Said Abdullahi Ereg, accused of stealing $4.2 million meant to feed hungry children during the pandemic, surrendered Wednesday at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport and became the first person taken into custody from the FBI's new Most Wanted Fraudsters list.
The FBI and Department of Justice launched the Most Wanted Fraudsters list on June 4, naming Ereg, 47, as one of eight fugitives wanted on federal charges. The following day, Ereg, who had been living in Kenya, contacted federal authorities through his attorney to arrange a return. Federal officials facilitated his travel from Kenya via London, and by Wednesday afternoon agents were waiting at the gate.
Ereg operated Evergreen Grocery and Deli in south Minneapolis and participated in the federal Child Nutrition Program through the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Between April 2020 and April 2021, prosecutors say, he submitted claims for more than 1.4 million meals served to needy children under pandemic-era emergency rules that had loosened oversight requirements. Those claims were fabricated, according to the Justice Department, and the $4.2 million in government reimbursements was instead spent on a lavish lifestyle. He now faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
FBI Director Kash Patel called the arrest historic. "Led by Vice President Vance and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, we set up the historic, first-ever Most Wanted Fraudsters list for this exact purpose," Patel said in a statement Wednesday, "to bring to justice the alleged worst of the worst who took advantage of American taxpayers and stole public funds, and let them know that the days of Washington, D.C., turning a blind eye to fraud are over."
Ereg's arrest is the latest development in one of the largest pandemic-era fraud cases in American history. Feeding Our Future, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that sponsored federal meal sites, became the vehicle for what prosecutors say was a scheme exceeding $246 million in fraudulent USDA claims. The pandemic had relaxed federal oversight rules for child nutrition programs in order to reach more families faster, and the organization allegedly exploited those looser standards to submit fabricated site certifications and meal counts. State oversight agencies raised alarms for months before federal agents raided the organization and unsealed indictments in 2022. Since then, 79 defendants have been charged. As of May 2026, 65 had been convicted.
Aimee Bock, the nonprofit's executive director and the alleged mastermind of the scheme, was sentenced in May to more than 41 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $240 million in restitution, according to federal court records. Ereg had been indicted but fled to Kenya before trial, remaining there until the FBI's new list made his name public.
The scandal has drawn sustained congressional scrutiny to former Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, whose administration oversaw the state agencies responsible for monitoring the meal program. The House Oversight Committee held hearings in January and March 2026 and released a 205-page report accusing Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of misrepresenting their knowledge of the fraud and retaliating against state employees who raised concerns, according to the committee's findings. Walz and Ellison disputed those findings during sworn testimony. Walz announced in January that he would not seek another term as governor.
What the List Was Designed to Do
The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vice President JD Vance, created the Most Wanted Fraudsters list specifically to apply public pressure on fugitives who had gone overseas to escape prosecution. Ereg's surrender within days of the list going live was cited by federal officials as direct evidence the strategy works. Seven others named on the original list remain at large, and the DOJ has indicated more arrests are expected.
Funds appropriated to ensure low-income children had food during a national emergency were allegedly diverted through false paperwork and wired into foreign accounts. The federal government is now in its fourth year of working to recover that money and bring the remaining suspects to justice. With the first arrest under the new fraud list on the books and seven more fugitives still sought, prosecutors are signaling the effort has not slowed, and the cost of remaining a fugitive just went up.
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