41-year sentence for Minnesota fraud perp, and more arrests
The linchpin of the “Feeding Our Future” fraud in Minnesota, Aimee Bock, has received a 41-year sentence:
Aimee Bock, 45, was handed the stiff sentence on Tuesday after being convicted of all counts last March – prosecutors describing her as the “ringleader” of the biggest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country.
Most of the other defendants in the case are Somali immigrants, and the recipients of the aid were meant to be members of the Somali community in Minnesota.
Bock and her convicted co-defendant, Salim Said, falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals, and used the quarter-billion dollars in federal funds to bankroll their lavish lifestyles, Acting US Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said at the time of their convictions.
Bock used the ill-gotten funds to buy opulent cars, including a Porsche Panamera, which range in price from around $110,000 to over $230,000, as well as some 60 laptops, iPads and iPhones, a diamond necklace, bracelet and earrings and designer handbags.
I originally wrote about the case in March of 2025. As far as I can determine, Salim Said has yet to be sentenced.
In related news, fifteen more people are charged with fraud in Minnesota:
Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said:
“… Our cases today involve seven different state managed Medicaid programs that have been systematically pilfered by fraudsters who treated Minnesota-run programs as their personal piggy bank.
“One of the programs has been completely shut down because there’s no money left. It’s all gone. That was Minnesota state-run housing stabilization services program designed to help the homeless find and maintain housing. It was estimated in 2020 that it would cost only about $2.5 million a year to fund this program, but it ended up costing almost 50 times that much, over $104 million by 2024 due to fraud. And because of all the fraud, Minnesota had to shut the program ,,,”
Fifty times as much as expected, and it took them all this time to indict the culprits despite the obvious nature of the fraud.
None of the articles I found listed more than a few names of those charged (for example, this), but the ones listed seemed to be of Somalis. This is in accord with earlier reports, which stated that Somalis were very heavily represented among the fraudsters.
[NOTE: Before her sentencing, Bock said of Ilhan Omar:
“I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known.”
I consider that fairly cryptic and I take it to mean she had nothing specific to implicate Omar, and if she did have it she would have revealed it. She went on to say more:
Bock has consistently denied knowingly participating in the fraud and insisted she tried to warn state officials. Her group would review the reimbursement paperwork sent by the local restaurants supposed to provide meals, send them out and then distribute the federal funds to them.
“The notion that I’m personally responsible for all of it . . . is so frustrating. I’m the only white person out of 80 or 90 individuals [charged in the fraud]. I’m the only one that doesn’t speak the language,” she added.
Omar was instrumental in loosening the laws that set the stage for the scheme — first by introducing the MEALS Act to Congress in March 2020, which allowed the US Department of Agriculture to issue waivers of school-meal requirements during the pandemic.
I don’t know the details of the evidence against Bock, but my guess is that it was pretty strong, including the luxury items she purchased.
let’s just stop feeding the poor with our monies. The well-intentioned funds go to the crooks. Our gubmit is asleep at the switch, as is customary. Bottom line is : DO NOT DONATE.
Somalis.Huh?!?
who let them into the USA? Democrats. that’s who.
Space-X 12 said mañana.
“ringleader” of the biggest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country.
Well, maybe the biggest. The covers are just beginning to be lifted from the same sorts of frauds in many more of the 50 American states. All of them relied on State rules for keeping them honest, while Federal taxes from all states were lavishly distributed to thousands of constituents/voters, most likely of the Democrat color. What self-respecting good old boy or girl would gracelessly blow the whistle on their fellow constituents while such a fountain of other people’s money was so effortlessly gathered and distributed?
Somalis? Who’da thunk?
Well, the old homestead is a country run by warlords with a national industry of piracy. Kinda follows.
It takes two to tango at the government ATM trough. Or 3 if you count lax oversight by the FEDBUREAUCRACY. It’s a big piggybank.
For years I’ve heard about how foreign aid meant for the underprivileged and underserved in third world countries was pilfered by the powers that be. Now we’re seeing it’s just as bad here at home.
Well get that ball rolling and start hammering the Somaliansthen.
I’ve commented on the uselessness of restitution payments before, and in addition to the 41 years in jail, she was also sentenced to pay back $243 million dollars.
The money she scammed is very likely gone, spent on luxury goods, and, if she was smart, a lot likely squirreled away in off shore bank accounts, some buried in a field somewhere, perhaps a good friend is holding a duffel bag full of cash, etc. etc.
They can sell off the tangible things she bought, and get back a small fraction of the money that way.
But the bulk of the money?
Do you think that she will ever actually pay back even a penny of that money?
The father of the Congresscritter representing Somalia was a warlord-type.
The magnitude of the fraud in MN is so massive that there is no way on earth that the governor of MN and MANY other people occupying high govt positions were not aware of what was going on.
This is also probably true in NYC, Calif etc.
The fact is that when states are assigned to “manage” the spending of federal $$$$, the states have ZERO incentive to follow the rules.
This will continue as long as the federal govt funds programs that are managed by the states.
So was her sponsor john morgan (not the grown up gerber baby) one of those warlords, the ones whose behavior had inspired al shabaab i think ever since they stole the senate race from coleman nearly 20 years they have been perfecting the fraud
How did she get into this country in the latter years of siad barre’s reign he had turned toward the west paul manafort arranged the introduction and so she had an in
Btw one of the prequent visitors to the ic center in san diego is a founder of al shabaab
Now the fraud is bipartisan dewine in ahia is as willing to turn a blind eye hopefully the new guy will be better
Nobody knows nuthin!
The State Dept, under Bill Clinton I believe, felt sorry for the many Somalis in refugee camps in Kenya, so our federal employees set up a program to import 50,000 Somalis into the US.
But first they had to educate the chosen in American way of life, so they sent dishwashers and washing machines to the camps. Placed them in apartments, mostly in Minneapolis, supplied their daily needs. Checked on how they were doing, found Somalis were using the dishwasher to cook fish, washed their feet in toilet bowls, defecated elsewhere. Now we have one of them, Omar, as their elected Representative in Congress. Assimilate? Never. On your dime, babies!