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 children in need during the pandemic.
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock said in federal court.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 50 years, saying the brazen and staggering nature of Bock's crimes has shaken Minnesota to its core, leaving lasting damage and eroding public trust.
President Donald Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter, leading to a pushback by residents and the deaths of two people.
“Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks,” prosecutors said in a court filing. “The ripple effects of her actions are profound, immeasurable, and will have lasting consequences for both Minnesota and the nation.”
Bock's attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, had asked for three years. While Bock expressed contrition and admitted to Judge Nancy Brasel she knows she's responsible, she previously denied knowing anything about the scheme and argued that two of her colleagues and the state department of education were more at fault. He argued that Bock had been unfairly painted as the mastermind and insisted that two co-defendants were responsible for running the scams.
"Because my client I have come to know, 45-years-old with two adorable children, to spend the rest of her life in prison, there's no other word than devastation," said Udoibok, who spoke to WCCO's Susie Jones.
But former interim U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Joseph Thompson, said Bock got what she deserves.
"Aimee Bock did everything she could to earn it," Thompson says. "The judge found what we all knew, which was that Feeding Our Future was entirely fraudulent. All the sites under its sponsorship were fraudulent, and she carried out the scheme, every step of the way."
At least 78 defendants have been charged in the scheme so far.
"We still maintain that much of the fraud committed by some of the sites, some of the people, was not orchestrated by Ms. Bock, was not encouraged by Ms. Bock. But you know, this is water imder the bridge," adds Udoibok.
Bock was convicted last year of multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. She had long insisted she was innocent.
"There can be no question about her guilt: after a six-week trail at which prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence that she was indeed the mastermind of the Feeding Our Future fraud, a jury of her peers found her guilty on all counts beyond a shadow of a doubt after just five hours of deliberation. This is the highest standard of proof our criminal-justice system has," wrote Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Thursday afternoon.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen at a Thursday afternoon press conference from the Department of Justice announcing 15 more people have been charged for fraud in Minnesota.
(Audacy / Taylor Rivera)
Sprawling Feeding Our Future just the start of fraud in Minnesota
The nonprofit sat atop a fraud network that included a web of partner organizations, phony distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children supposedly being fed, prosecutors say. Dozens of people, many from the state’s large Somali community, have been convicted for their roles in a series of overlapping food fraud cases that have spent years in the courts.
Meanwhile, authorities this week filed additional charges against others in their sprawling investigation into federal social service spending in Minnesota.
The targets include Fahima Mahamud, who was CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, a child care 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 was charged separately in February with fraud related to meals. She has pleaded not guilty.
Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year blasted the state as “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” He also criticized the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election.
“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.
The immigration surge led to repeated protests and confrontations between residents and federal officers and resulted in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
