Feeding Our Future fugitive nabbed

Said Abdullahi Ereg, an international fugitive wanted in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, has returned from Kenya to America to face justice.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced Ereg’s arrest this afternoon at a press conference in downtown Minneapolis. Your correspondent was there. The press release can be found here.

You will recall that just last week the FBI placed Ereg on their newly-created most-wanted fraudster list. Apparently, that was enough to prompt Ereg to arrange for his return to Minnesota, by way of London, England. Rosen reports that Ereg surrendered to federal agents at the airport today. Ereg remains in custody, pending his initial court appearance,

Ereg is defendant No. 61 in the food fraud, along with his wife, Najmo Ahmed, No. 62. Together, they operated the Evergreen Grocery in south Minneapolis and allegedly stole more than $4 million from the free-food program in 2020 and 2021.

Evergreen was one of the original operators red-flagged by the state Dept. of Education (MDE) back in April 2020, as documented in court filings,

Both Ereg and his wife were indicted in January 2024. Ahmed returned later that year and pled guilty to fraud last year. She is scheduled to be sentenced in her case next week.

In other Feeding Our Future news, you will recall the report from Monday regarding efforts by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to strip 17 naturalized American citizens of their citizenship.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune confirms that the Minnesota Man on the list, Abdulkadir Kadiye, is the same man indicted in the Feeding Our Future case (No. 55). Kadiye pled guilty in the case and awaits sentencing.