Aimee Bock, founder
of now-defunct non-profit Feeding Our Future, is among the 47 people charged
for defrauding the United States government in a children’s food programme.
Bock’s non-profit, Feeding Our Future, was tasked with supervising the movement
of funds to set up food sites. The organisation allegedly went on to inflate
invoices and fudge numbers leading to what the US Attorney General for Minnesota
Andy Luger term it ‘the largest pandemic-related fraud’ in the United States. Aimee Bock has denied any wrongdoing on her part.

What is Feeding Our
Future?

Feeding Our Future
was a non-profit founded by Aimee Bock. The organisation went defunct in
February this year. According to the non-profit’s website, the singular goal of
Feeding Our Future was to “make participation in the USDA Child and Adult Care
Food Program safe and easy for our community partners.”

Also Read | Aimee Bock: 3 things you need to know about Feeding Our Future founder

Aimee Bock, who
founded the organisation and also served as its executive director, started the
organisation in 2016. Prior to that, Bock, who has a degree in elementary
education from the University of Minnesota, was a substitute teacher and even
worked in infant education at a day-care centre.

Prosecutors say
Aimee Bock was the ringleader of the fraud, according to Star Tribune. They say
Bock personally recruited many of the conspirators and wilfully submitted over
$125 million in fake meal claims. Aimee Bock had earlier told Star Tribune that
she had recruited 65 people who spoke 17 languages.

At the peak of the coronavirus
pandemic, when the government had relaxed oversight rules on food delivery, a
number of companies apparently approached Feeding Our Future in order to secure
sponsorship and seek funding. New players, such as for-profit restaurants also
entered the space.

Also Read | How Aimee Bock and 46 others allegedly siphoned funds from child food scheme

The charges allege
that Feeding Our Future received an administrative fee of 10-15% in addition to
kickbacks from those who sought to join the scheme. The alleged fraudsters then
used shell corporations and submitted fake attendance sheets on the number of
children being fed every day.

According to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Feeding Our Future’s reimbursements went up from
$307,000 in 2018 to $3.45 million in 2019, $42.7 million in 2020 and $197.9 million
in 2021, Associated Press reported.