Tuesday February 11, 2025
Feeding Our Future’s former executive director, Amy Bock (center), enters the federal courthouse on February 10, 2025, for opening statements in her trial. Her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, is pictured on the far left side. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal
MINNEAPOLIS , Minnesota (HOL) — The high-profile trial of Aimee Bock, the alleged mastermind behind the largest pandemic-era fraud scheme in U.S. history, continued Tuesday with intense courtroom exchanges over the vetting process for food sites involved in the $250 million scandal.
Federal prosecutors allege that Bock, founder and former executive director of Feeding Our Future, orchestrated an elaborate scheme to siphon taxpayer funds intended to provide meals to low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-defendant Salim Said, a Minneapolis restaurateur, is also on trial for allegedly submitting fraudulent meal reimbursement claims totalling $30 million through multiple food distribution sites.
During Monday’s opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bobier painted Bock as the ringleader of a fraudulent network that funnelled federal nutrition funds into personal gain.
“She was the gatekeeper, deciding who could participate in this scheme and who could not,” Bobier told jurors. “In a matter of months, she transformed a sleepy nonprofit into a multi-million dollar engine for fraud.”
Prosecutors introduced evidence of falsified reimbursement claims and inflated meal counts, including a single restaurant claiming to have served as many as 185,000 meals per day—a figure higher than the meal output of Minneapolis and St. Paul’s public school districts combined. They also presented documents showing that Bock personally profited, allegedly funnelling $1 million to her boyfriend and accepting a $310,000 bribe to enroll a defunct daycare in the food aid program.
Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, countered by arguing that his client was deceived by a network of fraudsters and failed by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), which administered the federal funds.
“If MDE refused to investigate fraud, what could one woman do?” Udoibok asked jurors. “The government is scapegoating Aimee Bock because they failed to do their job.”
Udoibok introduced Abdikerm Eidleh, a Feeding Our Future employee who fled to Somalia before being charged, as a key figure who allegedly misled Bock by exploiting a language barrier and orchestrating fraud under her nose. He emphasized that several defendants who pleaded guilty had continued receiving state funds even after Bock reported concerns to authorities.
Tuesday’s testimony focused on the MDE’s role in site approvals. Emily Honer, MDE’s Director of Nutrition Program Services, testified that the department verified addresses but left further vetting to Feeding Our Future—a statement that played into the defence’s argument that oversight failures extended beyond Bock.
Under cross-examination, Udoibok pressed Honer on why MDE continued approving site reimbursements despite internal concerns.
“I worked within my authority,” Honer responded, stating that the department lacked legal authority to investigate fraud directly and relied on federal agencies for enforcement.
When Udoibok asked whether federal regulations prohibited a nonprofit like Feeding Our Future from taking over for-profit meal sites, Honer admitted: “Not to my knowledge.”
As the trial continues, jurors will hear testimony from FBI investigators and co-defendants who have pleaded guilty. The case is expected to last up to a month, and security has been heightened following a previous trial in which five individuals were charged with attempting to bribe a juror.
With 70 people charged and over $66 million already seized by the federal government, the verdict could have significant implications for nonprofit accountability and government oversight failures in federal nutrition programs.
The trial resumes Wednesday at 9 a.m. with further testimony from prosecution witnesses.
