Forty-Eighth Conviction in Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme

MINNEAPOLIS – Asad Mohamed Abshir has pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering for his role in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.  He is the 48^th defendant to be convicted in this massive fraud scheme.

“This guilty plea is another step in exposing the staggering levels of corruption that have been hiding in plain sight across Minnesota,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “This defendant laundered millions meant to feed children and funneled it into a web of shell companies and luxury spending.  As FBI Director Kash Patel recently said, this case stands as one of the most egregious abuses of public trust in recent memory. The people of Minnesota deserve better.”

In fall of 2020, the defendant, Asad Mohamed Abshir, 34, assisted his brother and co-defendant, Abdinasir Abshir, in the operations of non-profit called Stigma Free International. Under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, the Abshir brothers claimed to operate, through Stigma Free, a food distribution site in Mankato, Minnesota. At the same time, Abdinasir Abshir claimed to provide food for the Mankato site through an entity he controlled called Horseed Management LLC. But the Abshirs did not provide the food they claimed to, and they were not entitled to the taxpayer dollars they received for their claims.

Over the course of 2020 to 2021, the Abshirs fraudulently claimed to have provided 1.6 million meals to children. For his role in the scheme, Abdinasir personally received about $750,000. The defendant used $77,353 in fraud proceeds to purchase a 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali truck, which has been seized and will be forfeited to the United States. In addition, the Unites States seized $424,762.51 from the bank account for the defendant's shell company, Santana LLC, all of which will be forfeited.

“Asad Abshir’s guilty plea underscores a troubling intersection of deception and exploitation within federal assistance programs designed to nourish vulnerable populations,” said FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. “Abshir not only undermined the integrity of the Federal Child Nutrition Program, but also abused the resources intended for the nation’s most at-risk children. This case serves as a stark reminder of the critical need for stringent oversight and accountability in the administration of taxpayer dollars.”

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service

Abshir pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy E. Brasel. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Harry M. Jacobs, and Daniel W. Bobier are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Baune is handling the seizure and forfeiture of assets.