The $250 Million Covid Relief Fraud in MN

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The indictment against Bock, executive director of the now-defunct nonprofit Feeding Our Future, is part of a sweeping federal investigation into the alleged theft of money from two programs meant to feed mostly children in daycare and afterschool settings. Overall, federal prosecutors allege individuals stole more than $250 million—the largest COVID pandemic fraud in the country.

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The investigation implicated a total of 47 people across six indictments (or charging documents), including well-known local restaurateurs and former political appointees for the city of Minneapolis.

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Feeding Our Future received hundreds of millions of dollars from these two federal programs from 2019 through 2021 and passed the money down to hundreds of mostly immigrant-run nonprofits across the state, according to records from the Minnesota Department of Education.

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During the pandemic, when schools and their free meals were shut down, these reimbursements amounted to millions of dollars each month. Feeding Our Future received $3.4 million in federal food-aid money in 2019, $43 million in 2020, and $198 million in 2021.

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The search warrants alleged that Bock took a $310,000 kickback from a co-owner of Safari Restaurant, which was a contractor with Feeding Our Future. Bock is also alleged to have stolen $600,000 from the federal government by using a shell company run by her boyfriend. The warrants alleged that Bock used some of the $310,000 money on personal purchases at HOM Furniture and an Eagan mall, and spent more than $15,000 at a car dealership. The search warrants also alleged that Bock used the money to write a $70,000 cashier’s check to her ex-husband.

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Bock’s boyfriend allegedly spent more than $40,000 of the federal money on a weeklong junket in Las Vegas, according to the warrants. There, he allegedly paid $21,000 for a rental car, $9,000 at Caesar’s Palace, $6,700 at Gucci, and $3,500 at Louis Vuitton.

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Previously, we’ve covered the Safari Restaurant story and their close connections to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and other Minneapolis-based politicians. A recent visit to the restaurant confirms that it is permanently closed.

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