Feeding Our Future trial: Witness says Aimee Bock told him to falsify claims

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Mohamed Hussein said it was in the spring of 2020 when two men from Feeding Our Future came to his wife’s small restaurant in Faribault to recruit them to become a meal site for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When they agreed, one of them called Aimee Bock, the executive director, on FaceTime. Mohamed testified Bock personally told them to lie about how many meals they’d serve.

"She was saying if you’re doing 1000 meals every day, you’re going to get more money, you’re going to get big check"

A thousand meals was impossible, Hussein said.  But they made the claims as instructed.

"Were you really feeding 1,000 meals," the prosecutor asked. "Not even close. No, believe me. I’m here to tell the truth. We never feed 1,000 kids a meal. Ever."

‘I was greedy. No good.’

What they're saying:

Hussein later added his own non-profit into the program, with his wife’s restaurant as the meal vendor.  He said they were getting checks from Feeding Our Future for $200,000 to $250,000 every month.

When someone came to deliver the checks, he testified that he would have to provide a $30,000 cash kickback.  And once again, he insisted in court, the employee would put Bock on a FaceTime call so she could confirm they were paying the money.

He kept lying, he said, and kept paying the kickbacks because he was becoming wealthy.  He bought houses and fancy cars, despite his testimony that Bock told meal site operators not to in order to avoid attention.

"We were after the money. I was greedy," Hussein testified.  "No good, that was stupid."

Defense tries to cast doubt

The other side:

Bock’s defense attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, asked Hussein if he’d ever had a phone call or exchanged an email with Bock.  He said he never did.

He asked if Hussein ever sent a claim directly to Bock.  No, he said, he sent them to Feeding Our Future. "You just assumed she saw them, he asked. "She’s the head," Hussein answered.

Udoibok says the government can’t prove Bock took part in the alleged FaceTime calls because there are no recordings.  There are also no phone records, since phone companies don’t keep logs of FaceTime calls.

Another unaware board member

What else to know:

Also on the stand, a second St. Paul bartender who was listed as a Feeding Our Future board member, but testified he didn’t function as one.

John Senkler, listed as the treasurer, said he knew Aimee Bock socially and she had asked him about being on her board.  She just needed names to start her organization, she told him.  That’s the last he heard about it.

He was shown meeting minutes that noted he’d made a motion "related to management plan review updates."

"Did you make that motion," prosecutors asked. "I don’t even know what a motion is," he responded. "But, no."