The Justice Department slapped charges Tuesday against 47 people who allegedly participated in a “$250 million fraud scheme” involving funds intended to feed children, in what authorities are dubbing the “largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet.”
Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future, and 46 others were hit with federal charges for conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery for allegedly opening faux Federal Child Nutrition Program sites that claimed to feed hungry families but funneled money to themselves via shell corporations instead.
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“Today’s indictments describe an egregious plot to steal public funds meant to care for children in need in what amounts to the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “The defendants went to great lengths to exploit a program designed to feed underserved children in Minnesota amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Within days of opening faux sites, the alleged perpetrators of the ploy claimed to have fed thousands of families under the Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship. The group’s federal disbursement skyrocketed from $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to almost $200 million in 2021, according to the DOJ.
Feeding Our Future pocketed over $18 million in administrative fees to which it was not “entitled” in exchange for sponsoring the faux sites, per prosecutors. They also obtained a trove of kickbacks from people and companies sponsored by the group disguised as “consulting fees” paid to shell companies, the DOJ added.
In total, the group opened over 250 sites across Minnesota and distributed over $240 million in funds that were “fraudulently obtained.” Prosecutors are pursuing charges against the 47 people in six separate indictments.
“This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger for the District of Minnesota declared. “These defendants exploited a program designed to provide nutritious food to needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they prioritized their own greed, stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in federal funds to purchase luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.”
Funding for the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which is overseen by the Department of Agriculture, was bolstered during the thick of the pandemic as government-imposed shutdowns to curb the viral spread left millions of people out of work.
Despite funding ticking up, oversight notched down and state officials no longer were required to check on the sites in person, the New York Times reported.
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In the months that followed the pandemic, authorities scrambled to fight back against rampant fraud that dogged COVID-19 relief measures. Last month, for example, a report surfaced that the Secret Service recouped $286 million stolen in another pandemic fraud scheme. In total, the agency estimates that roughly $100 billion of relief funds have been stolen or gone missing since the start of the pandemic.
Earlier this year, the DOJ appointed a prosecutor to oversee cases involving the misuse of coronavirus relief funds.
