Opening statements are set for Monday morning in the second trial to stem from what federal prosecutors say was the “single largest” fraud scheme perpetrated in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors contend that Aimee Bock, the founder of the defunct Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding Our Future, was at the center of a conspiracy to fleece taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs out of $250 million.
Bock, 44, is facing trial along with Salim Said, 36, a former co-owner of Safari Restaurant on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Safari allegedly siphoned $16 million from government coffers by submitting fraudulent reimbursement requests for more than two million meals for children in need during the pandemic.
Abdulkadir Nur Salah and his brother Abdi Nur Salah, who were set to face trial with Bock and Said, each pleaded guilty to separate counts of wire fraud on Jan. 28. They are among 70 defendants charged in the wider case since September 2022. Including the Salah brothers, 34 people have entered guilty pleas.
Prosecutors say that the scheme spread “like an aggressive cancer” after state and federal regulators initially allowed restaurants to participate in the Summer Food Service Program and Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The programs, which have been in place since the late 1960s, were meant to ensure that children in need can receive subsidized meals at sites such as child care centers when school is not in session. The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the programs, and the Minnesota Department of Education disburses federal funds on the state level.
Minnesota Legislative Auditor Judy Randall issued a scathing report in June that found MDE approved Feeding Our Future’s applications for meal sites despite concerns that these sites served little or no food and were a cover for fraud.
Last Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel seated a jury of 16 people, including four alternates. As is typical in federal trials, the jurors’ names are known only to the judge, attorneys, and defendants.
Brasel is imposing additional measures to protect jurors’ privacy after a juror in the first trial reported that someone had delivered a Hallmark gift bag containing $120,000 to her home and promised more cash in exchange for an acquittal. Bock and Said are allowed to view paper copies of juror questionnaires but must hand over any notes that they take to their attorneys.
Reporters and the public were allowed to watch the daylong jury selection process, known as voir dire, on computer monitors from another courtroom four floors below. Potential jurors’ faces were not visible on the screen, but viewers were able to hear Brasel’s questions and the jurors’ answers.
Despite three years of media coverage of the investigation and indictments, many of the potential jurors Brasel interviewed had only heard about the case in passing, if at all. The panel that’s set to hear testimony in the trial includes six people who work in health care, two employed in public works, and a TSA agent. The court did not make public the jurors’ ages or hometowns.
Bock and Said are expected to present evidence that they operated legitimate organizations that served real food to real kids.
Last week Said’s defense attorney Michael Colich filed a list of potential trial exhibits with the court that includes photos of food in to-go containers, images of Said and other Safari staff wearing COVID masks with the restaurant’s logo and invoices from food suppliers.
Since filing the first set of charges in September 2022, prosecutors have acknowledged that the defendants distributed some food legitimately, but this was a cover for fraudulent claims.
Kenneth Udoibok, who represents Bock, notes in a separate filing that MDE “reviewed and approved Feeding Our Future’s policies and procedures” multiple times, and that his client cooperated with state officials when they raised concerns about rapid growth in revenue at the nonprofit.
Bock’s 35-page list of trial exhibits includes emails about traffic complaints at Safari, as well as invoices, menus, photos, and meal count sheets from food service sites.
Bock and Said’s trial is expected to last through February. Brasel has scheduled additional trials in the Feeding Our Future case through mid-November.