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A woman convicted for her role in a major COVID-19 pandemic fraud scheme in Minnesota is placing blame on state officials, saying regulators failed to act on warnings that could have prevented the abuse of a federally funded program.
Kenneth Udoibok, the attorney for Aimee Bock, founder of Feeding Our Future, stated that his client reported potential fraud to the state and the attorney general’s office in 2020 and 2021. He mentioned that she even invited officials to examine boxes of documentation related to the claims, but they never responded or came to review the materials.
“The governor’s office is responsible ultimately for what his agencies do. He’s the governor, after all, and Feeding Our Future through Ms. Bock reported to MDE, one of his agencies, fraudulent organizations,” Udoibok said.
Through Udiobok, Bock said she alerted Minnesota officials to problems within the child nutrition reimbursement system during the pandemic but that the concerns were not addressed. The program was later exploited in what federal prosecutors have described as one of the largest pandemic-era fraud cases in the country.
“That’s a fact, and his agencies did nothing about that. The Attorney General’s office was invited by Feeding Our Future to come to Feeding Our Future and review documents, boxes, close to 100 boxes of the operation of Feeding Our Future. They declined,” the attorney noted further, per NewsNation.
Bock was convicted in March 2025 of wire fraud and other charges related to a $250 million scheme, the largest known COVID-19 fraud case in the country.
In a 2021 audio recording obtained by NewsNation, Ellison expressed support for members of the Somali community, some of whom later faced convictions in the Feeding Our Future fraud case, while they discussed campaign donations to him and his family.
An unidentified male says in the recording: “To protect and keep what we have, and the only way we can protect what we have is by inserting ourselves into the political arena, putting our votes where it needs to be, but most importantly, putting our dollars in the right place, and supporting candidates that will fight to protect our interests.”
“That’s right,” Ellison responded.
Later in the recording, he says, “We are in the middle of the battle with the agencies now.”
Ellison added minutes later: “Walz agrees with me that this piddly, stupid stuff running small people out of business is terrible.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Ellison says, “Of course, I’m here to help,” and “Let’s go fight these people.”
The tape raises concerns about a potential quid pro quo, as Ellison offered to oppose state agencies while receiving contributions from related individuals.
In an April op-ed to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Ellison defended his actions: “I took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know, and some turned out to have done bad things. I did nothing for them and took nothing from them.”
In April testimony before the Minnesota House Oversight Committee, Ellison said: “I guess I don’t agree that I did anything wrong other than listen to people who ended up being liars.”
Udoibok asserts that the Somali immigrants currently in prison did not steal millions on their own — they received assistance from state officials who witnessed the fraud, did nothing, and lied about what they knew and when.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the federal government will pursue all individuals involved in Minnesota’s fraud schemes, regardless of their position or location.
“We follow the money, and we intend to follow it as much as we can, prosecute the individuals, no matter where they are, whether they are in the Minnesota government or they are sitting in East Africa, we will find them,” Bessent said at a press conference.
Prosecutors say the fraud schemes involved the submission of false meal counts and inflated invoices, allowing defendants to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds intended to provide food to children during school closures.
More than 50 people have been charged in the investigation, with many pleading guilty.
