Feeding Our Future boss Aimee Bock called an all-hands meeting and told her accomplices to stop “flaunting” their wealth as a federal investigation zeroed in on their alleged fraud, FBI Special Agent Jared Kary told a jury Thursday.
Kary took the stand for a second day as he explained how he helped uncover Bock’s alleged facilitation of a scheme to defraud the federal government of $250 million in child nutrition funds.
On trial with Bock is Salim Said, who co-owned Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis and ASA Limited, which operated a food site out of a deli in St. Paul.
Bock’s organization acted as a sponsor for food distribution sites across the state and allegedly accepted kickbacks in exchange. The participants are accused of asking for millions of dollars in reimbursements from the government for meals they never served—meals that were supposed to go to children during the pandemic. In Minnesota, the federal nutrition programs are administered by the state Department of Education.
The jury was shown an email Thursday sent to Bock in December 2021 by Feeding Our Future employee Norma Acosta Lopez, who has not been charged in the case or accused of any wrongdoing.
“They strongly believe you are doing fraud and you are not answering their questions,” she wrote, apparently referring to other employees who were scared to “question the boss.”
At some point around this time, Bock called a meeting at Feeding Our Future’s headquarters and “told people to stop spending and flaunting their money because it would be exposed,” Kary said, basing the comments off of interviews he conducted during the investigation.
Participants in the scheme are accused of using the proceeds to purchase expensive homes and vehicles. Said, for instance, spent $3.5 million on real estate in the span of two weeks, “all child food money,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert said.
He then displayed seven-figure checks made out to Safari Restaurant and signed by Bock. “Checks of this magnitude continue on and on,” Ebert said.
“Correct,” Kary replied.
The FBI raided Feeding Our Future’s offices about a month after Lopez’s email was sent.
The jury also viewed surveillance video from cameras the FBI set up outside of Safari Restaurant. Defense attorneys pointed out that the video showed delivery drivers dropping off apparent boxes of food on multiple days while others were captured loading boxes and bags into the backs of their vehicles.
Ebert asked Kary if the volume of food delivered to the restaurant—he said about six to eight boxes a day—was enough to feed 6,000 kids a day, like Safari claimed.
“Not at all,” Kary said.
“Do you in your household fit 6,000 meals in your vehicle at one time?” Ebert commented.
Said’s attorney appeared to imply through his line of questioning that Kary is not familiar with Somali cuisine or how it is portioned out and served. He seemed to want the jury to come away with the belief that a large amount of food could fit into a small number of boxes or containers. He also noted that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar once served food at Safari Restaurant.
Stacy Koppen
The next government witness called to the stand was Stacy Koppen, nutrition services director for St. Paul Public Schools.
She began her testimony by describing the massive operation she oversees, which consists of 325 employees and a 37,000-square-foot central kitchen out of which seven trucks deliver food to 60 buildings every day.
“It’s not a small operation,” she explained. She said the district participates in the federal nutrition programs.
“Do you believe this number of meals could have been handed out, prepared from a modest sit-down restaurant?” she was asked regarding ASA Limited’s claim of serving 3,000 meals a day to kids in St. Paul.
“No,” Koppen replied.
“Do you believe these meals were handed out to children?” a prosecutor asked.
“I do not,” she said.
Koppen testified that schools in her district were “bursting at the seams” trying to serve far fewer meals than ASA Limited.
“In a very large space, we would not be able to do this number of meals,” she said.
Throughout the trial, Bock’s attorneys have argued that she did all she could to conduct oversight of the meal sites but was lied to and is now being blamed for the Department of Education’s failures.
The court adjourned shortly after noon on Thursday and will resume on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
