"A judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence —
nearly 42 years — to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was
convicted in a staggering $250 million fraud case that helped ignite an
immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.
Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future,
which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to needy children
during the pandemic. The U.S. Justice Department, however, said she was
atop the “single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.”
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock, 45, said in federal court.
After
the hearing, authorities announced charges against 15 more people
accused of fraud in receiving federal payments for a variety of social
services administered through Minnesota’s state government. The FBI said
one man jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to avoid arrest.
“We will claw back every dollar you have stolen from the American
people,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said, noting that the
government sent more prosecutors and agents to Minnesota this year.
President Donald Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal agents
to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter to target immigrants,
leading to repeated confrontations between residents and those officers
and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Fake lists, lavish spending
COVID-19 brought changes to a
federal program that typically fed children through schools. Restaurants
could participate, and food distribution was extended to sites outside
schools.
Investigators said Bock’s nonprofit was at the center of a
crime network that included a web of partner organizations, phony
distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children. Feeding Our
Future recruited people to create sites throughout Minnesota, and claims
for reimbursement quickly followed, according to the government.
“Aimee was a god,” a witness testified at trial.
Bock had long
proclaimed her innocence but was convicted of conspiracy, fraud and
bribery. Investigators said she and co-conspirators enriched themselves
with international travel, real estate, luxury vehicles and other lavish
spending.
“This was a vortex of fraud and you were at the epicenter,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Bock.
A
co-defendant was sentenced last August to 28 years in prison. Abdiaziz
Farah claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children per day,
investigators said, but the sites turned out to be parking lots or empty
commercial space.
Bock’s lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, had argued for
no more than three years in prison, saying she had provided key
information to investigators. He said Bock, a former teacher, had been
unfairly portrayed as the mastermind and insisted that two co-defendants
were responsible for running the scams.
State auditors found
that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints
about Feeding Our Future, but often told the group to police itself. In
January, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he would not run for reelection after being pounded by Trump about theft in programs that rely on federal cash.
Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year blasted Minnesota as “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Somali
gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of
Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” Trump
wrote on social media.
Bock is white, and the U.S. Attorney’s
Office says the overwhelming majority of defendants in the cases are of
Somali descent. Most are U.S. citizens.
At least 65 people have
been convicted in a series of overlapping food fraud cases.
Investigations began during the Biden administration.
“This case
has changed our state forever,” Joe Thompson, formerly the lead
prosecutor in the case, said outside the courtroom. “Aimee Bock did
everything she could to earn this long sentence.”
Fraud cases grow
In a fresh batch of criminal cases filed
this week in Minnesota, the government said alleged fraud involved $90
million across seven state-managed Medicaid programs.
The
defendants include Fahima Mahamud, who was CEO of Future Leaders Early
Learning Center, a childcare center in Minneapolis. Over three years,
Mahamud’s organization was reimbursed approximately $4.6 million for
services on behalf of people who didn’t make a required copayment,
prosecutors allege.
A message seeking comment from her lawyer was
not immediately returned Thursday. Mahamud earlier this year pleaded not
guilty to fraud related to meals.
Two other people were charged
with conspiring to get $975,000 in Medicaid subsidies for housing
services that were not provided.
Two additional people were
accused of receiving $21.1 million by billing Medicaid for autism
therapy that was either unnecessary or not provided. Investigators said
the two paid families as much as $1,500 per child per month to add their
names to the program and get reimbursement.
Minnesota’s Department of Human Services said it helped build the cases.
Inspector General James Clark said payments to more than 600 providers
have been halted since 2025 because of fraud allegations."
