Feeding Our Future was a Minnesota nonprofit that sponsored meal sites in federal child nutrition programs and, prosecutors proved at trial, sat at the center of a $250 million fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its founder, Aimee Bock, was convicted on March 19, 2025, and sentenced on May 21, 2026, to 500 months in federal prison.
- What it was
- A St. Anthony, Minnesota, nonprofit that sponsored federally funded child meal sites
- Amount
- $250 million, per federal prosecutors; about $50 million recovered
- First charges
- 47 people, September 20, 2022
- Charged and convicted
- 79 charged and 66 convicted by June 2026 (Minnesota Star Tribune)
- Ringleader
- Aimee Bock, sentenced to 500 months on May 21, 2026
- Status
- Bock’s appeal is pending at the Eighth Circuit
What Feeding Our Future was
Feeding Our Future was a “sponsor” in the Federal Child Nutrition Program: it signed up meal sites, sent their reimbursement claims to the state and passed the federal money back to them. The money came from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs run in Minnesota by the state Department of Education, chiefly the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program. Sponsors keep 10 to 15 percent of reimbursements as an administrative fee. During the pandemic the USDA waived some rules, including letting for-profit restaurants take part. Feeding Our Future grew from about $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021 and opened more than 250 sites.
How the Feeding Our Future fraud worked
The Feeding Our Future fraud worked by billing for meals that were never served, often to children who did not exist. Sites claimed to feed thousands of children a day within days or weeks of opening, backed by fake attendance rosters; some names came from an online random name generator, and one form claimed exactly 2,500 meals every weekday. In Willmar, a new group claimed to feed 2,000 children a day, yet only about 1 percent of the names matched real students. Prosecutors say the government was billed for more than 125 million fake meals.
Organizers set up dozens of shell companies, and Feeding Our Future staff took kickbacks, often in cash or disguised as “consulting fees.” The nonprofit itself collected more than $18 million in administrative fees it was not entitled to, according to the Justice Department. The money bought luxury vehicles, homes and commercial property and paid for travel abroad. In all, the department says, Feeding Our Future “fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million”; about $50 million has been recovered, authorities told CNN in May 2026.
When the Minnesota Department of Education questioned the payouts, Bock sued it for discrimination. “When the state raised concerns about fraud you didn’t help, you cried racism and filed a lawsuit,” Judge Nancy Brasel told her at sentencing. Minnesota’s legislative auditor later found the department had missed red flags and failed to use powers it had, though no state workers personally benefited.
Feeding Our Future charges and trials
Feeding Our Future charges came on September 20, 2022, when federal prosecutors charged 47 people with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. “This $250 million is the floor,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said. Federal agents had searched Bock’s home and offices that January, and the nonprofit shut down in February 2022. The case later grew to 79 defendants.
The first trial ended on June 7, 2024, with five defendants convicted and two acquitted, days after a juror reported that someone had left a bag with $120,000 in cash at her home and offered more for an acquittal. Five people were charged in that bribery plot, and all five pleaded guilty. Bock and Salim Said, a former co-owner of Safari Restaurant, were convicted on all counts on March 19, 2025, after more than five weeks of testimony.
Aimee Bock’s conviction and sentence
Aimee Bock was convicted on all seven counts against her, including wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery, and on May 21, 2026, Judge Brasel sentenced her to 500 months, nearly 42 years. Prosecutors had asked for 50 years and her defense for three. She was ordered to pay more than $242 million in restitution.
This was a fraud vortex and you were at the epicenter of it.
Judge Nancy Brasel, U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, sentencing Aimee Bock, May 21, 2026
Bock told the court, “I understand that I failed.” Her lawyer appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in June 2026, challenging both the conviction and the sentence.
Feeding Our Future convictions and sentences so far
Feeding Our Future convictions reached 66 of the 79 people charged by June 2026, the Minnesota Star Tribune counted, but only about 16 had been sentenced; apart from Bock, terms ranged from a year of probation to 28 years. That longest term went to Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, convicted at the first trial, who was sentenced in August 2025 and ordered to repay more than $47 million. In July 2026 a judge added 10 years for his role in the juror bribe. Abdulkarim Shafii Farah received nearly five years in March 2026 for the same bribery plot.
How Feeding Our Future connects to the daycare story
Feeding Our Future connects to the 2025 and 2026 day care story through its defendants, its prosecutors and one day care in Nick Shirley’s video. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said the Medicaid autism investigation grew out of the meal case because “roughly two dozen or so Feeding Our Future defendants were getting money from autism clinics.” Asha Farhan Hassan, who pleaded guilty in December 2025 in a $14 million autism scheme, also took $465,000 through Feeding Our Future.
The closest link is Future Leaders Early Learning, a Minneapolis day care that was also a Feeding Our Future meal site and took about $854,000 in meal money, prosecutors say. Its owner, Fahima Mahamud, became the 79th Feeding Our Future defendant in February 2026, two months after Nick Shirley filmed her center. Child care charges followed on May 20, and she pleaded guilty on July 9, 2026. CBS Minnesota noted that Shirley’s video alleged child care fraud, a program separate from Feeding Our Future. The Minnesota daycare file covers his reporting, and the full Minnesota fraud scandal puts the cases side by side.
Feeding Our Future FAQ
What was Feeding Our Future?
Feeding Our Future was a Minnesota nonprofit that sponsored meal sites in federal child nutrition programs; prosecutors proved it was the hub of a $250 million pandemic fraud.
Who is Aimee Bock?
Aimee Bock is the founder and former executive director of Feeding Our Future. She was convicted on March 19, 2025, and sentenced to 500 months on May 21, 2026.
How much money was stolen through Feeding Our Future?
Feeding Our Future fraud cost $250 million, according to federal prosecutors, and only about $50 million has been recovered.
How many people were charged in the Feeding Our Future case?
Feeding Our Future charges reached 79 people, with 66 convicted, by June 2026, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Is Feeding Our Future connected to Nick Shirley?
Feeding Our Future connects to Nick Shirley through Future Leaders Early Learning, a meal site in the scheme and a day care in his December 2025 video, whose owner pleaded guilty on July 9, 2026.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice: Feeding Our Future Ringleader Sentenced to 500 Months, May 22, 2026
- U.S. Department of Justice: U.S. Attorney Announces Federal Charges Against 47 Defendants in $250 Million Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme, September 20, 2022
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota: Five Defendants Found Guilty for Their Roles in $250 Million Fraud Scheme, June 7, 2024
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota: Federal Jury Finds Feeding Our Future Mastermind and Co-Defendant Guilty in $250 Million Fraud Scheme, March 19, 2025
- U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division: 2026 Minnesota health care fraud case summaries, July 29, 2026
- Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General (X): Post on Abdiaziz Shafii Farah’s 28-year sentence, December 29, 2025
- The Associated Press (via PBS NewsHour): Federal authorities charge 47 with stealing $250 million from food program for low-income children, September 20, 2022
- MPR News: Feds: 48 charged in ‘brazen’ $250M COVID spending fraud centered in Minnesota, September 20, 2022
- FOX 9: Feeding Our Future juror says she was given bag of $120K, June 3, 2024
- FOX 9: Feeding Our Future: Attempted juror bribe nets 5th guilty plea, August 21, 2025
- The Associated Press (via CityNews): Minnesota man gets 28 years for pandemic-era food fraud, August 6, 2025
- FOX 9: Man who bribed Feeding Our Future juror has been sentenced, March 4, 2026
- CNN: ‘Mastermind’ of $250M Minnesota theft scheme gets 500-month prison sentence as feds charge more people with fraud, May 21, 2026
- MPR News: Aimee Bock sentenced to 500 months in prison in Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, May 21, 2026
- Sahan Journal (from the Minnesota Star Tribune): Feeding Our Future ringleader Aimee Bock appeals her conviction, June 17, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Feeding Our Future juror briber gets 10 more years in prison; fraudster who jumped from balcony changes plea, July 22, 2026
- The Associated Press (via NEWS10): Half of $18B in federal funds for Minnesota-run programs may have been defrauded, official says, December 18, 2025
- WDIO: DOJ: Breakdown of ongoing fraud schemes in Minnesota, December 18, 2025
- CBS Minnesota: Day cares featured in Nick Shirley video sue Minnesota for throwing them “under the bus”, February 19, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minneapolis daycare owner charged with fraud tried to flee country days after closing center, prosecutors allege, May 20, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minnesota daycare owner pleads guilty to 2 fraud charges, July 9, 2026
Last updated October 29, 2026