MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors want a 50-year prison term for the former head of a Minnesota nonprofit organization convicted in a massive $250 million fraud scheme that sparked a nationwide immigration enforcement campaign.
Aimee Bock, the former director of Feeding our Future, faces sentencing Thursday in Minneapolis federal court. The organization allegedly provided millions of meals to needy children during the pandemic.
“Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks,” prosecutors stated in Monday’s court document. “The ripple effects of her actions are profound, immeasurable, and will have lasting consequences for both Minnesota and the nation.”
A jury found Bock guilty last year on several charges including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. She continues to maintain her innocence.
Defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok requested a maximum sentence of 37 months, claiming his client cooperated with federal investigators. He contended that Bock was wrongly characterized as the operation’s mastermind and pointed to two other defendants as the actual scheme organizers.
According to prosecutors, the nonprofit operated as the hub of an extensive fraud network featuring partner organizations, fake meal distribution locations, kickback payments and fabricated lists of children allegedly receiving food. The sprawling case has resulted in convictions for dozens of individuals, many from Minnesota’s substantial Somali community, across multiple related food fraud prosecutions spanning several years.
President Donald Trump, who has previously criticized Somalis, last year called the state “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” He attacked the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz, who served as the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2024, and cited these fraud cases as grounds for implementing the immigration enforcement actions that disrupted the city.
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” Trump posted on social media.
Bock is white, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports that most defendants in these cases are of Somali heritage. The majority hold U.S. citizenship.
