Aimee Bock, described by prosecutors as the “mastermind” behind Minnesota’s massive COVID-era meal fraud scheme, now claims that “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was aware of the $250 million scam. Bock, founder of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, was convicted in March 2025 on charges including conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud for helping restaurant operators and food sites submit false or inflated reimbursement claims during the pandemic in order to obtain millions in federal child nutrition funds.
Advertisement “I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known,” Bock said of Omar.
Dozens of members of Minnesota’s Somali community have been convicted of fraudulently billing the state Department of Education for millions of meals they claimed were served to low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic while allegedly pocketing much of the money, said The Post.
Bock has consistently denied knowingly participating in the fraud scheme, maintaining that she attempted to warn state officials about irregularities
Advertisement According to court proceedings, her nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, reviewed reimbursement paperwork submitted by participating restaurants and meal sites before forwarding the claims and distributing federal funds tied to the program.
“The notion that I’m personally responsible for all of it . . .
is so frustrating. I’m the only white person out of 80 or 90 individuals [charged in the fraud]. I’m the only one that doesn’t speak the language,” she added.
Advertisement Omar played a key role in supporting pandemic era changes to federal meal program rules by introducing the MEALS Act in Congress in March 2020
Omar played a key role in supporting pandemic-era changes to federal meal program rules by introducing the MEALS Act in Congress in March 2020.
The legislation allowed the United States Department of Agriculture to issue waivers relaxing school meal program requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures that reduced oversight and allowed restaurants to participate without standard site inspections.
Bock has alleged that Omar later intervened when some of those waivers were set to expire, though Omar has denied wrongdoing and no charges against her have been announced, The Post noted.
There had been a couple times early on that there were some gaps – a waiver would be set to expire on maybe the 15th of a month, and then the renewal didn’t kick in until the 1st,” Bock said
Advertisement “Because of course this was supposed to be a short-term thing . . .
we were supposed to be home for two weeks,” she added.
Omar has faced renewed scrutiny over disclosures showing a significant increase in her reported wealth in recent years, which her office previously attributed to an accounting issue.
Omar’s name also surfaced multiple times in emails and text messages introduced as exhibits during the 2025 federal fraud trial of Bock
According to Bock, the communications involved requests for assistance related to federal meal program waivers after Feeding Our Future contacted Omar’s congressional office.
Those waivers allowed a large number of restaurants to participate in pandemic-era meal programs, including Safari Restaurant, where Omar filmed a promotional video in May 2020 stating that the restaurant was providing thousands of meals daily to children and families. The restaurant also hosted her 2018 election night event, The Post noted further.
Advertisement By July, Safari reported providing meals to 5,000 children daily
By July, Safari reported providing meals to 5,000 children daily. Its co-owner, Salim Said, was convicted of defrauding the government of $16 million—the highest amount in the scheme—and is currently awaiting sentencing.
“A lot of the sites were working directly with her, being that a lot of the operators were from the same Somali community,” Bock said of Somalia-born Omar.
“There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff — and I presume her personally — to work through some of those gaps with the waivers,” Bock said.