Aimee Bock, 45, founder and executive director of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, was sentenced May 21, 2026 to 500 months in federal prison, the equivalent of more than 41 years, for orchestrating a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, presiding in Minneapolis, also ordered Bock to pay $243 million in restitution [1][2]. The sentence ranks among the longest imposed in connection with pandemic-era federal program fraud in the United States [1].
The scheme targeted the Child and Adult Care Food Program, a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative that provides reimbursements for meals served to low-income children [1]. Bock used Feeding Our Future as an umbrella sponsor to enroll dozens of purported food-distribution sites, which prosecutors alleged submitted fabricated meal counts and fictitious invoices to draw down federal reimbursements [2][3]. Funds were then diverted for personal enrichment and laundered through a network of associated individuals and shell entities [2]. The fraud exploited regulatory flexibilities that the federal government extended to nutrition programs during the pandemic, when in-person oversight was curtailed [3].
Bock was convicted following trial. Judge Brasel characterized the scheme as a "fraud vortex" with Bock at its center [2][3]. On the same day as sentencing, federal prosecutors announced new charges against 15 additional individuals for defrauding Minnesota social service programs, a development the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota framed as a continuing enforcement effort tied to the broader investigation [1]. The FBI Minneapolis Field Office led the investigative work [1].
The case has drawn scrutiny to the speed with which federal pandemic relief programs were deployed and the oversight gaps that accompanied emergency waivers. Dozens of defendants have been charged across the broader Feeding Our Future investigation, and several co-defendants have already pleaded guilty or been sentenced [3]. With the new charges filed simultaneously with Bock's sentencing, the government signaled that the enforcement sweep remains active. Appeals are expected, and the restitution order, totaling $243 million, will test the practical limits of collection given the number of defendants and the dispersal of assets across the scheme [2][3].