Nonprofit Scammer Found Guilty Of Stealing $240M In Food Aid Meant For ‘African Immigrants’

The state grew suspicious in 2020 and attempted to stop payments but Bock sued the state government for discrimination since it served African immigrants.

Aimee Bock, leader of a Minnesota anti-hunger nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, was convicted of spearheading a scheme that scammed the government out of $240 million in pandemic relief funds, the New York Times reports.

In early March 2025, Bock was found guilty by a jury on seven counts, including wire fraud and bribery, for coming up with a plan of phony food kitchens and leaving the government with a bill for 91 million meals. First charged in 2022, federal prosecutors labeled the scheme as the largest known fraud against the government’s COVID-19 relief programs involving close to 70 additional people.

According to FOX 9, prosecutor Joe Thompson blasted Bock’s scheme, calling it “brazen” and “the shame of Minnesota.” “A monumental fraud that’s being perpetrated on our state,” Thompson said.

“A brazen and corrupt scheme designed to take advantage of a program designed to feed needy children. The Feeding Our Future case has come to symbolize the problem of fraud in our state; it has become the shame of Minnesota. Hopefully, today’s verdict will help turn the page on this awful chapter in our state’s history.”

Over 40 people involved have already been convicted or pleaded guilty. Another defendant, Salim Said, who supervised one of the fake kitchens, was convicted of 21 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal programs bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, in addition to four counts of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The federal government fed into Bock’s program, dishing out money thinking funds would reach children who were out of school without access to school lunches. Administered by the state of Minnesota, the government relied on nonprofit groups called “sponsors” to be its watchdogs, responsible for overseeing individual kitchens and feeding sites to guarantee the group wasn’t inflating the number of children they served.

The state started to grow suspicious of her moves in 2020 and attempted to stop payments to the programs. However, she sued the state government, claiming discrimination against her network since it served African immigrants. In response, the state called in the F.B.I., which led to an investigation and a raid of Bock’s home and the nonprofit’s offices in early 2022.

Prosecutors claimed that Bock conspired with dozens of people to set up 250 nonexistent feeding operations around the state and used her oversight power to hide her plans from the government. Bock was given a total of $18 million as, by law, her nonprofit received a cut of the money. Proceeds from the scheme went toward purchases of homes, cars, and commercial buildings, including Bock sending money to her then-boyfriend and taking trips to Las Vegas and Lamborghini rentals.

Gov. Tim Walz celebrated prosecutors, the Department of Education, the USDA, and the FBI for building a strong case with a guilty verdict and saying he is “furious” about it. “I heard literally two minutes ago [during the budget meeting]. This is something that is obviously very close to me because I am furious about this,” Walz said.

“I have been from the beginning. These are criminals who preyed on a system that was meant to feed children. It was organized; they continued to lie about that.”

Judge Nancy Brasel ordered Bock and Said to stay behind bars until sentencing, but all charges carry sentences of more than 10 years in prison.