A 33-year-old Lakeville man accused by a judge of witness tampering in an upcoming trial over the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir changed his plea in a hearing Friday after originally pleading not guilty to the charges filed in 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. 

"In his plea, he acknowledges that an enhancement will apply to his Sentencing Guidelines because he obstructed justice when he attempted to tamper with a witness," the attorney's office said in a release.  

Abshir was jailed late last month ahead of what was supposed to be his trial after Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson accused him of approaching a witness in the courthouse and asking to speak with them in the bathroom. According to court documents, the witness "felt intimidated" and understood that Abshir was "trying to intimidate him."

The witness then returned to the witness room with his lawyer and confirmed with a photograph that Abshir was the man who had approached him. Abshir was scheduled for a mandatory meeting with his pretrial release supervisor that day but failed to appear, court documents say.

When law enforcement agents went to Abshir's apartment, the residents informed them that they had just recently moved in, and Abshir was not living there. The court then revoked Abshir's pretrial release. Subsequently, the judge ordered defendants in all upcoming cases tied to Feeding Our Future to stay away from her courtroom. 

Abshir ran a site that allegedly received around $5 million in fraudulent federal funds meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He is the 37th Feeding Our Future Defendant to plead guilty, federal officials say.

The trial of the founder of Feeding Our Future and alleged ring leader of the fraud, Aimee Bock, started on Feb. 10 and, as of Friday, is still ongoing. 

Prosecutors have called the Feeding Our Future scheme, in which $250 million was allegedly stolen, one of the largest pandemic fraud cases in the country.