A ringleader of the $250 million Minnesota welfare fraud scandal has been ordered to forfeit her Porsche, diamond jewelry, Luis Vuitton bags, and millions of dollars in bank accounts.
An order from a judge just before New Year’s Eve was the latest ignominy for Aimee Bock, 44, who prosecutors declared was behind one of the biggest fraud schemes of the pandemic era.
The vast majority of the more than 57 people so far convicted in the case are part of Minnesota’s Somali community – Bock is not – and the case has exploded onto the national stage.
On Monday, Minnesota governor Tim Walz announced he would not run for a third term after it happened ‘on my watch’ and admitted ‘the buck does stop with me.’
In a preliminary court order, reviewed by the Daily Mail, Bock was ordered to forfeit $3,506,066 seized from a Bank of America account in the name of her nonprofit Feeding Our Future, along with $179,455 in a personal account.
She was also ordered to give up her Porsche Panamera, around 60 laptops, iPads and iPhones found at three addresses, along with a diamond necklace, bracelet and earrings, and her Louis Vuitton purse and backpack.
Bock was found guilty in March after a six-week trial on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
She is being held in Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota awaiting sentence.
The case rocketed back into the national consciousness over Christmas when independent journalist Nick Shirley conducted a series of visits to Minnesota daycares that serve the Somali community, attempting to interview the operators, and published his findings on X.
The Feeding Our Future scandal was the worst of several welfare frauds that have engulfed Minnesota in the last few years.
Around $250 million that came to the state from the federal government, ostensibly to buy meals for children from low-income families during the pandemic, was fraudulently obtained, according to the Department of Justice.
Fraudsters falsely claimed to have used the money to serve 91 million meals, according to the DOJ.