This story comes to you from The Minnesota Star Tribune through a partnership with Sahan Journal.
Aimee Bock, the convicted ringleader of the country’s most extensive pandemic-era case of fraud, has appealed the decadeslong prison sentence and large restitution bill she received for using her nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, to steal millions from a federal program meant to nourish needy children.
In a spare two-page filing late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Bock’s attorney is challenging his client’s conviction and alleging that the sentencing guidelines used to determine his client’s punishment on May 21 were unconstitutional and misapplied.
The challenge goes before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and awaits the scheduling of its first hearing. In the meantime, Bock remains under federal custody in the Sherburne County jail, where she has been since her conviction by a jury on May 19, 2025.
Bock’s sentencing for the $242 million plot was the culmination of a yearslong investigation that began in 2022. FBI raids of her St. Anthony organization first brought the scheme to public attention, and a federal jury last year convicted Bock, 45, of seven federal charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery.
District Judge Nancy Brasel’s sentence of 41⅔ years will be followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
Brasel also ordered Bock to pay more than $240 million in restitution.
At the time of sentencing, Bock acknowledged in court, “I understand the situation I’m in. I understand the jury’s verdict. I understand that I failed. I failed the public, I failed my family, I failed everyone. It was not something I ever set out to do.”
Prosecutors had asked for a 50-year prison term, while Bock’s defense sought a three-year sentence.
Defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok said Bock did not start out as a criminal but was caught up in a “vortex” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that upended the meals program.
When she imposed the sentence, Brasel said she wanted to send a message that fraud is not tolerated in Minnesota. She took into consideration the amount of prison time given to others for fraud. She also agreed to recommend that Bock be incarcerated as close as possible to Minnesota, where her two sons live.
In all, 79 people have been charged, with 66 convicted. The longest sentence other than Bock’s was given to Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, a 28-year prison term handed down last year after he was convicted of 23 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Roughly 16 defendants have been sentenced so far, with terms ranging from a year of probation to Farah’s 28 years.
Feeding Our Future sponsored nearly 300 of the food distribution sites in Minnesota enrolled in the federally funded food program. Prosecutors said many of the employees, food sites and vendors submitted fake attendance sheets and false invoices to rake in more money. Much of the cash was spent on cars, luxury homes or sent overseas.
