Defendant in $250 million pandemic food fraud case pleads guilty to wire fraud

MINNEAPOLIS — A man accused of witness tampering in a courtroom hallway pleaded guilty Friday to wire fraud for his role in a scheme that prosecutors said stole $250 million from a federally funded program meant to feed children.

The allegation of witness tampering against Abdinasir Abshir, 32, of Lakeville, surfaced last month in the trial of the alleged ringleader, Aimee Bock, the founder of the now-defunct nonprofit Feeding Our Future, and Salim Said, a former Minneapolis restaurant owner.

Seventy defendants have been charged altogether. Abshir was the 37th to plead guilty. Five were convicted last year in the first trial. The ongoing trial of Bock and Said is the second in the case. Abshir was due to stand trial in August as part of a later group.

That first trial was marred by an alleged attempt by some defendants and people linked with them to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash. That juror went straight to police. That led to tighter security for Bock’s trial, and additional precautions ordered by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel.

Under Abshir’s plea deal, both sides agreed that federal guidelines recommend 63 to 78 months in prison on the wire fraud count, a sentence made tougher because of Abshir’s attempt to intimidate the witness. He also agreed to pay nearly $2.3 million in restitution and forfeit a 2021 Range Rover he bought with his proceeds.

Brasel noted that she is not bound by the recommendations and did not set a sentencing date.

Prosecutors alleged that Abshir approached a government witness and asked to speak with him in a courthouse bathroom. That witness, Sharmake Jama, the former owner of a Rochester restaurant, pleaded guilty earlier and agreed to testify against Bock and Said. Jama declined to enter the bathroom and instead told his lawyer, who informed prosecutors.

Earlier that day, court filings show, Abshir and another man had entered the courtroom loudly, apparently aware that a postal inspector was expected to testify about Abshir’s role. Abshir and the other man sat in the front row, close to the jury box, and continued to be disruptive until security approached them and they left.

Then Abshir approached Jama, who was sitting on a bench in the hallway, waiting to testify.

Abshir was later taken back into custody. In a detention order Thursday, Magistrate Judge Tony Leung found probable cause that Abshir committed a felony by attempting to intimidate Jama.

‘‘Like the jury tampering that has been alleged to have occurred in the only other Feeding Our Future case tried thus far, intimidation of a witness is also a direct attack on the integrity, efficacy, and reliability of this nation’s judicial system," Leung wrote. “The disregard for norms of laws and rules is all the more brazen in the context of the heightened scrutiny after the jury tampering charges stemming from the previously tried case.‘’

Abshir was accused of opening a fraudulent food distribution site called Stigma Free Mankato. Prosecutors allege he and his brother falsely claimed to have served more than 1.6 million meals to children in 2020 and 2021 in Mankato, a city of about 46,000 people. They allegedly collected $5.4 million. Abshir admitted to his role in that, and to paying $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee.

Defense attorney Craig Cascarano acknowledged that it was ‘’a huge misstep on his part'' for Abshir to approach the witness.

‘‘It was a shocking incident,‘’ Cascarano told the judge.

In ordering Abshir held without bail, Brasel cited the ‘’flagrant actions'' he took ‘’not very far'' from her bench, after warning him that going forward, it would be ‘’a really bad idea'' to for him try to talk to other witnesses or defendants.