A Minneapolis man who has pleaded not guilty to charges in the Feeding Our Future meal fraud scheme is being held in federal custody in connection with last week’s alleged witness tampering attempt.
Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir, 32, was booked into the Sherburne County jail on Friday for an “attempt to tamper with and intimidate a government witness” at the U.S. District Courthouse in Minneapolis, according to a court document unsealed on Monday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright on Monday granted prosecutors’ request that Abshir be temporarily detained prior to a bond revocation hearing scheduled for Friday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung.
Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)
The alleged tampering took place last Tuesday before Feeding our Future co-defendant Sharmake Jama, 37, was to testify for the prosecution in the ongoing trial of Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, and co-defendant Salim Said, a former co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis.
During the afternoon break, as Jama was sitting on a bench outside the courtroom, Abshir approached and asked him to step into the bathroom with him so they could talk, according to a court document filed Wednesday under seal. Jama said that he “felt intimidated and understood that Abshir was trying to intimidate him” and declined to enter the bathroom.
According to Jama’s attorney, after the interaction, Abshir and his “associate” sat at the far end of the hallway staring at Jama and his attorney as they sat outside the courtroom. At least one of them appeared to be vaping, the document says.
The allegation led U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to order defendants in all upcoming cases stemming from the pandemic fraud case to stay away from the courtroom. Security has also been tightened, with courthouse security placing locked cases on cellphones.
The alleged tampering followed an attempt in June to bribe a juror in the first trial of defendants in the sprawling fraud case, in which federal authorities say fraudsters stole $250 million in federal aid meant for feeding needy children who were cut off from meals during school closures due to COVID-19.
Abshir is scheduled to go to trial in August on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
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Abshir and his brother Asad Mohamed Abshir, who is also charged in the case, are accused of running fraudulent sites in Mankato. Abdinasir Abshir ran the Stigma-Free Mankato site. They said they served more than 1.6 million meals. The site received approximately $5 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, court documents say.
Jama, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a meal fraud scheme at his Rochester restaurant. Court documents say he and other conspirators intentionally submitted inflated meal counts for Brava Restaurant, receiving $4.3 million directly from Feeding Our Future and over $900,000 from Safari Restaurant, co-owned by Said.
Monday marked the eighth day of Bock and Said’s trial. Testimony resumes Tuesday.
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