A federal jury convicted Feeding Our Future founder, Aimee Bock, and her co-defendant, Salim Ahmed Said, for their roles in a $250 million COVID fund fraud scheme.
Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit, joined a federally funded child nutrition program that provided meals for school activities. During the COVID-era, the U.S. Department of Agriculture eased participation rules, including allowing for-profit restaurants to join and permitting food distribution beyond education programs.
‘Falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals.’
Workers with Feeding Our Future were tasked with recruiting individuals and entities to open sites in Minnesota to support the nutrition program. The nonprofit opened more than 250 sites throughout the state.
“These sites, created and operated by Bock, Said, and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed. Bock and Said created and submitted false documentation, including fraudulent meal counts consisting of fake attendance rosters purporting to list the names and ages of the children receiving meals at the sites each day,” read a press release from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“To accomplish their scheme, Bock and Said created dozens of shell companies to enroll in the program as food program sites, and to receive and launder the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme,” it continued.
The jury found that Feeding Our Future fraudulently received and disbursed over $240 million in federal funding.
Instead of using the cash to feed hungry children, the organizations bought “luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel.”
Bock, 44, was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
Said, 36, was convicted on 20 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.
Bock and Said are being held without bail while they await sentencing.
Kenneth Udoibok, Bock’s attorney, stated that they plan to appeal, claiming that the jury did not consider all of the evidence fairly.
Seventy defendants, including Bock and Said, have been charged in the case.
Lead prosecutor, Joe Thompson, stated that only $60 million of the $250 million has been recovered.
Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said, “Aimee Bock and Salim Said took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to carry out a massive fraud scheme that stole money meant to feed children.”
“The defendants falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which they fraudulently received nearly $250 million in federal funds. That money did not go to feed kids,” Kirkpatrick continued. “Instead, it was used to fund their lavish lifestyles. Today’s verdict sends a message to the community that fraud against the government will not be tolerated.”
Governor Tim Walz (D), who has received criticism for not catching the egregious fraud sooner, stated, “We just need to make sure that we put up more firewalls, more security, more ability to make sure that these criminals aren’t able to prey on this.”
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News, Feeding our future, Covid fraud, Covid, Aimee bock, Salim ahmed said, Department of agriculture, Fraud, Nonprofit, Politics
