Aimee Bock emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the most influential figures in Minnesota’s federal child nutrition program, overseeing a nonprofit that claimed to feed millions of children at a time of national crisis.
Her organization, Feeding Our Future, rapidly expanded as emergency rule changes loosened oversight, allowing meal sponsors to submit reimbursement claims without standard verification. But this modest nonprofit would soon sit at the center of one of the largest fraud investigations tied to pandemic relief funds.
Federal prosecutors later alleged that behind the nonprofit’s public mission was a sprawling scheme that exploited those relaxed rules, according to Fox News.
Where Aimee Bock is now
Following a lengthy federal trial, a jury found Bock guilty on all counts she faced, including wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery. According to Fox News, she is currently in federal custody and is being held while she awaits sentencing.
Prosecutors said the scheme fraudulently obtained nearly $250 million to $300 million in federal child nutrition funds intended to feed children during the pandemic.
Bock founded Feeding Our Future in 2016. For several years, it handled roughly $3 million to $4 million annually in federal reimbursements, prosecutors said.
That changed during the pandemic. As executive director, Bock had authority to approve meal sites and certify reimbursement claims submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). Prosecutors said she approved numerous sites, some allegedly fake, and signed off on claims that eventually totaled 91 million meals, far exceeding the organization’s capacity.
Allegations of blocking oversight
When state regulators questioned suspicious claims in 2021, Fox News reported that Bock accused the MDE of racism. Feeding Our Future sued the state, alleging discrimination, and a judge temporarily blocked the state from cutting off funds. This decision, prosecutors said, allowed the fraud to grow.
Read More: CBI busts trans-national cyber fraud syndicate; 6 nabbed from Noida
DOJ materials introduced at trial stated Bock “falsely accused state officials of racism to keep the money flowing,” according to Fox News.
Trial exhibits showed a $30,000 cash withdrawal tied to Bock and more than $1 million flowing to her longtime boyfriend, Empress Malcolm Watson Jr., who has not been charged in the fraud case.
At least 78 people have been indicted so far in the ongoing Feeding Our Future investigation, according to Fox News.