Newest indictment in the Feeding Our Future case

Defendant No. 49 is formally charged in Federal court. Mohamed Muse Noor had been arrested at O’Hare airport late last month, en route to Turkey. Known professionally as Deeq Darajo, he is the proprietor of the Xogmaal Media website here in Minnesota.

He was formally indicted in Federal court in Minneapolis this week. He is accused of working with his alleged cousin, Abdikerm Eidleh, former Feeding Our Future employee and himself an international fugitive.

The Feds accuse Noor of enrolling his media company, Xogmaal, in the free-food program and claiming to serve 1,500 children per day, seven days a week (Indictment, p. 6, para. b). He took $1.3 million out of the program and his end was reportedly $500,000. All of this occurred within a few months of 2021 (para. c). More detail was included in the original complaint.

Noor’s most prominent role in the case may have been his association with a now-vanished video of a critical meeting held in June 2021. As the Sahan Journal reported,

Before the federal investigation into Feeding Our Future went public, Xogmaal filmed and posted a celebration the nonprofit held at Banadir Hall in June 2021. This came right after a state judge found the Minnesota Department of Education in contempt of court for not processing food site applications fast enough. 

The video featured supportive remarks about Feeding Our Future from State Senator Omar Fateh, Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman, and Ali Isse, a district deputy director for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The video ended with several women dancing around Bock and celebrating her. 

One day after the FBI raids on Feeding Our Future became public, Xogmaal made the video private and unviewable.

We’ve reported extensively on Sen. Omar Fateh and council member Jamal Osman. The role played by Ali Isse in Ilhan Omar’s political organization has been covered by reporter David Steinberg.

In other news, the plea agreement of Defendant No. 29, Abdul Ali, was also made public this week. Ali and his business partner Bekam Merdassa (Defendant No. 45) have both pled guilty and are both part of the Youth Inventor’s Lab/S&S Catering group within the wider scandal.

As part of the plea agreement, Ali agreed to forfeit $122,000.