Feeding Our Future Ringleader Sentenced to 500 Months

Aimee Bock has been sentenced to 500 months in prison for her lead role in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.

As proven at trial, Aimee Bock, 44, was the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit organization that was a sponsor participating in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Salim Said, 36, former co-owner of Safari Restaurant, was jointly tried with Bock. Together, they oversaw a massive fraud scheme carried out by sites under Feeding Our Future's sponsorship.

"Over 41 years in prison is the cost this fraudster will pay for stealing from children, said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald for the National Fraud Enforcement Division. "Rather than using taxpayer funds intended to feed vulnerable children, the defendant instead pocketed the money to buy luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota, and finance international travel. As this prison sentence makes clear, Minnesota fraudsters should be on high alert - justice is on the move."

"Aimee Bock and her co-conspirators orchestrated one of the largest frauds against a social service program ever in Minnesota," said Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson of the FBI Minneapolis Field Office. "The hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars stolen through Bock's scheme were meant to help children and families in need. Defrauding programs designed to feed hungry children is despicable and the sentence handed down today underscores that fact. Complex fraud investigations are at the heart of the FBI's work. Our Special Agents, Forensic Accountants, Analysts, and professional staff will continue to work tenaciously with our law enforcement partners to protect the American taxpayer and families in need from frauds like these."

As proven at trial, Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota. These sites, created and operated by Bock, Said, and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed. Bock and Said created and submitted false documentation, including fraudulent meal counts consisting of fake attendance rosters purporting to list the names and ages of the children receiving meals at the sites each day. Feeding Our Future submitted these fraudulent claims to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and then disbursed the fraudulently obtained Federal Child Nutrition Program funds to their co-conspirators involved in the scheme.

To accomplish their scheme, Bock and her co-conspirators created dozens of shell companies to enroll in the program as food program sites, and to receive and launder the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme. In exchange for sponsoring these sites' fraudulent participation in the program, Feeding Our Future received more than $18 million in administrative fees to which it was not entitled. In addition to the administrative fees, Feeding Our Future employees solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from individuals and companies sponsored by Feeding Our Future. Many of these kickbacks were paid in cash or disguised as "consulting fees" paid to shell companies created by Feeding Our Future employees to make them appear legitimate.

In total, Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota, and in doing so, went from receiving and disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. Throughout the course of their scheme, Feeding Our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. The defendants used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota, and to fund international travel.

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Nancy Brasel told Bock, "This was a fraud vortex and you were at the epicenter of it." Judge Brasel stated that "A sentence of less than 500 months would not do justice to the people of Minnesota, who were in a very real sense the victims of this fraud."

These cases result from an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS - Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca E. Kline, Matthew C. Murphy, and Matthew D. Evans are prosecuting these cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Baune is handling the seizure and forfeiture of assets.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.