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Aimee Bock, who ran the organization Feeding our Future, which
claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children in need
during the pandemic, is set to be sentenced Thursday in federal
court in Minneapolis.
“Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to
anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks,”
prosecutors said in the Monday filing. “The ripple effects of
her actions are profound, immeasurable, and will have lasting
consequences for both Minnesota and the nation.”
Bock was convicted last year of multiple counts involving
conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. She has long insisted she is
innocent.
Her lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, argued in a separate filing that
she shouldn't have to serve for more than 37 months in prison,
saying she had provided information to investigators. He argued
that Bock had been unfairly painted as the mastermind and
insisted that two co-defendants were responsible for running the
scams.
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.
President Donald Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year
blasted the state as “a hub of fraudulent money laundering
activity.” He criticized the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz, the
Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election, and
pointed to the frauds as justification for launching the
immigration crackdown that shook the city.
“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.
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