Founder of Feeding Our Future set for federal trial in Minneapolis over federal meal fraud

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - It’s been three years since the FBI raided the offices of Feeding Our Future in St. Anthony, Minnesota.  When the first set of indictments came in the fall of 2022, Aimee Bock was listed as defendant number one.

Another Feeding Our Future trial begins soon

On Feb. 3, her trial on federal wire fraud and bribery charges is set to begin.  

She is considered the highest profile defendant in a large scheme that prosecutors say "used the Federal Child Nutrition Program funds they received as a slush fund to enrich themselves, rather than to feed children."

The backstory:

In a trial brief filed in mid-January, federal prosecutors recapped the case against Bock and her codefendant in this trial, a man named Salim Said.

It says that during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Bock and her company recruited individuals and entities to open more than 200 Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota."

It also says that Feeding Our Future "fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds during the Covid-19 pandemic."

Salim Said, standing trial with Bock, was co-owner of the Safari Restaurant off Lake Street in Minneapolis, which was one of the supposed meal sites.

One meal count form which is used as evidence shows Safari claiming to feed 6000 children per day during one week in February 2021.

Prosecutors say little or no meals were served, and the money was funneled to shell companies to be laundered.

Plea deals, guilty verdicts in Feeding Our Future fraud scheme

By the numbers:

So far, of the 70 people indicted by the US Attorney, 30 have pleaded guilty.  

Five were found guilty at a trial in June 2024.

Some of those are expected to testy against Bock and Said and, according to the trial brief, say their claims "were grossly inflated and that in reality, they only served a fraction of the food they claimed to have served (if they served any food at all)."

What's next:

Many more defendants wait for trial or may still get plea deals. The government has tried to recover money, which they say in some cases was sent overseas, but only a portion of the funds have been recovered.

So far, of the alleged $240 to $250 million lost, about $50 million has been recovered.