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Feeding Our Future fraud ring’s alleged No. 2 appears in court after Somalia arrest

▶ Watch Video: Man charged in pandemic fraud scheme after 4 years on run makes 1st court appearance

The man federal prosecutors are calling “one of the biggest fish” in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme made his first court appearance Friday.

Forty-two-year-old Abdikerm Eidleh appeared in federal court in St. Paul on Friday, just weeks after he was arrested in Mogadishu. The FBI says he fled the country four years ago after being indicted in the Feeding Our Future scheme and was arrested with help from the Somali government.

Prosecutors have outlined the 31 charges Eidleh is facing, including wire fraud, federal programs bribery and money laundering.

During an interview shortly after his arrest in June, Daniel Rosen, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, called Eidleh the No. 2 operator in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme — second only to Aimee Bock.

“Mr. Eidleh is one of those big fish. With his arrest now, we can prosecute one of the biggest fish involved in the Feeding Our Future scheme,” said Rosen.

Rosen said Eidleh also demanded kickbacks from others involved in the scheme, which were to be paid monthly. He allegedly deposited more than $5 million in bribes and other fraud proceeds into accounts associated with his shell companies.

“It shows that the long arm of American law reaches all around the globe — that even in Somalia, you can’t escape the FBI,” said Rosen.

The FBI said the $300 million Feeding Our Future scandal has secured more than 70 guilty pleas, and they are hoping Eidleh will be the next one.

In court, he wore an orange jail suit and sat next to a federal defense attorney. He was also flanked by two U.S. marshals.

The judge deemed Eidleh a serious flight risk and did not grant him bail.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on July 31 for an arraignment and detention hearing.

The judge said Eidleh will now work with the federal defender’s office to find a public defender for his case.

Venezuelan gang member imprisoned after Colorado attacks, three others still at large

By CNN
Click here for updates on this story    SALIDA, Coloraod (KCNC) -- Three members of a violent Venezuelan gang who are believed responsible for a frightening, rage-fueled pursuit of a Colorado man remain free as a single member of the group begins serving a prison sentence. Two months ago, Daviler Brito Ibarra was ordered to serve three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.According to case records, Ibarra led the other three men from a party in Buena Vista to a hotel room in Salida in search of revenge. Ibarra and an unspecified number of his friends reportedly groped a woman at the Buena Vista party. That woman's husband came to her defense and confronted Ibarra, according to the arrest affidavit.Ibarra attacked the husband with a rock and injured him, per the report. The man escaped the assault and fled in his vehicle toward Salida. Ibarra and the others followed, but not before Ibarra told the woman that he was going to kill her husband, according to the affidavit.Her husband later told investigators that he "began hiding because he knew how dangerous these guys were and feared for his life."Ibarra's group went to the Sinawav Lodge in Salida. There, at 3 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2025, Ibarra began kicking a car and stabbing it with a six-inch knife that was parked in front of a resident's room. Inside that room was another woman, an acquaintance of Ibarra's from their workplace, who had been at the same party in Buena Vista. But, according to the affidavit, that woman said she had left the party four hours earlier and knew nothing of the conflict. She told investigators that while Ibarra was stabbing the car, he "was explaining this was how he was going to kill someone."She also said Ibarra appeared extremely intoxicated.Ibarra then kicked down the door to the room. It was a solid-core wood door, investigators noted, and was found in several pieces inside the room. Once inside, Ibarra and his friends terrorized the woman and an unidentified person, holding them at gunpoint and knifepoint, per the report. Ibarra yelled that he was going to kill them both if they did not tell him where the man who had fled from the party was hiding. He also tackled the woman onto her bed and held a knife near her face, repeating his demands, according to the affidavit. The affidavit did not describe how the incident ended. Later press releases from both Salida and Buena Vista police departments stated Ibarra and the three other men - Miguel Polo, Carlos Reyes, and their alleged driver, Wisan Ruiz - fled to the Front Range after the attack. The woman and the other person inside the hotel room were scared but uninjured, per the police report.The affidavit did not state how or why Ibarra's group chose to drive to the Sinawav Lodge to pursue the man who fled the party, but their instincts were correct. It stated that the man did drive there but hid some distance from the building. He witnessed Ibarra's arrival, his yelling and stabbing of the car, and the kicking down of the door. The affidavit also did not explain whether the man knew either of the people inside the lodge's room. It also did not describe the severity of his injuries from the attack at the party.Ibarra was arrested four days later in the Denver area by Salida PD officers and agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Fugitive Task Force. His arrest warrant called for two counts of attempted murder and six other felonies, but he was sentenced to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to a single count of felony burglary.The other three men have not been found. Separately, the police chiefs of the Buena Vista and Salida police departments expressed their concern to CBS Colorado for the safety of the victims. In fact, the Salida officer who wrote Ibarra's affidavit noted the suspects are reportedly "members of a Venezuelan gang, likely Tren de Aragua.""Many persons related to this case," he wrote, "refused to provide witness statements because they were under the influence of fear if Daviler or his friends found out. Specifically, (the husband) stated that when these guys figured out they spoke with police, they would be killed."Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
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