On Thursday, May 21, a judge sentenced the leader of a Minnesota nonprofit organization to more than 40 years in prison for a nearly $250 million COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud scheme that exploited federal child nutrition programs.
Amy Bock, one of 70 people charged in the case, was found guilty of her role by a jury in March 2025, along with co-defendant and former restaurant owner Salim Ahmed Said.
Bock is the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, whose employees recruited restaurant owners and others to open food distribution sites across Minnesota during the pandemic.
“These sites, created and operated by Mr. Bock, Mr. Syed, and others, fraudulently claimed to be feeding thousands of children a day within just days and weeks of their creation,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said in a statement.
“This was a vortex of fraud, and you were at the epicenter of it,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Brassell told Bock during a sentencing hearing in Minneapolis federal court, the USA TODAY Network’s St. Cloud Times reported.
“I made a mistake, a lot of mistakes,” Bock, 45, said at the sentencing hearing. “If I could go back, I would do everything differently. I don’t have the words to express how awful I feel.”
What happened in Feeding our Future?
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Bock and Syed oversaw a “large-scale fraud scheme” in Minneapolis “perpetrated by sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future.”
The program was tied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s federal child nutrition program, which provides meals to children in need. This resource was expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for-profit restaurants to operate federally funded food distribution sites as long as they are sponsored by nonprofit organizations.
Prosecutors alleged that restaurant owners and others bribed Feeding Our Future employees to get the organization to sponsor the fake distribution site. The participants then spent the federal funds directed to the location on personal purchases such as luxury cars, homes, jewelry, and resorts overseas.
As USA TODAY previously reported, prosecutors accused Bock of being the “ringleader.”
The case gained further attention in 2024, when five people were charged with conspiring to bribe jurors to the tune of $120,000. Dozens of other defendants have already pleaded guilty in the case, and at least seven others have been sentenced, prosecutors said.
Earlier this year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz suspended his re-election bid following widespread pressure within his administration over the scandal.
What was Amy Bock charged with?
Bock and Syed, 37, were charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery, according to court records. Mr. Said was also charged with multiple counts of money laundering.
“Amy Bock and Salim Said took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to carry out a massive fraud scheme to steal money intended to support their children,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick said in a statement after they were sentenced.
“Defendants falsely claimed to have provided 91 million meals and fraudulently received approximately $250 million in federal funds in return. That money was not used to support their children, but to fund their lavish lifestyles,” she added.
Contributed by: Alisa Chen and the Minnesota Reformers
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
