Feeding Our Future

The organization was founded by Aimee Bock in 2016, and repeatedly applied for grants from the state of Minnesota, but was rejected due to allegations of mismanagement and abuses. In July 2019, months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) officials identified early signs of fraud, including meal claims they considered implausible. According to former state employees, Bock pressured workers who raised questions within weeks of the organization's first submissions, and officials began documenting her "concerning behavior". Before the pandemic, Feeding Our Future billed the state for approximately $3.4 million. The organization's tax status as a nonprofit was revoked by the IRS in February 2020. Ultimately, after MDE began delaying responses to Feeding Our Future's grant applications, the organization sued the state in November 2020, arguing that it was being discriminated against "because of race, national origin, color, and religion." Around the same time, the MDE raised concerns of fraud with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the FBI began investigating in February 2021. An aide of Frey's, Abdi Salah, ultimately pled guilty to wire fraud; Frey stated he was unaware of Salah's activities. Another supporter was Minneapolis council member Jamal Osman, whose wife operated a Feeding Our Future meal site which received more than $400,000 in funding. Federal prosecutors allege that only around 3% of the funding granted to Feeding Our Future meal sites was spent on food, while the remainder was funneled to the individual conspirators involved in the fraud. At its peak, the organization listed 299 "meal sites", which purported to have served 90 million meals in less than 2 years (more than 120,000 meals per day). One site surveilled by the FBI claiming to serve 6,000 meals per day actually averaged around 40 visitors. Meanwhile, in December 2020, MDE denied Feeding Our Future's ongoing grant applications and labeled the organization "severely deficient", leading to an attempt by MDE to terminate the partnership fully. Feeding Our Future sued the state in response. Minnesota judge John Guthmann found in the spring of 2021 that there was no legal basis for stopping payments, and informed MDE that there could be a "real problem" if it did not resume processing Feeding Our Future's grant applications, although he did not formally order MDE to resume giving grants. == Federal charges and legal proceedings ==

In January 2022, the FBI raided a number of Feeding Our Future locations, and the nonprofit was disestablished shortly thereafter. In September 2022, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced federal charges against 47 former Feeding Our Future employees and contractors for their involvement in the nation's largest pandemic-related fraud scheme. By October 2024, the number of indicted individuals had reached 70. Two additional suspects (the 71st and 72nd) were indicted in May and June 2025; one was arrested just before boarding a flight out of the United States at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. In the spring of 2024, a group of seven defendants were the first to go to trial. Near the end of the trial, an attempt was made to bribe a juror to vote to acquit with $120,000 in cash. The juror reported the incident and was dismissed to avoid the appearance of impropriety, along with another who heard about the incident from a relative. The jury was sequestered for the remainder of the trial. Of the first seven defendants, five were convicted on most charges against them, while two were acquitted. Several weeks later, five suspects, including three of the defendants from the first trial, were indicted on charges related to the bribery. One of the individuals indicted for bribery had been acquitted of fraud during the trial. The second trial in the case began in February 2025 for Bock, the ringleader of the scheme, and a leading co-conspirator, Salim Said. On March 19, 2025, Bock and Said were both found guilty on all counts. A federal court handed down the first sentence in the scandal on October15, 2024. Mohamed Ismail received a 12-year sentence and was ordered to pay more than $47million in restitution. By March 2026, out of 79 suspects indicted in the fraud, 63 had been found guilty, including 57 via plea deals. Seven had been found guilty at trial, while many others awaited trial. Although more than $250million is alleged to have been stolen, only around $75million had been recovered as of early 2025, as much of the money was spent on unrecoverable expenses like luxury meals and hotels, or was transferred to overseas investments which the United States cannot seize. ==Responses==

Most, though not all, of those charged and convicted in the case were members of Minnesota's Somali American community. The case led to internal debate and discussion in the Minnesota Somali American community and broader political arena. Joe Thompson, the lead prosecutor on the Feeding Our Future case, told the New York Times that "allegations of racism can be a reputation or career killer." In 2023, state lawmakers created an Office of Inspector General within MDE, describing it as having the "investigatory power" that was lacking during the Feeding Our Future case. They also enacted regulatory changes increasing documentation requirements for social services providers. Amidst ongoing investigation into the Feeding Our Future case, potential fraud was identified and investigated in a number of other state-run social services schemes, including emergency housing, autism therapy for children, home health assistance, and Medicaid. Minnesota drew media attention in 2025 for the set of fraud scandals, with U.S. Attorney Thompson writing that the state had become "a national poster child for public corruption". State lawmakers, who had been working on the issue legislatively for several years, responded to the national spotlight in varied ways. Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) said that "most of the fraud is in the Somali community, and some of my best whistleblowers are in the Somali community". In 2025, the Feeding Our Future case was cited by President Donald Trump as a reason to cut off temporary protected status for some Somali refugees in Minnesota. Trump's administration launched an immigration operation in Minnesota in late 2025. The immigration operation, initially targeting the Somali American community, was called Operation Metro Surge, although about 92% of those with Somali descent in the United States are American citizens. Despite more than 3700 arrests in the operation, only 106 arrestees were Somali (fewer than 3%), and none had ties to Feeding our Future or other fraud under investigation. Following the killing of Renée Good by a federal agent in January 2026, amidst Operation Metro Surge, the prosecution of Feeding Our Future faced setbacks due to the resignation of six federal prosecutors, including Thompson. Law professor Mark Osler described the resignations as a "very big blow" to the case. ==See also==