A man prosecutors describe as a central figure in a sprawling fraud case in Minnesota was extradited to the state this week, nearly four years after officials began seeking him.
The man, Abdikerm Eidleh, was captured overseas, the first of a handful of people being sought outside the United States on indictments in a series of federal fraud cases that have become a major priority for the Trump administration, officials said.
Mr. Eidleh, 42, a naturalized American citizen, was away from the United States in September 2022 when he was among dozens of people charged with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a pandemic-era program meant to feed low-income children.
Somali authorities took him into custody late last month in Mogadishu, the capital, at the request of the F.B.I. But the American government’s ability to return him to the United States to face trial appeared uncertain in recent weeks because Somalia and the United States lack an extradition treaty. Supporters of Mr. Eidleh in Somalia took to the streets to protest his arrest.
In a statement, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, described the development as “historic” for the agency’s “war on fraud.”
Mr. Eidleh, who does not have a lawyer listed in court records, was scheduled to appear in federal court in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday afternoon. He was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud federal programs and money laundering. No plea had been entered on his behalf as of Friday.
Prosecutors have said he was a top associate of Aimee Bock, the leader of Feeding our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit that they say was at the center of a scheme to bill the government for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of meals that were never served. The Justice Department called it the largest Covid-era case of its kind.
Ms. Bock was sentenced to more than 41 years in prison in May. Among 79 individuals charged in the case so far, 68 have been convicted. The vast majority are of Somali origin, a fact the Trump administration has repeatedly highlighted as it has called for more restrictive immigration policies.
The charges against Mr. Eidleh posed a dilemma for Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who has largely refrained from responding to disparaging remarks President Trump has made about Somalia and its government. A Somali government spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Eidleh’s case.
Mr. Eidleh, who holds Ethiopian citizenship, belongs to a powerful Somali clan, which pressed the government to release him.
This week, Somali officials effectively expelled Mr. Eidleh to a neighboring country, where F.B.I. agents took him into custody and escorted him back to Minnesota, according to Joseph H. Thompson, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw the investigation. The F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota would not identify the neighboring country and declined to provide details of the extradition.
Hussein Mohamed contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.
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