Overview
- Prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Aimee Bock to 50 years, saying her pandemic-era fraud was sustained, organized, and defended even under oath.
- Bock was convicted in March 2025 on conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud for a scheme that steered about $250 million from child nutrition programs through fake meal claims.
- In new jailhouse interviews, Bock alleged Rep. Ilhan Omar and state leaders such as Gov. Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison knew about the fraud, claims Omar has denied and that remain unproven.
- A Minnesota oversight panel has urged Congress to subpoena Omar and to obtain her communications, noting her name surfaced in multiple emails and texts entered at trial.
- The case grew from 2020 USDA waivers allowed by the MEALS Act, which let nontraditional sites serve meals without usual inspections, a shift critics say opened gaps that fraudsters exploited.