Jury selection to begin for alleged ringleader of $250M pandemic fraud scheme in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of the alleged ringleader of a scheme to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic that federal prosecutors say stole $250 million from a program meant to feed children, the latest chapter in a broader case that has also included an attempt to bribe a juror and political repercussions against Gov. Tim Walz.

But the attorney for Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding our Future — the group that prosecutors say was at the heart of the plot — insists that she’s innocent.

Bock and a co-defendant will be the second group to stand trial in what prosecutors call one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases anywhere. The first trial resulted in the conviction of five people last year and received widespread attention after some defendants and people linked with them allegedly tried — unsuccessfully — to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash. The juror went straight to police instead.

Bock is one of 70 defendants charged in the overall case. They’re being tried in batches. Thirty of them have already pleaded guilty to various charges, including some who had been scheduled to go on trial with Bock this week. One defendant from the first trial was sentenced this month to 17 1/2 years, the longest prison term handed down in the case so far.

Here’s a look at a trial that’s expected to last around six weeks:

The big picture

Federal prosecutors allege that the conspiracy revolved around two groups — Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition — that were both small nonprofits that were approved as sponsors of the Federal Child Nutrition Program before the pandemic. But the two groups dramatically increased the number of meal sites that they claimed to be sponsoring during the pandemic. Feeding Our Future went from receiving and disbursing $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. Sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future falsely claimed to be serving thousands of children daily, prosecutors allege.

“In all, Feeding Our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds during the Covid-19 pandemic,” prosecutors wrote in a preview of their case this month. The total included administrative fees to which Feeding Our Future was not entitled, they said.

“Bock and other Feeding Our Future employees also solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from individuals and companies sponsored by Feeding Our Future,” prosecutors continued. “Feeding Our Future operated a pay-to-play scheme, where individuals seeking to operate fraudulent sites under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future had to kick back a portion of their fraudulent proceeds to Feeding Our Future employees.”

The defense

Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said they’ll argue at trial that she’s not guilty of the federal fraud, conspiracy and bribery charges against her.

“She’s innocent and she’s going to express that belief, that truth, until the day she dies,” Udoibok said in an interview last week. “This woman was hoodwinked, played by people she trusted. She trusted that these people that have pled guilty, she trusted them to have delivered food to needy children, needy people, deserving folks. And they played her.”

Udoibok said the large number of guilty pleas, and the fact that they’re now down to just Bock and a co-defendant for this trial, doesn’t change the defense strategy. He said the jury will be able to see the difference between her and the rest of the defendants despite the complexities of the overall case.

“She accepted no bribes or kickbacks from anybody. She did not know that the invoices were fraudulent. She was focused on providing as much access to needy people as possible, that is, feeding adults and children during COVID and during the George Floyd protests,” Udoibok said.

An attorney for Bock’s co-defendant, Salim Ahmed Said, did not return a call seeking comment on the case.

The bribe

Five people were charged with bribery because of the attempt in the first trial, including three who were on trial at the time. Two of the five have already pleaded guilty, while one more is scheduled to change his plea to guilty in the bribery case in March. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger described the elaborate scheme as “something out of a mob movie.”

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, who is overseeing Bock’s trial, has ordered extra steps to shield the jurors’ identities and prevent any further bribe attempts.

The political repercussions

The federal money flowed through the state Department of Education, and the loss of 250 million taxpayer dollars became a major political problem for Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. His administration largely blamed federal authorities, saying the FBI asked them not to cut off the flow of funds to protect its investigation. Walz’s critics insist he should have done more. While Walz comfortably won reelection in 2022, the issue resurfaced after presidential candidate Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate.

This year, Republicans in the closely divided Minnesota Legislature have made fighting fraud in government programs one of their top issues, and not just because of Feeding our Future. Walz himself has proposed his own anti-fraud package. But the 2025 legislative session is off to a contentious start and it’s not clear yet if the sides can reach the bipartisan consensus that will be needed to pass anything.