Feeding Our Future co-defendants guilty on all counts in meal fraud scheme

A federal jury found two co-defendants guilty on all counts for their roles in the Feeding Our Future meal fraud scheme. Hubbard Broadcasting’s, KSTP has been following this case since it began. The jury came back with a verdict on Wednesday.

Aimee Bock, the now-defunct nonprofit’s founder and executive director, and Salim Said, co-owner of a Minneapolis restaurant that was under Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship, were found to have conspired to steal $250 million in taxpayer funds. The verdicts appear below.

WATCH: Federal prosecutors react to jury verdict in Feeding Our Future trial

During closing arguments on Tuesday, lawyers for the government and defense took turns assigning blame for what has been called the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme in the country, according to KSTP.

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Bock and Said were charged with multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. Said was also charged with money laundering. Bock allegedly pocketed nearly $2 million, while Said was accused of taking around $5 million. They both maintained their innocence and testified at trial.

In closing arguments, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Bock and Said exploited the chaos of the early days of the the pandemic by submitting falsified paperwork to enrich themselves and failed to provide anywhere near as many meals to needy children as they claimed.

Defense attorneys did not dispute that there was massive fraud but insisted that their clients were not responsible for it.

Bock’s attorney said she was deceived by dishonest people and tried to cut them off whenever she suspected fraud. Said’s attorney blamed his client’s business partner.

Federal prosecutors alleged that the conspiracy revolved around Feeding Our Future and another small nonprofit that were approved as sponsors of the Federal Child Nutrition Program before the pandemic.

They dramatically grew as the pandemic took hold, and Feeding Our Future went from receiving and disbursing $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. Food sites it sponsored falsely claimed to be serving thousands of children daily, prosecutors allege.

Besides fraudulently obtaining and disbursing more than $240 million in federal funds, prosecutors say, Bock and other Feeding Our Future employees solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from other participants connected with the scheme.

Bock and Said were in the second group to stand trial in what prosecutors call one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases anywhere. Jury selection began early in February. The first trial resulted in the conviction of five people in 2024 and received widespread attention after some defendants and people linked with them allegedly tried — unsuccessfully — to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash. The juror went straight to police instead.

According to earlier reports, 70 defendants were charged in the overall case. At least thirty of them have pleaded guilty to various charges. One defendant from the first trial was sentenced in February to 17 1/2 years, the longest prison term handed down in the case so far.

The jury’s verdict is as follows:

The food aid came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was administered by the state Department of Education. Nonprofits and other partners under the program were supposed to serve meals to kids.

Two of the groups involved, Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition, were small nonprofits before the pandemic, but in 2021 they disbursed around $200 million each. Prosecutors alleged they produced invoices for meals that were never served, ran shell companies, laundered money, indulged in passport fraud, and accepted kickbacks.