Prosecutors charge 47 ‘pandemic fraudsters’ who fleeced anti-hunger children’s charities to buy commercial real estate, luxury cars, fancy homes and even a coastal property in Kenya
Prosecutors have charged 47 people in connection with a multimillion-dollar scheme to steal money from anti-hunger programs during the pandemic – using their ill-gotten gains on luxury items.
The case lodged in Minnesota, claims that the group stole $240 million by billing the government for meals for children that did not exist.
It is thought to be the largest fraud claim uncovered in any pandemic-relief program to date.
The federal Child and Adult Care Program and Summer Food Service Program are used to feed adults and children in daycair and afterschool organizations and spend around $4billion a year.
Court documents claim that the co-conspirators were ‘bold’ in their claims to the government.
One of the defendants said that he fed 5,000 children a day in a second story apartment in Minnesota.
The indictment names Aimee Bock, executive director of non-profit Feeding Our Future, as part of the federal investigation into the fraud.
Aimee Bock, 41, is accused of knowingly putting through the fraudulent claims for her contractors and wrackign up millions in fraud
The case lodged in Minnesota , claims that the group stole $240 million by billing the government for meals for children that did not exist
Andrew Luger, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, announced the charges at a press conference on Tuesday
The scheme reportedly pulled in millions of dollars a week because government officials trusted Bock to act as a ‘watchdog’ to stop the fraud.
However those who were meant to prevent fraudsters targeting the system were allowed to keep 10 to 15 percent of the money that flowed through them.
Andrew Luger, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, said at a press conference: ‘This is a scheme that begins with Aimee Bock and Feeding Our Future.’
Bock, 41, has denied allegations against her, and defended herself and her now-defunct organization in previous interviews.
She appeared at the federal courthouse on Tuesday morning, and is one of the 47 people implicated across six indictments and charging documents.
The indictments claim that Bock ‘exploited’ the pandemic to ‘enrich’ her own company and was only stopped when the FBI served search warrants in the case in January.
Feeding Our Future would supply the Minnesota Department of Education with reports on the number of meals their contractors served.
Those reports would then be sent to the federal government for compensation, and the money would be passed down to its contractors.
During the pandemic, when schools and free meals were shut down, the reimbursements added up to millions a month.
Feeding Our Future received $3.4 million in federal food-aid money in 2019, $43 million in 2020, and $198 million in 2021.
Bock is accused in the indictment of overseeing a ‘massive scheme to defraud’ and submitting the reports despite knowing they were fraudulent.
Well-known restaurateurs and former political appointees for Minneapolis are also embroiled in the fraudulent plot.
This is a developing story