A defendant in an upcoming Feeding Our Future fraud trial has been ordered jailed for witness tampering. Prosecutors said the witness felt that 30-year-old Abdinasir Abshir was trying to intimidate him, a felony offense and a violation of the conditions of his release.
Abshir has a detention and bond revocation hearing scheduled for Friday. It was last week when Abshir reportedly approached a witness in the trial of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock.
The judge then ordered defendants in all upcoming Feeding Our Future cases to stay away from her courtroom.
Abshir's trial is scheduled to start in August. He's accused of running a site that received $5 million of fraudulent federal funds meant to feed children during the COVID pandemic.
The trial is the second in the massive fraud case since 2022. Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock and Salim Said are currently on trial.
Bock is accused of being the ringleader of the entire scheme in her role as founder of the now-defunct nonprofit. Said is co-owner of Safari Restaurant who federal investigators say was one of the largest beneficiaries of the fraud scheme.