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The former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit was reportedly sentenced Thursday to nearly 42 years in prison for orchestrating a $250 million pandemic relief fraud scheme.
Aimee Bock, who headed the nonprofit “Feeding Our Future,” was convicted last year on charges of conspiracy, fraud and bribery.
While the organization claimed to be feeding millions of needy children during the pandemic, the Justice Department described the operation as the “single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country,” The Associated Press reported.
A TIMELINE OF THE ‘LARGEST COVID-19 FRAUD SCHEME’ IN THE UNITED STATES
Prosecutors told the court the nonprofit functioned as a “cash pipeline,” relying on a web of fake distribution sites, fabricated lists of children and kickbacks.
Bock and her co-conspirators funneled the stolen taxpayer funds into lavish personal purchases, including real estate, luxury cars and international travel, the outlet reported.
During sentencing, Bock told the federal court, “I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone.”
MINNESOTA RESIDENTS SLAM WALZ, STATE OVERSIGHT AFTER $250M FEEDING OUR FUTURE FRAUD
Her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, argued she should serve no more than three years, insisting she provided critical information to investigators and was unfairly scapegoated, the AP reported.
Former lead prosecutor Joe Thompson countered that Bock “did everything she could to earn this long sentence” and that the case “changed our state forever.”
The sprawling investigation has led to the convictions of dozens of people, many hailing from the state’s large Somali community.
MASSIVE MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME PUTS MINNESOTA’S FEDERAL FUNDING AT RISK — AND FALLOUT COULD WIDEN
Authorities are continuing to uncover broader social service fraud in Minnesota, with new charges filed this week against suspects accused of stealing millions through fraudulent Medicaid housing subsidies, illicit childcare center reimbursements, and more than $21 million billed for unnecessary or unprovided autism therapy.
The Feeding Our Future scheme spurred the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter, which led to violent protests and multiple fatal federal officer-involved shootings.
President Donald Trump previously labeled the state a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and claimed “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing.”
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The majority of the Somali-descendant defendants are U.S. citizens, according to the AP.
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