A former professional boxer testified Wednesday that he had no clue that Feeding Our Future claimed to serve thousands of meals every day at his St. Paul gym.
Cerresso Fort, who runs SIR Boxing Club, said he never signed up his business to serve food, and was unaware that Feeding Our Future was making those claims in 2021. He said it was “ludicrous” that Feeding Our Future claimed to serve 2,500 children every day at his gym, which was located at the time in the basement of a strip mall below a leaking bait shop.
“I never committed, or agreed on, or OKed that my business be used for anything,” Fort, 38, testified, adding that he had never heard of Feeding Our Future. “This is without my knowledge.”
Fort is one of three witnesses who have testified that they had no knowledge Feeding Our Future had used their names and businesses in an alleged fraud scheme. Each witness, who had some type of connection to Feeding Our Future’s then-executive director, Aimee Bock, said they learned about their association from investigators who contacted them or when the scandal first made headlines.
Bock is on trial as the alleged ringleader of the $250 million fraud scheme, and allegedly signed off on documents registering Fort’s business with the federal child nutrition programs. The alleged fraud involved Feeding Our Future receiving federal funds through the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). Feeding Our Future then distributed those funds to food vendors and food sites, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several organizations reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did, or simply never served any at all, in order to receive more federal reimbursement dollars, according to prosecutors.
Feeding Our Future claimed to serve $1.3 million worth of meals at Fort’s gym during the pandemic.
“Someone like myself is really trying to do the best I can for the kids in the community,” Fort said. “I feel really awful. I feel really awful.”
Bock also signed another document stating that she gave her boyfriend, Empress Watson, civil rights training at Fort’s gym. Fort testified that Watson was a member of his gym, and that he had seen Bock drop off or pick up Watson on a few occasions. Fort said no civil rights training ever occurred at his business.
At one point, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert noted that Feeding Our Future claimed to serve more kids every day at Fort’s gym than attended Fort’s alma mater, Harding High School.
Fort noted that the parking lot for the strip mall where SIR Boxing Club was located could fit 40 cars at most. He said roughly 25 to 30 people trained at his gym every day, and that he closed the gym for a time during the pandemic.
“That math ain’t mathin’,” Fort said of Feeding Our Future’s meal claims.
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Under cross-examination from Bock’s lawyer, Kenneth Uboibok, Fort testified that free meals were handed out once a week to kids from his gym at a location upstairs that was not associated with his gym.
“Kids would leave on Saturday, they would go upstairs and get food,” Fort said, noting that the food often consisted of fruit and other dry food in bags. “I thought that was great.”
Under Udoibok’s questioning, Fort said he didn’t know whether food was delivered to children or served in different suites in the strip mall separate from his business.
Udoibok tried to show that Feeding Our Future didn’t use Fort’s gym as a food site. He showed the jury documents where Feeding Our Future changed the name of the gym site to “Feeding Our Future – Arcade,” after Arcade Street where the strip mall was located. Udoibok then showed that the number of meals served that was reported to MDE had the name “Feeding Our Future – Arcade” and not SIR Boxing Club.
Finally, Udoibok showed an invoice Feeding Our Future – Arcade sent to a food vendor that listed the address of Feeding Our Future’s St. Anthony office as the food site, not SIR Boxing Club.
After Udoibok’s cross-examination, Ebert produced documents showing that Feeding Our Future – Arcade’s application to the federal food program used SIR Boxing Club’s address, including its suite number, as its food site location.
“So, there was no changes,” Fort said upon seeing the document from Ebert. “That was still the same.”
Later in the day, prosecutors showed the jury that a food site in Mankato used Fort’s name on a roster, claiming he was a child who was served meals there.
Fort’s name came up in rosters many times, IRS Special Agent Joshua Parks testified, including as a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old. Parks said he knows that Fort is the adult owner of Sir Boxing Club, and that his name did not match any students enrolled in Mankato’s school district.
“It’s fraud,” Parks said of how Fort’s name was used.
A treasurer who never signed on
Jamie Phelps, an Eagan mechanic, also testified Wednesday, telling jurors that he didn’t know he had been listed as Feeding Our Future’s treasurer.
Phelps testified that he never served as treasurer and did not know what Feeding Our Future was until news broke in early 2022 that it was under federal investigation. Phelps said he was exiting an airplane in Mexico when the news broke. All of his attorney friends texted him, asking if he was OK.
“My name was in the paper for Feeding Our Future,” Phelps testified. “$250 million, and I was the treasurer.”
Phelps is the second person listed as a Feeding Our Future board member to testify in the trial. Ben Strayberg, who knew Bock through his work as a bartender, testified earlier in the trial that he had no idea he was listed as the president of the nonprofit’s board.
Ebert showed the jury internal Feeding Our Future documents that showed Phelps was part of the board which oversaw Bock’s employment. Ebert also showed several Feeding Our Future board meeting minutes that identified Phelps as signing off on the organization’s budget.
The jury also saw several Feeding Our Future documents that sported Phelps’ signature, including Feeding Our Future’s application to the state in 2018 to register as a nonprofit.
“That is not my signature,” Phelps testified.
Phelps also testified that he has no knowledge of the federal child nutrition program, and does not have the training needed to oversee a multimillion dollar nonprofit’s finances.
He said he met Bock a handful of times at backyard bonfires through his nextdoor neighbor, who worked with her at Feeding Our Future. At one of the bonfires before Feeding Our Future was founded, Bock told Phelps she was forming the nonprofit and asked him to join the board.
Phelps testified that he said yes, because he wanted to help. But, he said, he also never heard about it again until news about the investigation broke.
Ebert asked Phelps how he felt about seeing his name forged on Feeding Our Future documents.
“Pretty upset,” he said, “because I’m in federal court for something I know nothing about.”
