Minnesota Man Becomes 78th Defendant Charged in Expansive Feeding Our Future Fraud Case

(KNSI) – A 36-year-old man in Minnesota is facing federal wire fraud and money-laundering charges for his alleged role in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

Abdirashid Bixi Dool has been indicted on seven counts and is now the 78th defendant charged in what prosecutors call the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud case. He made his initial court appearance on Monday afternoon.

According to the criminal complaint, Dool held leadership roles at two Minnesota nonprofit organizations, Bilaal Mosque Inc. and the Multicultural Resource Center Inc. Prosecutors say Dool and another individual, identified only as an unnamed co-conspirator claimed to operate Federal Child Nutrition Program meal sites in Pelican Rapids and Moorhead under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.

To support these inflated claims, investigators say Dool falsely claimed the two sites were serving more than 40,000 meals to children every week. At the Bilaal site, he reported serving 6,000 meals a day, more than twice the entire population of Pelican Rapids. Prosecutors allege Dool backed up those claims with fake invoices for food that was never purchased and rosters listing children who didn’t exist.

Between March 2021 and February 2022, Bilaal and MRC received roughly $1.1 million in federal nutrition funds.

The indictment states that instead of buying food, Dool and the co-conspirator laundered much of the money for themselves and their families. Prosecutors say Dool used part of the proceeds to travel and purchase real estate in Minnesota.

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