Despite evidence, Bock denies knowledge of Feeding Our Future fraud
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Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock is due back on the witness stand Thursday where she’s expected to face cross examination from lead prosecutor Joe Thompson. Bock is accused of leading a $250 million scheme to rip off taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during COVID.
Bock faces seven counts including wire fraud and federal programs bribery. She’s among 70 people charged in the case since 2022. More than half the defendants have pleaded guilty, and six of them testified at her trial in Minneapolis.
Against the advice of her lawyer, Bock waived her Fifth Amendment rights and chose to testify in her own defense.
Prosecutors say Bock approved applications for hundreds of fraudulent meal distribution sites, submitted scores of phony reimbursement claims to the state, signed six- and seven-figure checks to site operators, and collected kickbacks.
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Over the last month, jurors saw piles of financial records that FBI agents seized in coordinated raids in early 2022. The jury also looked at bank statements that the bureau’s forensic accountants subpoenaed quietly before the raids.
Bock spent Wednesday on the stand answering questions from defense attorney Ken Udoibok, and described an orderly process for reviewing and submitting meal claims. From the beginning, she distanced herself from the allegations and said Feeding Our Future employees were responsible for reviewing documents.
“Unless they had identified a concern or a red flag on an invoice, I would not see it.”
Bock said that she investigated allegations of fraud that crossed her desk and terminated dozens of meal sites in response.
Asked about an email from a site operator that included phony meal counts and a fake roster that led to one of the wire fraud counts against her, Bock said, “I’m confused, I’m upset. It’s an email I received …. and now I’m charged with a federal crime because somebody chose to email me something.”
Udoibok tried to show jurors Feeding Our Future business records, including Bock’s plan for “managing growth.” But U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sided with government objections and ruled the evidence inadmissible hearsay.
Brasel excused jurors briefly and warned Udoibok that “the continued attempt to admit clearly inadmissible documents gives the impression to the jury that we’re hiding something.”
Moving on, the defense attorney asked his client about a company she set up in late 2021 that prosecutors allege was used to collect kickbacks. Bock said a series of $2,800 payments that jurors saw earlier were for a policy and procedure manual.
Using the courtroom computer monitors, the attorney displayed a check from a fake meal site operator who pleaded guilty.
Udoibok asked, “Was it a bribe?”
“No.” Bock replied.
“Was it a kickback?”
“No,” she said again.
When Udoibok asked Bock why she had to sell her house, was evicted from her apartment, and moved in with her parents, she cried briefly and said she “wasn’t able to get a job.”
Udoibok then guided his client through photos that jurors saw previously from the FBI search of her home. She said most of the jewelry in the photos was from her former romantic partner — who prosecutors say collected more than $1 million from a no-show job at Feeding Our Future. Bock said a Burberry jacket with an $1,120 price tag found in her closet didn’t fit because her boyfriend had purchased it for another woman.
Udoibok did not ask his client about the pile of $20 and $50 bills prominent in one of the photos that the FBI found in the former nonprofit leader’s home.
The defense is expected to finish its direct examination Thursday morning before the prosecution challenges Bock on her claims during cross examination.
Jurors may also hear testimony from Salim Said, the former co-owner of Safari Restaurant who’s on trial with Bock.