Minnesota Fraud Scandal 'Mastermind' Sentenced To 500 Months

Feeding our Future, January 2022, by Shari L. Gross. Star Tribune — Source: Star Tribune via Getty Images / Getty

So…

Remember when President Donald Trump and his administration of fellow xenophobic bigots capitalized on the massive fraud scandal in Minnesota, taking their cues from right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley, who brought national MAGA attention to the scandal by filming himself trying to infiltrate Somali-run daycare centers in the state last year? Remember how Trump got his supporters all riled up by using the scandal, which involved dozens of Somali migrants, as an excuse to escalate his immigration crackdown in Minnesota, withhold federal funding from the state, and disparage the entire Somali ethnicity numerous times, including during his State of the Union address, where he generalized them as “Somali pirates,” who are “plundering America” with zero citation?

Well, the whole thing was much ado about MAGA nonsense for at least two reasons. First, Trump and Shirley were fooling racist idiots into believing the Minnesota fraud scandal was a recent thing in 2025, when, actually, it had already been thoroughly investigated since 2021, resulting in the convictions of more than 60 suspects by 2022. Secondly, while most of the people convicted were Somali, the person named by the government as the mastermind behind the fraud scheme was Aimee Bock, a white woman and U.S. citizen. Well, on Thursday, roughly a year after the Feeding Our Future founder was convicted of wire fraud and bribery, Bock was sentenced to 500 months, or just over 41 years, in prison and ordered to pay $243 million to the federal government.

And, wouldn’t you know it, the MAGA world has been conveniently silent about Minnesota fraud, all of a sudden.

From CBS News:

Prosecutors said she orchestrated the largest pandemic fraud case in the country, which diverted tens of millions in government money meant to feed hungry children.

“Aimee Bock didn’t participate in fraud, she orchestrated it, profited on it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Kline said before the sentencing.

“I don’t have the words to express just how horrible I feel,” Bock told the court Thursday. “I know I’m responsible. It’s never been my goal to shift responsibility. I understand I failed to protect the program I was supposed to protect.”

Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, argued her crime was “a case of gross negligence.”

“I’m not saying she’s not taking responsibility,” Udoibok said. “What I’m saying is, if I can project the court to what Ms. Bock intended to do for this group of people. In her mind, she thought she was giving them access to being good citizens and being in this program.”

Before handing down the sentence, the judge said Bock “acted as a gatekeeper” and “had an integral role in planning the scheme.” The judge also said Bock lied on the stand during her trial.

According to CNN, Bock received the longest sentence of anyone convicted in the scandal, which more than $250 million was stolen from the federal government, and it came minutes before federal officials announced charges against 15 other people accused of defrauding social service programs in the state.

“It’s a long sentence, and Aimee Bock did everything she could to earn it,” former assistant US Attorney Joe Thompson said outside the courthouse.

This story should be amplified now in the same way it has been amplified to demonize Minnesota’s more than 107,000 Somali residents over what roughly 80 of them were accused of doing. Otherwise, it’s just more evidence that America is and has always been the racist country it keeps proving itself to be.