Feeding Our Future trial: Prosecution set to rest Friday
Feeding Our Future trial: Tracking the money
An FBI forensic accountant took the stand Thursday in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme trial. FOX 9's Rob Olson has the latest.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The last witness for the prosecution in the federal trial of Aimee Bock and Salim Said will wrap up her testimony on Friday morning, bringing to the end the fourth week in court.
The defense attorneys will then begin calling their own witnesses, trying to raise doubt in the jury about whether their clients are guilty.
Tracing the money
What they found:
Bock’s defense attorney said that Bock was unaware of the fraud perpetrated by meal site operators. On Thursday, FBI forensic accountant Pauline Roase testified that Aimee Bock had to know.
Roase testified about spreadsheets found on Bock’s laptop, seized during a search of her home. On one, Bock kept details of massive amounts of money sent to various meal site operators, along with the amounts she kept for administrative fees.
The millions of dollars involved mean Bock had to have realized the claims she submitted to get these reimbursements could have been at all realistic, the prosecution argues.
1.8 miles of Lake Street
What else to know:
The FBI accountant also showed a map of Lake Street in Minneapolis, with markers to show an unbelievable number of sites all claiming to feed thousands of kids.
In April 2020, at the start of the pandemic that spawned the meal sites for kids no longer in school, there were four sites along Lake Street claiming to serve meals.
By mid-2021, that had grown to 21 sites either on Lake Street or within a block or so, all of them in a 1.8-mile stretch. At their peak, they collectively claimed to serve 59,000 meals – breakfast and lunch – each day.
There were 33,000 kids in the entire Minneapolis School District at the time, testified Roase, and "it appears that FOF is feeding all of MPS students in just that 1.8-mile stretch."
The defense finally gets its turn
What's next:
The final witness, FBI forensic accountant Sonya Jansma, took the stand late Thursday, testifying about expensive vehicle and property purchases made by Salim Said.
She traced the money used directly back to reimbursements from the federal food program. This is part of the case for money laundering.
Once she wraps up Friday morning, the government will rest and Bock and Said’s attorneys can begin calling their own witnesses.
The trial takes a break next Monday and Tuesday due to scheduling issues with the judge and will resume again next Wednesday.