Another person faces charges in the sprawling $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case after she allegedly tried to flee the U.S. following a raid at a St. Paul office federal authorities say is tied to the scheme.

Hibo Daar, 50, of Eden Prairie, is the 71st person to face charges in the case after her arrest Sunday by federal authorities at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. She remained in custody Wednesday night ahead of a Friday hearing before a federal judge in Minneapolis.

Daar had bought tickets to Dubai the same day media reports publicized an FBI raid at an office suspected of connections to Feeding Our Future, prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint unsealed this week in Minnesota U.S. District Court.

Search of St. Paul nonprofit

The FBI served a search warrant at the offices of the New Vision Foundation at 860 Vandalia St. in St. Paul last week, a nonprofit with ties to Feeding Our Future, Minnesota Public Radio reported. The court documents do not directly tie Daar to the foundation.

Daar was a target in the overall Feeding Our Future investigation, according to the federal complaint. Law enforcement first contacted her about the investigation in April 2025 in connection with a federal grand jury investigation.

Federal prosecutors say the now-defunct Feeding Our Future nonprofit collected payments for millions of meals that partner groups never served during the pandemic. The organization has been shut down since the FBI raided its offices in January 2022. Prosecutors described it as the largest instance of federal pandemic aid fraud.

Daar’s meal site, Northside Wellness, collected about $1.8 million from Feeding Our Future, but only spent about $2,000 on food, prosecutors allege. It started operating in November 2020. By January 2021, forms filed by the group claimed it fed more than 50,000 children.

The numbers continued to grow. At one point, Northside claimed to be feeding 40,000 meals to children per week. In April 2021, it reported serving 5,600 meals a day. Daar signed off on the forms and emailed claims to convicted Feeding Our Future ringleader Aimee Bock, according to the complaint.

Rather than serve meals, Northside made payments to Daar and others, according to the complaint. Daar received about $110,000 from the group, federal authorities allege.

Target of investigation

When authorities started communicating with Daar this spring, they told her she likely was a target in the investigation and could face criminal charges, according to the complaint.

When news broke of the search at New Vision Foundation, she bought a ticket to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates which was scheduled to depart on May 25 and return on June 2.

FBI Special Agent Travis Wilmer wrote in the complaint that, based on his experience, people buying round-trip tickets will sometimes do so to hide the fact that they do not intend to return.

Daar faces a wire fraud charge and remains in federal custody at the Sherburne County Jail ahead of a detention hearing Friday. Her attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Magistrate Judge David T. Schultz ordered she remain in custody at her initial appearance on Tuesday.

Besides Daar, federal authorities have charged 70 people in the case since September 2022. As of March, 37 had pleaded guilty; seven, including Bock, were convicted at trial; and two have been acquitted.

A 2024 review by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor found “inadequate oversight” at the Minnesota Department of Education created an opportunity for massive fraud to take place.

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St. Paul police are investigating a shooting death on Wednesday, the first homicide by gunfire in the city this year.

The incident happened on the West Side in the 600 block of Stryker Avenue, according to police. The department plans to release additional information later Wednesday.

The homicide is the fourth of the year in St. Paul. The previous three were stabbings.

There were nine homicides at this time in the city last year, including a shooting by officers that prosecutors recently found to be justified under state law.

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.

The Republican governor, who served from 1995 until 2004, was among a number of prominent figures the Republican president granted clemency Wednesday, including former New York Congressman Michael Grimm, also a Republican, and reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley.

A White House official confirmed the pardon but spoke only on background to discuss matters that have not yet been made public.

In an email to the Hartford Courant, Rowland wrote: “I am deeply humbled and appreciative. I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends that have been through a great deal over the years. This is a wonderful final resolution.”

President Donald Trump, left, gestures as Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, looks on during a swearing in ceremony for interim U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in the Oval Office of the Whit House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Once the nation’s youngest governor, Rowland was elected three times to the state’s highest office before resigning at the age of 47 amid a federal corruption investigation into gifts and favors that he accepted from state contractors and a growing move by state legislators to impeach him from office.

Rowland served 10 months in a federal prison camp after pleading guilty in 2004 to one count of conspiracy to steal honest services.

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It was a stunning fall from grace for a man once considered a rising star in national Republican politics.

The Waterbury native served three terms in Congress, was chairman of the national Republican Governors Association and a friend of former President George H.W. Bush. He was elected governor in 1994 at the age of 37.

After finishing his prison sentence, Rowland found new life as a popular AM radio commentator.

But in 2014 he was convicted of conspiring to hide his work on political campaigns and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

Hartford Courant reporter Christopher Keating and Associated Press reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report.

The payment of settlement funds agreed in November between Hmong College Prep Academy and the New Jersey hedge fund that lost more than $4 million of the St. Paul charter school’s money continues to be delayed.

Last year a settlement in the matter was reached between investment manager Clark Reiner, the hedge fund Woodstock Capital Partners and Hmong College Prep Academy. Under that agreement, Reiner and Woodstock are to pay Hmong College Prep Academy $400,000.

While they were obligated to pay the sum by December, the funds were still not available as of Wednesday, according to a status conference held by Judge Douglas L. Micko in U.S. District Court.

“My clients have provided the following information for this update: ‘We continue to have difficulty and delay on this transaction clearing and available to be used for settlement purposes,’” said attorney Mathew Meyer, who represents Reiner and Woodstock, in a May 9 letter to Micko.

Hmong College Prep Academy sued Woodstock in federal court in 2021 after the school’s founder and former superintendent Christianna Hang’s 2019 investment of $5 million lost $4.3 million. Officials with Hmong College Prep Academy said at the time that Reiner and Woodstock Capital contacted the school multiple times in 2019 as it explored investment opportunities to help pay for a school construction project.

According to the school’s 2021 year-end audit, the value of the investment had fallen from $5 million to $684,762 without school officials knowing what had happened to the rest of the money. Minnesota law prohibits schools from investing in hedge funds, which often use risky investment strategies.

Hmong College Prep Academy did not provide immediately comment on the settlement agreement Wednesday.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in December sued Hang, alleging she invested the $5 million without the approval of the school’s board of directors, in violation of state law and against the advice of the school’s lawyer and accountant.

Hang chose Woodstock on the advice of Kay Yang, an unregistered investor from Wisconsin, according to Ellison’s complaint.

A federal court in Wisconsin later ordered Yang to pay millions in restitution and penalties related to her unregistered investment activity. Hang and her husband lost $125,000 of their own money investing with Yang, Ellison said.

The FBI searched Yang’s suburban-Milwaukee home in 2022 as part of a money laundering and wire fraud investigation. Yang hasn’t been charged in connection with that investigation, but she was convicted at trial last month on charges of felony criminal slander of title; prosecutors alleged she tried to cloud the title of her former home, which went through foreclosure after the FBI raid.

Josh Verges contributed to this report.

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