Feeding Our Future trial testimony: 'We were just hunting money'
Feeding Our Future trial: Witness testifies
A witness, who pleaded guilty for her role in the the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, testified in court against alleged ring leaders. FOX 9's Rob Olson has more.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (FOX 9) - Qamar Hassan opened her S&S catering business on Lake Street in 2018, joining the Feeding Our Future meal site program in 2020 after she’d heard how much money others were making. She wanted to do the same thing, she testified.
And she did, in the millions of dollars.
All lies, big payout
By the numbers:
Hassan quickly claimed to serve 2,500 kids per day out of her small catering store; the jury shown her signed meal count forms.
Prosecutors: "Did you ever serve 2,500 meals to kids?"
Hassan: "No."
Prosecutors: "Were these all lies?"
Hassan: "Yes."
Prosecutors: "Why did you sign it?"
Hassan: "I was not thinking straight at the time. We were just hunting money, but it’s not good."
Then, she became a meal provider to other meal sites, several in the very same building as her catering business, also claiming thousands of kids per day.
But she testified it was all grossly inflated. In total, she and her partners took in over $16 million in federal money through Feeding Our Future.
She would buy her Lake Street building for $5 million dollars, all of it with "food money," she testified.
‘They know, they have a brain.’
The backstory:
Aimee Bock is the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, and is on trial alongside Salim Said, who registered multiple meal sites, all claiming to get food from his Safari restaurant in Minneapolis.
Bock’s defense attorney claims she didn’t know about the fraud, that everyone lied to her.
An FBI agent on the stand Thursday morning said it took seconds for him to recognize the grossly inflated meal claims were nowhere near realistic, suggesting Bock, who signed off on and submitted all the claims, couldn’t feasibly claim ignorance.
And Hassan, when pressed about her limited contact with Bock, suggested Bock couldn’t possibly have been in the dark.
Prosecutors: "Did you ever tell them your numbers were not good numbers?
Hassan: "They can see. They know. They have a brain. I don’t have to talk."
Jurors also saw a video of a party for Bock after she won a court challenge against the Minnesota Department of Education, who had halted approving new meal sites.
She was asked by the prosecutor why they were so happy. She replied simply "all the money."