The Feeding Our Future Fraud: How a $250 Million Scheme Flourished by Weaponizing Racism Accusations

What unfolded in Minnesota between 2019 and 2022 wasn’t just the largest COVID-19 relief fraud in U.S. history — it was a case study in how fear of being labeled racist allowed criminals to steal staggering sums from taxpayers while regulators stood down.

Federal prosecutors have charged 78 defendants in the “Feeding Our Future” scandal, with more than 50 convictions or guilty pleas as of late 2025.
The Department of Justice says over $250 million was stolen, though total losses across related fraud schemes involving the same networks may exceed $1 billion.

This was not an accident. It was an operation — and one that flourished because state officials were bullied into silence.

How the Scheme Worked: Fake Meals, Fake Kids, Real Millions

Through the USDA’s Child Nutrition Program — expanded during the pandemic — Feeding Our Future (FOF), led by founder Aimee Bock, acted as a “sponsor” for more than 250 meal sites statewide.

But most of those “sites” weren’t serving meals at all.

The core mechanics:

Shell companies and fake nonprofits submitted inflated invoices for millions of nonexistent meals.

Rosters listed fake children — sometimes more kids than existed in entire neighborhoods.

Defendants laundered money using hawalas, wire transfers, and sham vendors.

The funds paid for luxury homes, cars, gold, international real estate, and personal expenses — not food.

According to prosecutors, less than 3% of the money went to actual meals.

FOF’s operations exploded from $3.4M in 2019 to nearly $200M in 2021 — despite glaring red flags.

And yet state officials approved site after site.

Why?

Weaponizing “Racism” to Shut Down Oversight

This is where the scandal becomes historically important — because it revealed a weakness in the system that goes beyond Minnesota.

When Minnesota’s Department of Education (MDE) began questioning impossible claims, FOF’s leadership — along with several operators in the Somali-American community — launched a coordinated strategy:

Accuse regulators of racism if they scrutinize us.

Internal emails released by the FBI and Legislative Auditor show:

FOF explicitly threatened to publicly smear MDE as racist.

They filed a civil rights discrimination lawsuit in 2020 accusing the agency of targeting “people of color” and “foreign-born” business owners.

Bock repeatedly claimed MDE was biased against Somali Americans and Muslims.

The fear of being branded anti-immigrant “created a chilling effect” inside MDE, according to the Legislative Auditor.

State employees testified that:

“We were afraid to push back. They used accusations of racism to intimidate us.”

As a result, payments resumed — and the fraud ballooned unchecked for another year.

This is not speculation. This is documented in:

DOJ indictments

E-mails between FOF and MDE

Minnesota Office of Legislative Auditor’s 2023 report

MDE testimony before legislative committees

Multiple fraud investigators said the exploitation of anti-racism norms was core to the scheme’s success.

Key Players and Sentences

While Feeding Our Future’s founder Aimee Bock, a white woman, was convicted as the ringleader, 77 of 78 defendants charged are Somali-born or Somali-American operators.

Some notable cases:

Name
Role
Status
Amount

Abdiaziz Farah
Major site operator
28-year sentence
$10M+

Salim Said
Fraud vendor
Convicted
$2.2M+

Najmo Ahmed
Launderer
Guilty plea
$4.2M

Abdirashid Bixi Dool
Fake nonprofit leader
Charged (late 2025)
$1.1M

Muna Wais Fidhin
Bribed FOF officials
Charged
~$1M

One bizarre scandal involved a defendant trying to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash.

Did Any Money Reach Al-Shabaab?

Some media outlets — particularly conservative sources — have claimed the fraud funneled money to Al-Shabaab through hawala networks.
Here is the factual status:

DOJ has NOT charged any defendant with terrorism financing.

However, investigators acknowledge that money sent to Somalia through hawala systems can be subject to extortion fees imposed by Al-Shabaab in areas they control.

Analysts estimate “indirect” leakage is possible but unquantified.

In other words: no direct link has been proven, but the structure of the fraud created plausible national-security exposure.

Political Fallout: Minnesota’s Leadership in the Crosshairs

The scandal has fueled enormous political blowback in Minnesota.

Governor Tim Walz

Walz has been accused — including by nearly 400 state DHS whistleblowers — of:

Ignoring early warnings

Discouraging scrutiny for fear of racial optics

Retaliating against internal whistleblowers

Walz denies wrongdoing, arguing his administration cooperated fully once the FBI intervened.

Rep. Ilhan Omar

Omar has urged the public not to “demonize Somali Americans,” but critics accuse her of ignoring the fraud’s scale and using the same rhetoric that shielded the criminals.