Media company owner indicted for alleged role in Feeding Our Future scheme

A federal grand jury has indicted a man who investigators claim fraudulently registered a media company as a Feeding Our Future-sponsored meal site.

Mohamed Muse Noor, 37, was initially arrested and charged via criminal complaint on Sept. 26 and faces one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He made his first court appearance Friday before Magistrate Judge Tony Leung.

Noor is the owner of Xogmaal Media Group, a marketing and news company focused on the Somali community.

Read KSTP’s full Feeding Our Future coverage

Court documents allege Noor registered Xogmaal Media Group as a Federal Child Nutrition Program meal site and claimed to serve as many as 1,500 children a day, seven days a week. From February to June 2021, he claimed to have served roughly 580,000 meals and applied for $1.3 million in reimbursements through the federal program.

Xogmaal Media Group received almost $500,000 in federal funds that were paid out through Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors say Noor transferred 80% of those funds to shell companies controlled by Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, Noor’s cousin who is also charged in the scheme.

Eidleh spent $387,431 in kickbacks on mortgage payments and online currency and cryptocurrency exchanges, along with $50,000 spent at a jewelry store in Dubai, court records show. Eidleh is believed to have fled the country for Mogadishu, Somalia.

Four defendants have pleaded guilty in the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme. To date, 50 people have been charged.