Jury seated in trial of Aimee Bock, alleged ringleader of Feeding Our Future scheme
MINNEAPOLIS — A jury was seated Monday in the trial of the alleged ringleader of a scheme that federal prosecutors say exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to steal $250 million from a program meant to feed children.
Aimee Bock, the founder of the organization, has maintained her innocence. Defendants are accused of using the majority of the stolen funds to buy homes, property, luxury vehicles, jewelry and to pay for travel.
The 70 defendants are being tried in batches; 30 of them, including a former Minneapolis mayoral aide, have pleaded guilty to various charges.
In June 2024, a Minnesota man pleaded guilty to bribery after a bag filled with $120,000 in cash was left at a juror's home amid the trial of seven defendants. That juror was dismissed, and five of the defendants were found guilty. Four others have been charged in the bribery case.
Bock founded Feeding Our Future in 2017 with the mission of feeding hungry children throughout the Twin Cities. The nonprofit initially received just less than $3 million in federal funds, but that amount spiked to nearly $200 million by 2021.
Opening statements in the trial of Bock and a co-defendant are set for Feb. 10 and the proceedings are expected to last around four weeks.
Federal prosecutors allege that the conspiracy revolved around two groups, Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition. Both were small nonprofits that were approved as sponsors of the Federal Child Nutrition Program before the pandemic. But the two groups dramatically increased the number of meal sites that they claimed to be sponsoring during the pandemic.
"In all, Feeding Our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds during the Covid-19 pandemic," prosecutors wrote in a preview of their case this month. The total included administrative fees to which Feeding Our Future was not entitled, they said.
"Bock and other Feeding Our Future employees also solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from individuals and companies sponsored by Feeding Our Future," prosecutors continued. "Feeding Our Future operated a pay-to-play scheme, where individuals seeking to operate fraudulent sites under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future had to kick back a portion of their fraudulent proceeds to Feeding Our Future employees."
Bock's attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said they'll argue at trial that she's not guilty of the federal fraud, conspiracy and bribery charges against her.
"She's innocent and she's going to express that belief, that truth, until the day she dies," Udoibok said in an interview last week. "This woman was hoodwinked, played by people she trusted. She trusted that these people that have pled guilty, she trusted them to have delivered food to needy children, needy people, deserving folks. And they played her."
Udoibok said the large number of guilty pleas, and the fact that they're now down to just Bock and a co-defendant for this trial, doesn't change the defense strategy. He said the jury will be able to see the difference between her and the rest of the defendants despite the complexities of the overall case.
"She accepted no bribes or kickbacks from anybody. She did not know that the invoices were fraudulent. She was focused on providing as much access to needy people as possible, that is, feeding adults and children during COVID and during the George Floyd protests," Udoibok said.
An attorney for Bock's co-defendant, Salim Ahmed Said, did not return a call seeking comment on the case.
Five people were charged with bribery because of the attempt in the first trial, including three who were on trial at the time. Two of the five have already pleaded guilty, while one more is scheduled to change his plea to guilty in the bribery case in March. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger described the elaborate scheme as "something out of a mob movie."
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, who is overseeing Bock's trial, has ordered extra steps to shield the jurors' identities and prevent any further bribe attempts.
The federal money flowed through the state Department of Education, and the loss of $250 million in taxpayer money became a major political problem for Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. His administration largely blamed federal authorities, saying the FBI asked them not to cut off the flow of funds to protect its investigation. He repeatedly denied his administration dragged its feet in investigating the nonprofit. Walz's critics insist he should have done more.
In June 2024, Minnesota's Office of the Legislative Auditor issued a report that accused the education department of "inadequate" oversight that "created opportunities for fraud."
While Walz comfortably won reelection in 2022, the issue resurfaced after presidential candidate Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate.
This year, Republicans in the closely divided Minnesota Legislature have made fighting fraud in government programs one of their top issues, and not just because of Feeding our Future. Recently a federal investigation accused two autism centers of billing Medicaid for bogus claims.
Walz himself has proposed his own anti-fraud package, which includes launching an artificial intelligence pilot program to flag potential problems early.
But the 2025 legislative session is off to a contentious start and it's not clear yet if the sides can reach the bipartisan consensus that will be needed to pass anything.