Lakeville Man Tried To Tamper With A Witness — Now He's Going To Prison

LAKEVILLE, MN — A Lakeville man was sentenced to 78 months in prison Tuesday for his role in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federal child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota.

Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir, 34, was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel on Aug. 18. He is the 23rd defendant to be sentenced in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

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Abshir ran a food site called Stigma-Free Mankato under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, falsely claiming to serve 3,000 meals a day out of a small North Mankato restaurant.

Between November 2020 and November 2021, he and his co-conspirators claimed to have served about 1.6 million meals, according to court documents. Stigma-Free Mankato received more than $5.4 million in payments from Feeding Our Future based on those fraudulent claims.

Court documents state Abshir paid more than $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee in exchange for sponsoring and facilitating the site's participation in the program. Feeding Our Future in turn received nearly $420,000 in administrative fees for sponsoring the site. Abshir used fraud proceeds to buy a 2021 Range Rover, which has been seized for forfeiture to the United States.

Prosecutors said Abshir's sentence also reflects his effort to tamper with a cooperating trial witness on Feb. 18, 2025.

In the hallway outside Courtroom 13W in the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis, Abshir approached a witness who was about to testify in the trial of his co-defendants, Aimee Bock and Salim Said. After learning the witness was about to testify that day, Abshir asked the witness to come with him to the bathroom to talk, according to court documents.

"Today's sentence makes clear that justice is not for sale, and those who try to buy their way out of accountability will not succeed. Our office is committed to protecting American taxpayer funds," U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said in a statement.

FBI Minneapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson said witness tampering is an attack on the foundation of the justice system because it seeks to obstruct the truth and interfere with the fair administration of justice, adding that the sentence makes clear such conduct carries serious consequences.

Abshir pleaded guilty on March 7, 2025, and acknowledged in his plea that a sentencing enhancement would apply because he obstructed justice by attempting to tamper with a witness. The case was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca E. Kline and Matthew C. Murphy prosecuted the case.