{"id":846,"date":"2026-05-21T23:33:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2026-05-21T23:33:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:33:55","slug":"woman-at-center-of-sprawling-minnesota-fraud-gets-nearly-42-year-prison-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=846","title":{"rendered":"Woman at center of sprawling Minnesota fraud gets nearly 42-year prison sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 A judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence \u2014 nearly 42 years \u2014 to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted in a staggering $250 million fraud case that helped ignite an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

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Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to needy children during the pandemic. The U.S. Justice Department, however, said she was atop the \u201csingle largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,\u201d Bock, 45, said in federal court.<\/p>\n

After the hearing, authorities announced charges against 15 more people accused of fraud in receiving federal payments for a variety of social services administered through Minnesota’s state government. The FBI said one man jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to avoid arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will claw back every dollar you have stolen from the American people,\u201d Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said, noting that the government sent more prosecutors and agents to Minnesota this year.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter to target immigrants, leading to repeated confrontations between residents and those officers and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n

Fake lists, lavish spending<\/p>\n

COVID-19 brought changes to a federal program that typically fed children through schools. Restaurants could participate, and food distribution was extended to sites outside schools.<\/p>\n

Investigators said Bock’s nonprofit was at the center of a crime network that included a web of partner organizations, phony distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children. Feeding Our Future recruited people to create sites throughout Minnesota, and claims for reimbursement quickly followed, according to the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cAimee was a god,\u201d a witness testified at trial.<\/p>\n

Bock had long proclaimed her innocence but was convicted of conspiracy, fraud and bribery. Investigators said she and co-conspirators enriched themselves with international travel, real estate, luxury vehicles and other lavish spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a vortex of fraud and you were at the epicenter,\u201d U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Bock.<\/p>\n

A co-defendant was sentenced last August to 28 years in prison. Abdiaziz Farah claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children per day, investigators said, but the sites turned out to be parking lots or empty commercial space.<\/p>\n

Bock\u2019s lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, had argued for no more than three years in prison, saying she had provided key information to investigators. He said Bock, a former teacher, had been unfairly portrayed as the mastermind and insisted that two co-defendants were responsible for running the scams.<\/p>\n

State auditors found that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future, but often told the group to police itself. In January, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he would not run for reelection after being pounded by Trump about theft in programs that rely on federal cash.<\/p>\n

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Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year blasted Minnesota as \u201ca hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,\u201d Trump wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

Bock is white, and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office says the overwhelming majority of defendants in the cases are of Somali descent. Most are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

At least 65 people have been convicted in a series of overlapping food fraud cases. Investigations began during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case has changed our state forever,\u201d Joe Thompson, formerly the lead prosecutor in the case, said outside the courtroom. \u201cAimee Bock did everything she could to earn this long sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraud cases grow<\/p>\n

In a fresh batch of criminal cases filed this week in Minnesota, the government said alleged fraud involved $90 million across seven state-managed Medicaid programs.<\/p>\n

The defendants include Fahima Mahamud, who was CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, a childcare center in Minneapolis. Over three years, Mahamud\u2019s organization was reimbursed approximately $4.6 million for services on behalf of people who didn\u2019t make a required copayment, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

A message seeking comment from her lawyer was not immediately returned Thursday. Mahamud earlier this year pleaded not guilty to fraud related to meals.<\/p>\n

Two other people were charged with conspiring to get $975,000 in Medicaid subsidies for housing services that were not provided.<\/p>\n

Two additional people were accused of receiving $21.1 million by billing Medicaid for autism therapy that was either unnecessary or not provided. Investigators said the two paid families as much as $1,500 per child per month to add their names to the program and get reimbursement.<\/p>\n

Minnesota’s Department of Human Services said it helped build the cases. Inspector General James Clark said payments to more than 600 providers have been halted since 2025 because of fraud allegations.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ed White in Detroit contributed.<\/p>\n

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