A “central figure” in a $250 million Minnesota welfare fraud scheme was arrested in Somalia this week after spending nearly four years on the run, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Abdikerm Eidleh, 42, was one of the original suspects indicted in connection to the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud scheme – the infamous Feeding Our Future scam. He was taken into custody in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu on Thursday, according to prosecutors.
In September 2022, Eidleh was hit with 31 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering for his alleged role in the scheme to steal pandemic relief funds from a federal program meant to feed hungry children in need.
THE TD BANK INSIDER “BRIBE-FOR-DATA” SCHEME (USA)
Date: February 17, 2026 Perpetrator: Edward Low (Former Bank Employee)
Case Description: In a high-profile case of “Insider Threat,” Edward Low, a former employee of TD Bank in New York, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to accepting bribes in exchange for confidential customer data. Between 2021 and 2022, Low leveraged his internal access to harvest the personal details of high-balance account holders. He then sold this “hot data” to external fraud syndicates for as little as $26,700 in personal kickbacks.
The external fraudsters used the information Low provided to conduct “Account Takeovers” (ATO), creating fraudulent checks and falsifying bank records to drain over $500,000 from unsuspecting customers. Low even went as far as helping co-conspirators open shell company accounts at a second financial institution where he was later employed. He now faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. This case has sent shockwaves through the global banking sector, highlighting that even the most robust external firewalls cannot protect against a “rogue insider” with administrative credentials.
Link to Original: US Dept of Justice – TD Bank Insider Plea