Trump administration defends its ongoing immigration repress In Minnesota, he said fraud needs to be curbed and pointed to a growing scandal involving members of the Somali-American community. Prosecutors say, however, that the state’s planners maximum Fraudulent scheme So far, not a Somali, but a white woman — 45-year-old Aimee Bock.
In an exclusive interview from her jail cell, Bock defended her actions, acknowledged regret and held state officials who worked with her partly responsible. Bork spoke publicly for the first time since her arrest, in which prosecutors say she participated in a $250 million coronavirus-era scam aimed at defrauding a federal program that provides food to hungry children.
“I wish I could go back and do things differently, stop things, catch things,” said Bock, director of Feeding Our Future, a now-notorious nonprofit that contracts with restaurants and caterers to accept taxpayer dollars to provide meals for kids. “I believe we are doing everything we can to protect the program.”
Currently, prosecutors have charged 78 defendants More than 60 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted in trials related to Feeding Our Future. All except Amy Bock are Somali-American.
Amy Bock is in prison in Minnesota. / Photo credit: CBS News
(CBS News)
During a five-week trial last year, prosecutors accused Bock of signing off on millions of reimbursement claims for meals that were never served. She was also accused of taking bribes. She and a restaurant website operator were charged with stealing tens of millions of federal funds and spend it Luxury cars, real estate investments and vacations.
“The money was not used to support the children,” said Lisa D. Kirkpatrick, the acting U.S. attorney at the time. “It was used to fund their lavish lifestyle.”
jury found her guilty In every way. She is currently awaiting sentencing and faces up to 33 years in prison. Evidence presented at the trial included text messages in which Bock compared Feed Our Future to a mob.
“The jury saw overwhelming evidence of what Bock knew,” Chief Prosecutor Joe Thompson said after the verdict. “She was the leader of the scheme from day one. She signed every fraud claim submitted to the State of Minnesota.”
Bock told CBS News she was neither the mastermind nor a mob boss.
“It was heartbreaking,” Bock said, describing the moment she heard the verdict. “I believe in responsibility. If I had done that, I would have pleaded guilty. I would not have gone to trial. I would not have let my children and my family go through what we went through. I have lost everything.”
Last month, a judge order her to give up The program generated more than $5 million in proceeds.
‘We rely on the state’
Most of the millions seized from her by federal officials were in the nonprofit’s bank account, and Bork denied that she personally lived a lavish lifestyle. She downplayed what FBI agents found when they raided her home in 2022 – where she had lived for more than a decade.
“They found minimal jewelry,” Bock said. “I believe it was like two pairs of earrings, a bracelet, a watch. There was some cash in it.”
Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, shared a video showing a catering establishment run by a Feed Our Future contractor filled with food. Bock said she was doing everything she could to root out fraud and had terminated agreements with dozens of entities she said were cheating the system.
“I was the only one who stopped the claim and said it was fraud,” Bock said. “We have failed to pay or denied tens of millions of dollars in claims.”
The sudden growth of the blogging organization is astonishing. In 2019, Feeding Our Future submitted meal claims worth $3.4 million. In 2021, it submitted nearly $200 million. Bock attributed the increase to relaxed guidelines during the pandemic that allowed parents to pick up meals and take them home. Asked if the spike in numbers raised red flags at the time, Bock claimed she had received approval from Minnesota officials.
“We rely on the state,” she said, adding that local officials, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, often visit dining sites. “We tell the state that this site will operate at this address, at this time and for this number of children. The state then tells us this is approved.”
Omar has denied she knew of anyone defrauding the food program and has previously denounced the misuse of funds. minnesota Governor Tim Walz drawn extensive review for his treatment state fraud. But Walz defended his administration’s response, saying “we spent years fighting fraudsters” and accusing the Trump administration of “politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”
Bock’s attorney, Udo Bock, said state officials at the time were not particularly interested in stopping the fraud because the nonprofit was providing at least some food to important constituencies during a time of severe instability.
“That’s the lie that they policed this fraud at all times,” Udobok said. “They wanted a scapegoat. She was in charge of the only food program in the state, so they put the blame on her.”
A spokesman for Walz did not respond to a request for comment.
‘No one wants to be labeled a racist’
Bock spoke to CBS News after the incident Killing Renee Goodeas Minneapolis becomes a flashpoint The government promotes a crackdown on illegal immigration. Bock said some people captured in ICE sweeps are currently being held at her jail until she is sentenced.
In some ways, the roots of Minnesota’s current tensions can be traced to Bock and her nonprofit. Goode killed by ICE agents after Homeland Security surge Thousands of people Enter the state with a dual mission of enforcing immigration laws and helping investigate fraud.
Yet long before the issue of fraud became an exciting issue on the right—and fodder for the right conservative influencer — Federal prosecutors in Minnesota target Bork. A lifelong Minnesotan, Bock earned a degree in elementary education and held positions in day care centers and early childhood centers before starting Feeding Our Future in 2016.
“As an organization, our goal is to help kids who are not getting food,” said Bock, who has two sons herself. “There’s this underlying need in Minnesota, these food deserts, where children don’t have access to healthy nutritious food.”
The nonprofit became a so-called “sponsor” of two federal nutrition programs funded by the Department of Agriculture and overseen by the Minnesota Department of Education, providing meals to children during the school year and summer. When the pandemic hit, the USDA issued waivers that gave sponsors like Feeding Our Future more flexibility in how they distribute food.
“During COVID, parents are allowed to come and pick up meals for obvious reasons,” Bock explained. “So suddenly we were able to reach more children. We were also able to deliver meals to homes.”
Restaurants and caterers, especially those from Minnesota’s large Somali immigrant community, are eager to sign up. Bock said her organization has the ability to meet the need, but state education officials are wary of letting some businesses out that apply.
“The Department of Education is reviewing applications,” Bock said. “They just didn’t deal with them.”
As racial justice protests sweep the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Bork filed a lawsuit alleging that the state’s review of Somali applicants was discriminatory and denied low-income and minority children access to “desperately needed federal food programs.”
Asked how she thought state officials received the lawsuit, Bock acknowledged that “nobody wants to be labeled a racist.”
This aggressive advocacy has won praise from the close-knit Somali community. One community leader told a local reporter that Bock was a “modern-day Robin Hood.”
Bock denies the lawsuit is an intimidation tactic. The parties reached a settlement in which the Minnesota Department of Education agreed to process meal program applications in a “reasonably timely manner.”
“The idea that the state, paralyzed by fear of possible actions by me in my lawsuit, would have to allow this level of fraud is absurd,” Bock said.
Years later, education officials told state regulators that “the threat of legal consequences and negative media attention” forced them to let down their guard. Still, officials with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) insist they did take action, noting that they were the ones who turned Bock over to the FBI in 2021.
“Criminal elements have exploited the program even though MDE met or exceeded federal regulations,” the education commissioner wrote in a letter to state regulators. “MDE always uses its best judgment on its supervisory authority in the context of legal requirements and resistance.”
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