Nonprofit fraudsters convicted for swiping COVID cash from hungry kids to bankroll lavish lifestyle



A federal jury convicted Feeding Our Future founder, Aimee Bock, and her co-defendant, Salim Ahmed Said, for their roles in a $250 million COVID fund fraud scheme.

Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit, joined a federally funded child nutrition program that provided meals for school activities. During the COVID-era, the U.S. Department of Agriculture eased participation rules, including allowing for-profit restaurants to join and permitting food distribution beyond education programs.

'Falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals.'

Workers with Feeding Our Future were tasked with recruiting individuals and entities to open sites in Minnesota to support the nutrition program. The nonprofit opened more than 250 sites throughout the state.

"These sites, created and operated by Bock, Said, and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed. Bock and Said created and submitted false documentation, including fraudulent meal counts consisting of fake attendance rosters purporting to list the names and ages of the children receiving meals at the sites each day," read a press release from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office.

"To accomplish their scheme, Bock and Said created dozens of shell companies to enroll in the program as food program sites, and to receive and launder the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme," it continued.

The jury found that Feeding Our Future fraudulently received and disbursed over $240 million in federal funding.

Instead of using the cash to feed hungry children, the organizations bought "luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel."

Bock, 44, was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.

Said, 36, was convicted on 20 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.

Bock and Said are being held without bail while they await sentencing.

Kenneth Udoibok, Bock's attorney, stated that they plan to appeal, claiming that the jury did not consider all of the evidence fairly.

Seventy defendants, including Bock and Said, have been charged in the case.

Lead prosecutor, Joe Thompson, stated that only $60 million of the $250 million has been recovered.

Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said, "Aimee Bock and Salim Said took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to carry out a massive fraud scheme that stole money meant to feed children."

"The defendants falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which they fraudulently received nearly $250 million in federal funds. That money did not go to feed kids," Kirkpatrick continued. "Instead, it was used to fund their lavish lifestyles. Today's verdict sends a message to the community that fraud against the government will not be tolerated."

Governor Tim Walz (D), who has received criticism for not catching the egregious fraud sooner, stated, "We just need to make sure that we put up more firewalls, more security, more ability to make sure that these criminals aren't able to prey on this."

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Refugee awarded by Tim Walz pleads guilty to role in giant COVID-related fraud scheme



A refugee in Minnesota who once received an award from the Walz administration has pled guilty for participating in the largest known COVID-related scam in America.

On Friday, 43-year-old Ayan Farah Abukar, who lives just outside Minneapolis in Savage, Minnesota, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the Feeding Our Future case.

Following the COVID pandemic, the Minnesota Department of Education began allocating federal resources from the Federal Child Nutrition Program to the organizations Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care, with the expectation that the organizations would use the money to help Minnesota children in need, the Sahan Journal explained.

Abukar became involved through the organization she founded, Action for East African People. As executive director, Abukar partnered Action for East African People with Feeding Our Future and another group identified only as Sponsor A in the DOJ press release.

'Here is Tim Walz & Ayan Abukar (Defendant #58) the architect of a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded program for hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic.'

Unfortunately, Abukar and her fellow co-defendants apparently did not follow the federal directives regarding the money. "The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than feed children, the defendants enriched themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds," the press release said.

According to the press release, Abukar spent two years boasting that she was feeding a total of 5,000 children a day in Bloomington, Minneapolis, Savage, and St. Paul, when in fact she was pocketing $5.7 million in misappropriated funds from the Child Nutrition Program and in turn paying a program employee $330,000 in kickbacks. She then used the money to splurge on luxury items like a 37-acre property in Minnesota and an aircraft in Kenya.

According to the Sahan Journal, Abukar is one of 70 defendants associated with the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme. Her sentencing hearing is yet to be scheduled.

Abukar and her work with Action for East African People have been well known among state leaders for years. In July 2021, Abukar even received an award at a ceremony for "outstanding refugees" held by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

The department claimed that Abukar and Action for East African People worked "to eliminate barriers to health care, employment, food, and housing for the East African community."

Mshale, an outlet based in Minneapolis and dedicated to the "African community," offered several photographs from the award ceremony, including one featuring failed vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Abukar. The Facebook page for Action for East African People, which no longer appears to be active, claimed that Abukar received an award for "her contributions to our state in entrepreneurship," according to a screenshot.

House Agriculture Committee Republicans likewise shared an apparent screenshot of Abukar posing alongside Walz. "Here is Tim Walz & Ayan Abukar (Defendant #58) the architect of a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded program for hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic," the message attending the photo read.

The committee claimed to have subpoenaed Walz, the state Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "demanding answers" regarding Abukar.

Gov. Walz's office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Woman allegedly attempts to bribe juror on COVID fraud case with $120K — all 7 defendants arrested



A juror on a case of alleged COVID fraud in Minneapolis has been dismissed and all seven defendants arrested after a woman allegedly dropped off a bag full of cash in hopes of securing an acquittal.

Just before 9 p.m. on Sunday, a woman who appeared to be Somali, wearing a long dress and who spoke with an accent, rang the doorbell at the home of a 23-year-old woman impaneled on a jury for one of the largest COVID-funding fraud cases in the nation.

An inspection of the defendants' phones revealed that all 'have had access' to information that would have identified Juror 52.

The case involves seven defendants of East African descent accused of buying expensive property, jewelry, cars, and other luxury items with $41 million allocated to Feeding Our Future, an organization entrusted with providing food for underprivileged children. The case is part of a larger case involving 70 total defendants and $250 million in allegedly stolen funds. So far, 18 defendants have pled guilty, and $50 million has been recovered, the AP reported.

The Somali woman who arrived at the juror's home spoke with the juror's father-in-law and allegedly handed him a decorative bag filled with rolled up bills totaling $120,000. The woman even allegedly referred to the juror by her first name.

"This is for Juror 52," a note accompanying the bag allegedly said. "Tell her there will be another bag for her if she votes to acquit."

Juror 52 was not home at the time. When she returned, her father-in-law explained the situation, and the juror immediately called 911. The bag full of cash is now in the custody of the FBI.

"It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information was conspiring with, at minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe," read an affidavit.

In the courtroom on Monday morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson explained the incident of alleged jury tampering without the jury present. "This is outrageous behavior. This is the stuff that happens in mob movies," he said. "It really strikes at the heart of this case."

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel was similarly concerned. She ordered the defendants' phones to be seized and the jury to be sequestered. "I don’t do it lightly, but I want to ensure a fair trial," she said.

Brasel also dismissed Juror 52 — described by the Sahan Journal as perhaps "the person of color on the jury" — and questioned the other jurors and alternates, asking them individually whether they had received similar attempted bribes. All replied in the negative.

Confident that the trial could proceed, Brasel then authorized the defense teams to make their closing arguments, which were followed by a rebuttal from the prosecution. The case was then given to the jury for deliberation.

Until Monday, the seven defendants — Abdiwahab Aftin, Abdiaziz Farah, Said Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Nur, Hayat Nur, and Mukhtar Shariff — had been released on their own recognizance. But following the alleged bribe, Brasel overruled the objections of defense attorneys and had all the defendants rearrested. They will be kept in custody until the jury has reached a verdict.

An inspection of the defendants' phones revealed that all "have had access" to information that would have identified Juror 52, according to a search warrant affidavit.

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'Historic levels of fraud': US government admits scam artists stole $45.6 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits, feds say dead people exploited



A federal watchdog estimates that fraudsters stole $45.6 billion in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The historic level of fraud is triple the amount that the U.S. government previously estimated. Some of the scam artists exploited dead people to file illegitimate unemployment claims, while others were fraud schemes carried out by street gangs.

In June 2021, the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department "identified more than $16 billion in potentially fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) pandemic benefits paid in four specific high-risk areas" since March 2020. On Thursday, the inspector general for the Department of Labor revealed that an additional $29.6 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits were paid during the pandemic.

The inspector general listed the high-risk areas as multistate claims, suspicious emails, federal prisoners, and deceased persons. Of the $45.6 billion in fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits, nearly $29 billion was from multistate claims, over $16 billion from suspicious emails, $267 million stolen by federal prisoners, and nearly $140 million taken by people posing as dead people.

"We determined 205,766 Social Security numbers of deceased persons were used to file claims for UI pandemic benefits," the report stated.

More than 1.7 million Social Security numbers were associated with suspicious email accounts that were suspected of stealing $16.2 billion in unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

In the five months after March 2020, over 57 million people filed claims with the unemployment insurance program.

"As the DOL-OIG reported, states struggled to handle the substantial increase in the volume of UI claims and to determine that benefits were paid to the right person in the correct amount," said the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General.

From March 2020 until July 2021, U.S. federal and state governments paid out roughly $794 billion in unemployment benefits, according to the Department of Labor.

The DOL-OIG stated that it is focusing on "large-scale identity theft schemes involving multiple victims and organized criminal groups, including street gangs."

In one case, 11 members of a gang were charged with allegedly obtaining $4.3 million in fraudulent unemployment benefits. The gang members are suspected of using the identification of "more than 800 victims to submit nearly 1,000 claims for UI benefits."

Investigations by the DOL-OIG resulted in more than 1,000 people being charged with unemployment insurance fraud since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This milestone of 1,000 individuals being charged with crimes involving UI fraud and the identification of $45.6 billion in potentially fraudulent UI payments highlights the magnitude of this problem," inspector general Larry D. Turner said in a statement released on Thursday. "Hundreds of billions in pandemic funds attracted fraudsters seeking to exploit the UI program—resulting in historic levels of fraud and other improper payments."

Since the pandemic began, there have only been 400 convictions of unemployment insurance fraud.

In March, the Department of Justice announced in a press release that 1,000 people have been hit with criminal charges for pandemic-related fraud schemes involving unemployment insurance, the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, and COVID-19 health care fraud. The 1,000 defendants are suspected of $1.1 billion in losses and pandemic relief loans totaling more than $6 billion.