Otter Tail County: Man Charged in $1M COVID Fraud
Otter Tail County (trfnews.i234.me) — A Minnesota man is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he stole more than $1 million through fake food service sites linked to COVID-19 relief programs in Pelican Rapids and Moorhead.
Mugshot of Abdirashid Bixi Dool
Federal prosecutors say Abdirashid Bixi Dool, age 36, made his first court appearance Monday afternoon. He is charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors say he is the 78th person charged in what they call the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the United States.
Court documents say Dool operated two nonprofits in Minnesota. Those organizations were identified as Bilaal Mosque Inc. and the Multicultural Resource Center Inc. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dool used both groups to join the Federal Child Nutrition Program.
Prosecutors say Dool and a co-conspirator falsely claimed their food sites served over 40,000 meals every week. The indictment says the Bilaal site alone claimed to serve 6,000 meals a day. That number is more than twice the population of Pelican Rapids.
Investigators say Dool submitted fake invoices. Those invoices listed large food purchases that he never made. He also submitted rosters filled with the names of children who did not receive meals from the sites, according to the indictment.
Between March 2021 and February 2022, the two nonprofits received about $1.1 million from Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors say Dool and his partner laundered most of the money. The indictment says they moved funds to family members and used the rest for personal travel and real estate purchases in Minnesota.
The investigation involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation.
Dool remains under federal supervision as the case moves forward. Additional court dates have not been released.
I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News.