Aimee Bock, who established the fraudulent Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, recently indicated to the New York Post that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was aware of the $250 million fraud scheme orchestrated by the nonprofit during the COVID-19 crisis.
Bock, aged 45, was found guilty in March 2025 on charges including conspiracy and wire fraud linked to the state’s most significant COVID-era fraud case. She insists she did not knowingly engage in fraudulent activities and that she tried to notify state authorities about inconsistencies.
Speaking from jail while awaiting her sentence, Bock expressed disbelief that Omar was unaware of the situation. She referenced several interactions between Feeding Our Future and Omar’s office, claiming that staff responded to requests for help on U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers that enabled the program to operate with leniency.
Connections to Ilhan Omar
Documents from Bock’s trial, which have come to light recently, show Omar’s name featured at least six times in communication related to the nonprofit. One email from February 5, 2021, sought assistance with the USDA food program, while another was titled “Ilhan’s Office.”
Additionally, a text exchange between Bock and Omar emerged during a raid of Bock’s home, though the details of those messages remain sealed for now.
Bock stated that Omar played an active role in ensuring the program’s adaptability, affirming that her input helped fill certain gaps when waivers lapsed. The congresswoman sponsored the MEALS Act in March 2020, which allowed the USDA to implement pandemic-related waivers for school-meal initiatives, circumventing regular site inspections and expanding eligibility to various non-traditional food providers.
Omar even participated in a promotional video for the Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis in May 2020, one of the program’s primary participants. In that video, she claimed the restaurant was serving 2,300 meals daily to families in need.
However, the restaurant’s co-owner, Salim Said, later faced conviction for defrauding the government of $16 million, the highest amount in this case, and is now awaiting sentencing. Omar held her 2018 election night event at the same venue.
Bock noted that a number of meal sites operated by members of Minnesota’s Somali community—representing a significant portion of the population in Omar’s Fifth Congressional District—maintained direct communications with Omar’s office. “Many of the sites were engaging her office, given the operators’ connections to the Somali community,” Bock remarked to the New York Post.
Aimee Bock (the woman below) said the government used her as a scapegoat and believes it was aware of the rampant fraud. She is awaiting sentencing.
“I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known,” Bock said of Omar.
When you sleep with dogs, don’t be surprised when you… pic.twitter.com/CI5og2R8Kb
— Jon Jerret (@Spookey2th) May 16, 2026
Feeding Our Future, a relatively small Minnesota nonprofit, partnered with the USDA to allocate federal child nutrition funds. During the pandemic, the organization processed reimbursement claims from local entities that claimed to provide meals to disadvantaged children.
Investigations revealed that numerous claims were either entirely fabricated or exaggerated, particularly from the Somali community in Minnesota, leading to misappropriation of federal funds for personal luxuries instead of meal provisions.
This fraud resulted in an estimated $250 million in taxpayer losses and has implicated over 80 individuals in criminal charges. Notably, Bock was the sole individual charged who did not speak Somali, a detail she emphasized in her interview.
