Abdirashid Bixi Dool pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a wire fraud charge tied to the Feeding Our Future scandal, admitting to prosecutors' allegation that he falsified roughly 505,000 meal claims and helped trigger nearly $1.1 million in state reimbursements. His plea is the latest conviction in a sprawling probe that federal authorities say siphoned pandemic-era child nutrition funds that were supposed to feed Minnesota children.
What prosecutors say
According to the plea agreement, Dool acknowledged that between March and December 2021 he submitted bogus meal counts, padded vendor invoices and forged attendance rosters for two nonprofit sites, at times claiming more than 40,000 meals in a single week. Prosecutors say he used an entity called Smart Drive LLC to send in inflated invoices, and that a Dec. 1, 2021 email attaching fake rosters lies at the heart of the wire fraud charge, according to FOX 9.
Indictment background
Dool was charged in November 2025 as the 78th defendant tied to Feeding Our Future, with prosecutors saying he operated or served on the boards of Bilaal Mosque Inc. in Pelican Rapids and the Multicultural Resource Center in Moorhead. The U.S. Attorney's Office said those two locations received about $1.1 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, bought little food and funneled proceeds to family members and others instead. The U.S. Attorney's Office unsealed the indictment last year.
Penalties and forfeiture
Under the plea, Dool faces statutory penalties of up to 20 years in prison, a supervised-release term of up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. Prosecutors, however, are recommending 33 to 41 months behind bars and a more modest fine range. He agreed to pay restitution of between $330,472 and $356,514, consented to a matching money-judgment forfeiture and will give up property in Pelican Rapids, according to the plea documents, as reported by FOX 9.
How this fits into the wider scandal
Dool's plea folds into a long-running federal investigation that has accused dozens of people of exploiting a child-nutrition program during the pandemic and has already produced numerous guilty pleas and several trial convictions. Prosecutors and federal agencies say the scheme leaned on sham vendors, duplicate rosters and fabricated invoices to pull in false reimbursements. The Department of Justice has laid out the probe, along with a steady stream of pleas and forfeitures, in repeated press releases.
Oversight and local fallout
State auditors and local reporters have criticized the Minnesota Department of Education's early handling of Feeding Our Future reimbursements, arguing that unrealistic meal counts and loose verification let the fraud grow before federal investigators got involved. The scandal has sparked scrutiny from lawmakers and persistent coverage in local outlets that walked through the red flags in state records and court filings. The Star Tribune has closely tracked the case and its ripple effects in Minnesota communities.
Dool's sentencing date will be set by a federal judge. The plea agreement lays out recommended guidelines, but the final prison term and the timetable for restitution and forfeiture will be up to the court. For towns like Pelican Rapids and communities across Minnesota, the case is one more chapter in an investigation that prosecutors say robbed children and taxpayers of badly needed aid.
