Federal prosecutors revealed Thursday that Aimee Bock allegedly took $1.9 million from the federal government through Feeding Our Future.
The amount is significantly less than many other co-defendants allegedly pocketed, but more than prosecutors previously revealed was associated with Bock.
Bock allegedly stole federal food-aid money meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic in the following ways:
- $871,514 in payments Feeding Our Future made to Handy Helpers, a company run by her live-in boyfriend at the time, Empress Malcolm Watson. Bock previously stated that the money was for renovation work Watson did on Feeding Our Future’s office.
- $310,000 Bock received from Cosmopolitan Business Services, which operated Safari Restaurant. Federal prosecutors allege this payment was a kickback Bock received for enrolling Safari in the federal child nutrition programs. Bock has maintained it was for the sale of a daycare business.
- $237,363 between April 2020 and January 2022 through her salary at Feeding Our Future.
- $180,050 in donations Bock solicited through Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors allege she asked for money from food site operators and food vendors around the time she was suing the Minnesota Department of Education.
- $103,600 Bock deposited into her own company, School Age Consultants.
- $79,430 through Feeding Our Future payments to Watson for his employment at the nonprofit.
- $72,000 from a GoFundMe fundraiser for the establishment of Feeding Our Future 2.
- $2,800 in Feeding Our Future payments to Bock’s son for his employment there.
Through his cross-examination of FBI Forensic Accountant Pauline Roase, Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, questioned whether Bock benefited personally from some of the payments. Udoibok emphasized that the $103,600 that went to School Age Consultants was for that company and was not deposited in Bock’s personal bank account.
Udoibok also noted that none of the $72,000 from the GoFundMe fundraiser was ever spent. Roase, a prosecution witness, testified that this was because the fundraiser was still open when the FBI raided several properties and seized several bank accounts linked to the case.
The alleged fraud involved Feeding Our Future receiving federal food-aid 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 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.
Bock is being jointly tried with Salim Said, who formerly co-owned Safari Restaurant, one of Feeding Our Future’s largest food sites.
In his opening statements last month, Udoibok emphasized that Bock’s story doesn’t resemble stories from dozens of her co-defendants who bought mansions, luxury cars and took lavish trips overseas. Seventy people are charged in the case.
“She lives with her parents, doesn’t have a car and cannot afford an apartment for her family,” Udoibok said at the time. “Is that someone who made millions? No.”
Prosecutors, however, have shown pictures of a new Mercedes at Bock’s home, and pictures of VIP tickets she bought with Watson to tour Graceland, the museum and home of Elvis Presley. A Gucci bag and cash were also found in her bedroom, according to evidence presented at trial.
They’ve also suggested that Bock got something even more intoxicating than money out of the deal.
“She got power. She also got adoration,” Assistant U.S.Attorney Dan Bobier said last month in opening statements. “Feeding Our Future sponsored hundreds of sites by hundreds of people. They loved Aimee Bock. She was celebrated. She was feted. She opened the gate of their theft to unlimited money.”
One woman who has pleaded guilty to her role in the fraud testified at trial that Bock was viewed as “a god.”
Prosecutors: Bock made illegal pre-payments
Prosecutors also spent part of Thursday showing that Bock made several pre-payments to food sites, which they emphasized is illegal in the federal child nutrition programs.
Roase testified that during the January 2022 raid of Feeding Our Future’s office, FBI agents found a folder in Bock’s office labeled “Prepaid Claims.” It contained 62 pages of records of payments Feeding Our Future made to food sites, many with large handwriting that read “Prepaid.”
Roase said that the child nutrition programs are reimbursement programs, meaning sponsor organizations are not allowed to pay food sites for meals until after the meals have been served. But Bock did the opposite in many cases, Roase testified.
Prosecutors presented a text message Bock sent to Salim Said shortly before the January 2022 FBI raids. It showed that Bock appeared concerned Safari Restaurant was going to drop Feeding Our Future for another sponsor.
“I don’t know why you are mad at FOF [Feeding Our Future],” Bock wrote. “I have been prepaying you as a favor to be nice when I am able to. I don’t have the money to prepay you today.
“Your guy gets told not today and the response is your [sic] going to transfer? Whatever. I’ve gone above and beyond for your sites fighting for approvals and prepaying so you didn’t have to worry about money. But if you believe another sponsor will treat you better by all means go.”
Udoibok tried to raise skepticism about Roase’s understanding of the rules, asking her if she had read the federal and state regulations for the child nutrition programs. No, Roase responded, adding that a previous witness from the Minnesota Department of Education had testified about them.
Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case Friday morning. Attorneys for Bock and Salim Said have not said whether their clients will testify. Salim Said’s attorney is expected to call witnesses in his defense.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Empress Malcolm Watson.
