Aimee Bock, the former head of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, was sentenced Thursday, May 21, to nearly 42 years in federal prison for masterminding what the Justice Department has called the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country. The stolen sum: $250 million in pandemic relief funds.
Bock was convicted last year on charges of conspiracy, fraud and bribery. Prosecutors told the court her nonprofit operated as a “cash pipeline” — built on fabricated lists of children, fake food distribution sites and kickbacks.
Where the money went
Instead of feeding needy kids during the pandemic, Bock and her co-conspirators spent the stolen taxpayer dollars on real estate, luxury cars and international travel, according to the Associated Press.
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock told the federal court during sentencing.
Her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, pushed for no more than three years behind bars. He argued Bock cooperated with investigators and was unfairly scapegoated, the AP reported. Former lead prosecutor Joe Thompson saw it differently.
“She did everything she could to earn this long sentence,” Thompson said. He added that the case “changed our state forever.”
Broader fallout
The investigation has produced dozens of convictions, many involving members of Minnesota’s large Somali community. The AP noted the majority of Somali-descendant defendants are U.S. citizens.
The scheme triggered the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers into the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter — a deployment that sparked violent protests and multiple fatal officer-involved shootings. President Donald Trump previously labeled the state a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Fraud investigations in Minnesota aren’t slowing down. New charges were filed this week against suspects accused of stealing millions through fraudulent Medicaid housing subsidies, illicit childcare center reimbursements, and more than $21 million billed for unnecessary or unprovided autism therapy.
No sentencing dates for those new cases have been announced.
Fox News, citing the Associated Press. Read the original report.
