A key figure in the notorious $250 million welfare fraud case in Minnesota has been compelled to relinquish her luxury items, including a Porsche, diamond jewelry, Louis Vuitton accessories, and several million dollars held in bank accounts.
Just before the New Year, a judge issued this order against Aimee Bock, 44, who has been identified by prosecutors as the mastermind behind one of the most significant fraud operations during the pandemic.
Most of the 57 individuals convicted in this scandal are from Minnesota’s Somali community, although Bock is not. The case has garnered widespread national attention.
On Monday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that he would not seek a third term, acknowledging the scandal occurred under his administration and stating, “the buck does stop with me.”
According to a preliminary court order obtained by the Daily Mail, Bock is required to forfeit $3,506,066 from a Bank of America account linked to her nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, as well as $179,455 from her personal account.
The court also mandated that she surrender her Porsche Panamera, approximately 60 electronic devices including laptops, iPads, and iPhones located at three different locations, a diamond jewelry set, and her Louis Vuitton handbag and backpack.
Aimee Bock is awaiting sentence after being convicted of seven charges including wire fraud
Bock was found guilty in March after a six-week trial on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
She is being held in Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota awaiting sentence.
The case rocketed back into the national consciousness over Christmas when independent journalist Nick Shirley conducted a series of visits to Minnesota daycares that serve the Somali community, attempting to interview the operators, and published his findings on X.
The Feeding Our Future scandal was the worst of several welfare frauds that have engulfed Minnesota in the last few years.
Around $250 million that came to the state from the federal government, ostensibly to buy meals for children from low-income families during the pandemic, was fraudulently obtained, according to the Department of Justice.
Fraudsters falsely claimed to have used the money to serve 91 million meals, according to the DOJ.
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Bock made trips to Las Vegas where she said she was a ‘reluctant passenger’ in a rented Lamborghini
Aimee Bock with a boyfriend who was not charged in the case
Amid the fraud scandal Tim Walz announced he would not run for a third term as governor of Minnesota
Instead, most of the money was siphoned off, put in shell companies, and spent on shopping sprees and property including in Kenya and the Maldives.
Law enforcement has said only about $75 million of the $250 million has been recovered.
Bock, a former schoolteacher and mother-of-two ran Feeding Our Future
In 2019 it received $3 million in federal funding but by 2021 that had rocketed to nearly $200 million.
In her trial, prosecutors showed the jury photographs of her and a boyfriend with a rented Lamborghini in Las Vegas.
Rejecting the suggestion she had been living a lavish lifestyle, she told the court: ‘I have been an unwilling passenger in a Lamborghini.’
Aimee Bock was the executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future
A Porsche Panamera similar to the one a court ordered Bock must forfeit
Bock was also ordered to forfeit a Louis Vuitton purse and backpack
At one point the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) had tried to stop payments.
But in 2021, Bock won a court case in which she accused the state of discriminating against her nonprofit because it worked with the Somali community.
One witness later told her criminal trial that the ruling had been celebrated at a Somali banquet house in Minneapolis, and that Bock seemed untouchable and ‘a god.’
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bobier told her trial: ‘She got power, she decided who would be in this scheme and who would not. That is corruption. That is fraud on an order of magnitude this state has never seen.
‘Aimee Bock sat at the top of the scheme. It was Aimee Bock who overnight transformed a sleepy nonprofit into an engine for the largest COVID fraud in this country. She was relentless. She didn’t just facilitate the fraud, she fought for it. and when MDE raised concerns about Feeding Our Future and the massive claims coming, Aimee Bock went to war. She attacked MDE in the public, in the media, in the courts.’
She ‘bled the system dry,’ according to the prosecutor.
The FBI raided nonprofit Feeding our Future in 2022
Bock is being held in Sherburne County Jail but her lawyer says she is a scapegoat and will appeal her conviction
The offices of Feeding Our Future in 2022
During her trial Bock’s attorney Kenneth Udoibok claimed she was a victim of fraudsters who ‘betrayed her trust’ and took advantage of her.
In an interview with the Daily Mail last month, Udoibok lambasted Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, saying his team had worked with Feeding Our Future.
‘How does the governor now act as if Ms. Bock is the devil incarnate? It’s convenient,’ he said.
‘I think the jury convicted her because of the photograph of her and her boyfriend driving in a rented Lamborghini in Vegas. That’s why.’
He said Bock was a scapegoat and would appeal her conviction.
Bock was tried alongside Salim Said, 36, a Somali-American restaurant owner, whose businesses received more than $30 million under the scheme.
He was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering.
During the pandemic Said claimed to be serving meals for 5,000 children every day, nearly 4 million in total.
Bank records showed he went on shopping sprees at Nordstrom, spending up to $9,000 a month on clothes.
He also had an indoor basketball court at his $1.1 million home.
Salim Said, a Minnesota restaurant owner, was tried alongside Bock and convicted of fraud
The stolen money came from the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which provides meals for children in school-based programs.
During the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allowed profit-making restaurants to participate in the program, and allowed for off-site food distribution.
Feeding Our Future acted as a sponsor participating in the Federal Child Nutrition Program and disbursing funds.
