plea, he admitted to approaching the witness on Feb. 18 upon learning that Jama was about to testify.

The attempted witness tampering will result in an enhanced sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Friday.

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