INTERNACIONAL
SEE IT: Feeding Our Future fraudsters bought mansions and Mercedes with $250M in stolen meal funds
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – No case in Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal captures the scale of taxpayer abuse like the Feeding Our Future scheme, in which the program’s director signed off on sham meal services for the poor only to have the men around her splurge on mansions, luxury cars and lavish lifestyles.
Fox News Digital has obtained the court exhibits used at trial, including photos of the properties, vehicles and designer goods prosecutors say were purchased with stolen federal nutrition dollars.
The scheme was headed by Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, an organization responsible for ensuring that needy kids didn’t go hungry during the COVID pandemic.
Bock presided over a network that claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which the scammers fraudulently received nearly $250 million in federal funds. Bock, who was convicted by a federal jury on March 19, 2025, of wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery for her role, was dubbed the scheme’s «mastermind» by federal prosecutors.
FEDERAL PROBE TARGETS ALLEGED MINNESOTA SOMALI FRAUD ‘NETWORK’ AS COVID-AID CRIME RINGS PERSIST
Prosecutors say Aimee Bock, founder of Feeding Our Future, and Salim Said helped orchestrate one of the largest pandemic-relief fraud schemes in U.S. history. Both were found guilty of diverting federal child-nutrition funds into luxury homes, vehicles and other personal spending, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. (Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)
Bock approved the meal sites, some of which were fake, and then certified the claims, signing off on the reimbursements from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). At least 78 people have now been indicted in the ongoing investigation.
Court exhibits used in the case against Bock and Salim Said, a local restaurant owner, captured some of the opulent spending Said splurged his ill-gotten gains on.
For instance, Said used $250,000 in stolen nutrition funds to buy a large home in Plymouth, while another $2.7 million wire transfer linked to the fraud was routed into a Minneapolis mansion-style office building, prosecutors said, that served as the headquarters for his company, Safari Group.
The property stood in stark contrast to the daycare centers and after-school programs the federal money was supposed to help.
The exhibits also showed that Said used fraud proceeds to buy a black 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA and a 2021 Chevy Silverado.
Said operated Safari Restaurant, a small Minneapolis eatery that claimed to be serving more than 4,000 meals per day to the poor, according to federal exhibits, while his company and co-conspirators opened additional sites, as well as dozens of shell companies, which received more than $32 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, prosecutors said.
MINNESOTA LAWMAKERS VOW NEW CRACKDOWN AFTER $1B FRAUD MELTDOWN THEY SAY WALZ LET SPIRAL
A Minneapolis property at 2722–42 Park Avenue South that prosecutors said was purchased with a $2.7 million wire transfer tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme and used as the headquarters for Salim Said’s Safari Group. (Department of Justice)
The Plymouth home prosecutors said Salim Said purchased using a $250,000 payment traced to laundered Feeding Our Future funds. (Department of Justice)
According to the indictment, Said’s spending spree stretched far beyond the cars and houses shown in the courtroom exhibits — with additional real estate, electronics, cash transfers, restaurant buildouts and other luxury goods purchased through shell companies he controlled. Other members of the Safari group were also accused of funneling nutrition dollars into luxury cars and designer goods.
Federal prosecutors did not accuse Bock of personally buying big-ticket items with the fraud proceeds.
Instead, they said she built and protected the network that enabled others to spend the money. The exhibits show she approved the sites, signed the checks and kept investigators at bay, leaving her inner circle to splurge while she ran the system that made it all possible.
The only money movement directly tied to Bock in the exhibits was a picture of her making a $30,000 cash withdrawal, evidence, prosecutors said, that she was involved in a kickback scheme by accepting cash payments from meal-site operators in exchange for site approvals and reimbursements.
A series of reimbursement checks she signed for alleged fraud sites were also shown, evidence prosecutors said captured her role as the scheme’s «gatekeeper,» though not a big personal spender.
Empress Malcolm Watson Jr., whom the Minnesota Department of Revenue describes as Bock’s boyfriend, appears in some of the exhibits, including a photo of him inside a Rolls-Royce with Bock standing next to him. He’s pictured in another photo standing in front of a Lamborghini.
DEM-APPOINTED EDUCATION OFFICIALS FACE NEW SCRUTINY AS FEEDING OUR FUTURE SCANDAL WIDENS, TRUMP TARGETS FRAUD
Aimee Bock beside a Rolls-Royce with Empress Malcolm Watson Jr. Prosecutors said the image illustrated the lifestyle surrounding the network but did not accuse Bock of buying the vehicle. (Department of Justice)
The latter exhibit also shows designer bags, jewelry and a white Mercedes-Benz — items prosecutors labeled as «Handy Helpers Spending» to illustrate the lavish lifestyle surrounding Bock’s network. Prosecutors made no claim that Bock bought the items herself and one co-conspirator even testified that Bock warned them not to splurge, telling them that luxury purchases would «become obvious.»
Watson earned more than $1 million for work he did as an employee of Bock’s for-profit childcare consulting business, as well as work his own remodeling company performed for that business, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Prosecutors say Watson spent more than $680,000 on travel, jewelry, vehicles, cash withdrawals, or transfers to other accounts.
Watson has not been charged in the Feeding Our Future cases. He was charged with six tax-related felony offenses in September for allegedly underreporting his income for 2020 and 2021, failing to file a return for 2022 and failing to pay the income taxes he owed for those years. Watson allegedly owes more than $64,000 in unpaid income tax. He is currently being held in the Anoka County jail on a felony probation violation unrelated to the tax case.
A 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA prosecutors said Salim Said bought with fraud proceeds using a $60,000 check. (Department of Justice)
A 2021 Chevrolet Silverado that prosecutors said Salim Said bought with stolen federal nutrition funds using a $47,000 check. (Department of Justice)
Government exhibit show designer bags, jewelry, cash piles, a Lamborghini photo and a white Mercedes prosecutors labeled as «Handy Helpers Spending» to illustrate the lavish lifestyle inside the network surrounding Aimee Bock. Prosecutors made no claim that Bock personally bought these items. (Department of Justice)
At trial, Bock’s attorneys claimed she was an unwitting administrator who trusted the wrong people and followed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules during a chaotic pandemic. The USDA supplied the federal child nutrition funds via the MDE.
Her defense team said she believed the meal sites were legitimate and was being blamed for systemic oversight failures.
‘SCHEMES STACKED UPON SCHEMES’: $1B HUMAN-SERVICES FRAUD FUELS SCRUTINY OF MINNESOTA’S SOMALI COMMUNITY
Prosecutors countered that Bock personally approved many of the worst offenders, including the Safari network.
The DOJ also introduced slides showing emails and communications where Bock accused the MDE of racism when regulators questioned suspicious claims. In 2021, when the MDE grew suspicious and tried to stop the flow of funds, Feeding Our Future sued, alleging racial discrimination. A judge ordered the state to restart reimbursements — a ruling prosecutors said enabled the scheme to escalate.
«Bock lied to MDE and falsely accused state officials of racism to keep the money flowing,» one of the slides reads.
Another slide quoted a witness telling jurors, «Aimee Bock was a God,» describing how much power she held over the network.
The exhibit shows Aimee Bock at a bank counter making a $30,000 cash withdrawal, evidence prosecutors said was tied to the bribery and kickback allegations in Count 40. (Department of Justice)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The government presented multiple slides showing that witnesses testified that Bock understood the numbers were fake or impossible and approved them anyway.
«That math ain’t mathin’,» said Cerresso Fort, the owner of SIR Boxing, describing figures he told jurors could not have been real.
Although the Safari Group was the single largest cell in the operation, prosecutors said more than a dozen additional networks operated under Feeding Our Future’s umbrella.
Taken together, these groups submitted more than $250 million in fake invoices, making the conspiracy one of the largest pandemic-era frauds in the United States.
A DOJ conspiracy diagram presented at trial shows Aimee Bock at the top of the network, with Salim Said and Safari Group operators below her. Prosecutors said Bock approved the claims that funneled millions to the men in her network. (Department of Justice)
minnesota fraud exposed,minnesota,minneapolis st paul,politics,crime world,us,robbery theft,corruption crime
INTERNACIONAL
Apagones, inflación y transporte limitado: la vida incierta de los cubanos sin combustible por el cerco impuesto por Estados Unidos
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump will deliver his fourth State of the Union address of his presidential tenure Tuesday night, which will include guests stretching from conservative speaker Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, to the parents of the National Guard member fatally shot on the streets of Washington, D.C., in November 2025.
Trump will take the dais at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Tuesday, when he is expected to deliver a data-heavy speech focused on the economy and his administration’s wins lowering cost-of-living woes.
He will be joined by special guests who will help illustrate how his policies have delivered real savings to everyday Americans, those who have been the victims of crimes and tragedy and those embodying American triumph.
Among top names invited to the address are Erika Kirk, who is now leading conservative group Turning Point USA after her husband, the group’s co-founder and executive director, was assassinated in September 2025 while touring college campuses. Trump’s speech will include mentions of the U.S.’ «tremendous revival of faith, Christianity, and belief in God in our country» since Kirk’s death, The Daily Wire reported.
Brady Tkachuk, Jack Hughes, Matthew Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes attend a celebration of the USA Men’s Hockey Team’s Olympic Gold Feb. 23, 2026, in Miami. (Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVEN Miami)
The U.S. men’s hockey team also is traveling to the speech after winning the gold in the Olympics after defeating Canada 2–1. The team traveled on a blue-and-white Air Force jet from Miami to the nation’s capital Tuesday.
Everyday Americans also will play a large role in Trump’s speech, with the president inviting women such as Catherine Rayner of Norfolk, Virginia. Rayner and her husband have been navigating fertility complications and in vitro fertilization for five years.
LIBERAL PUNDITS CALL TEAM USA HOCKEY PLAYERS ‘MORONS,’ SCOLD GOLD MEDALISTS OVER TRUMP CALL
Rayner became the first patient of TrumpRx.gov — a government-run portal designed to steer consumers toward lower-cost prescription drugs offered by manufacturers — earlier in February when it rolled out, and saw pharmaceutical bills drop from about $4,000 to $500, Fox News Digital previously reported.
President Donald Trump will deliver his fourth State of the Union address of his presidential tenure Tuesday night. (Win McNamee/Pool via Reuters)
The president also invited Pennsylvania mom Megan Hemhouser, who homeschools her two children and also works as a waitress in the evenings. Her husband is a heavy machinery operator, with the family showcasing how the president’s «no tax on tips» and «no tax on overtime» policies have benefited everyday families. The Hemhousers have benefited from a $5,000 increase in take-home pay under Trump’s tax plans included in the one «big beautiful bill.»
GROWING NUMBER OF DEMOCRATS SKIPPING TRUMP’S 2026 STATE OF THE UNION
Members of the National Guard patrols along Constitution Ave. on December 01, 2025 in Washington, DC. Two West Virginia National Guard troops were shot blocks from the White House on November 26, resulting in the death of Sarah Beckstrom on Thursday, November 27, following what authorities called a targeted attack. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Trump also invited the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, the 20-year-old National Guard member who was killed in Washington, D.C., ahead of Thanksgiving 2025.
Dalilah Coleman, 7, will also attend the speech, CBS News reported. Coleman was left seriously injured by a California car crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver in 2024.
SPEECHWRITERS FROM REAGAN TO BIDEN AGREE: TRUMP’S SOTU IS A CRITICAL TEST FOR HIS SECOND TERM
President Donald Trump revealed that first lady Melania Trump is no fan of his public dancing on stage. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
First lady Melania Trump invited guests who the White House said reflect on her «Be Best, Fostering the Future» push, including Sierra Burns, a participant in her Foster Youth to Independence Program, and Everest Nevraumont, a 10-year-old student at an AI-focused private school, Alpha School, an AI advocate and a TedX speaker.
The pair will join the first lady in her box for the 2026 State of the Union, spotlighting her focus on expanding opportunity through education and technology, according to the White House’s website.
Trump additionally invited the U.S. women’s hockey team to the speech after their gold win over Canada, but they declined due to the timing of the speech.
Trump’s speech is expected to focus on economic wins under his leadership, while celebrating the nation’s landmark 250th anniversary of independence.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital ahead of the speech, «President Trump’s State of the Union Address will celebrate 250 glorious years of our nation’s independence and excellence, highlighting incredible stories of American heroes throughout the speech.»
Related Article
donald trump,state of the union,politics,economy,erika kirk
INTERNACIONAL
Iran’s shadowy chemical weapons program draws scrutiny as reports allege use against protesters
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A new report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) raises concerns about Iran’s opaque chemical weapons program, which argues policymakers have paid little attention to compared with Iran’s more scrutinized nuclear weapons program.
The FDD report outlines how the Iranian regime may have resorted to the unconventional use of chemical weapons while it faced an unprecedented uprising beginning in December 2025, a wave of unrest Tehran has not seen since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Any use of chemical weapons by Iran would be in defiance of their obligations under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
«The United States, its allies and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should investigate credible claims that Iran’s regime used chemical weapons against its own people,» Andrea Stricker, deputy director of FDD’s nonproliferation program and author of the report, told Fox News Digital.
An Iranian military truck carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a parade on April 18, 2018, in Tehran. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s illicit chemical weapons program is under renewed scrutiny as the Trump administration appears closer to taking military action against Iran and its nuclear weapons program.
While the U.S. has been engaged in indirect talks with Iranian officials mediated by Oman in Geneva, the U.S. has increased its military presence in the Persian Gulf, sending the USS Gerald R. Ford to join dozens of other warships to the region.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X that «Iran will resume talks with the U.S. in Geneva with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal—in the shortest possible time.»
The foreign minister claimed that Iran will not pursue nuclear weapons under any circumstances but emphasized that Iran will not forgo its right to harness peaceful nuclear technology.
ISRAELI OFFICIALS REPORTEDLY WARN IRAN’S BALLISTIC MISSILES COULD TRIGGER SOLO MILITARY ACTION AGAINST TEHRAN
The headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Netherlands, May 5, 2017. (Peter Dejong/The Associated Press)
«A deal is within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority,» he added.
Despite the optimism and push for continued talks, there remain fears that Iran will not make any meaningful concessions on their nuclear program, which could lead to U.S. military strikes on the nation.
A broader regime change campaign to topple the Islamic republic’s government, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is also not off the table, according to some reports.
«If Washington launches strikes against Iran, it should give serious consideration to targeting the regime’s chemical weapons research and production facilities. Such action would help halt further development and potential use of these weapons while sending a clear message that the regime cannot commit atrocities with impunity,» Stricker said.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which Iran is party to, upholds the norms against state-held chemical weapons, specifically, banning states’ development, stockpiling, production and use of chemical weapons, even for retaliatory reasons, as well as their receipt from or transfer to anyone.
US ASSETS IN MIDDLE EAST POSITIONED FOR ‘HIGHLY KINETIC’ WAR, EX-PENTAGON OFFICIAL WARNS
Israel’s deputy ambassador to the Netherlands, Yaron Wax, said in July 2025 before a special meeting of the OPCW that «over the past two decades Iran has been developing a chemical weapons program based on weaponized pharmaceutical agents.»
These agents, Wax said, impact the central nervous system and can be fatal even in small doses.
The ambassador said at the Shahid Meisami Research Complex, destroyed by Israel in June 2025, Iran’s Shahid Meisami Group (SMG) was working on fentanyl opioid-derived tactical munitions for military use. Israel believes the pharmaceutical-based agents were transferred to Syria’s longtime and now deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and Iraqi Shia militias as well.
Iran began developing its chemical weapons program in 1983 during its war with Iraq in response to chemical attacks from the regime of Saddam Hussein, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community.
As recently as 2024, the U.S. has repeatedly found Iran in noncompliance with its obligations under the CWC.
In a post on X in November 2024, the Iranian mission to the United Nations pushed back on the charges against it. «A victim of Western-donated chemical weapons employed by the Saddam regime, Iran stands as a responsible member of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Over the past several decades, not a single instance of Iranian violation has been recorded. The current unfounded reports are merely an outgrowth of psychological warfare propagated by the Zionist regime in the wake of its recent defeat on the Lebanese front.»
Cars burn in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2026. (Stringer/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
TRUMP WARNS IRAN, DELAYS STRIKES AS RED LINE DEBATE ECHOES OBAMA’S SYRIA MOMENT
Stricker says the U.S. and international community have failed to hold Iran accountable for its illegal chemical weapons program, and meaningful action must be taken to prevent Iran from transporting banned substances to Iran’s nefarious proxy actors in the Middle East.
The report notes that the U.S. and OPCW should launch a pressure campaign against Iran, calling out the regime and publicizing any violations. The Trump administration, the report recommends, should demand a formal ultimatum to demonstrate compliance with the convention and accept monitoring and verification mechanisms.
FDD also suggests Israel should ratify the CWC and work within the OPCW, which would give Israel more credibility in combating Iranian violations.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025, during an attack by Israel. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The report says that, as a last resort, the U.S. should consider launching strikes targeting regime chemical weapons facilities, or support Israeli efforts, if actionable intelligence indicates movement on Iran’s chemical weapons efforts or a renewed push by the regime to use such illegal weapons to crack down on anti-government protests.
«The only solution to Iran’s persistent WMD threat is for the United States and Israel to undermine the regime’s grip on power. Until then, the two nations will periodically be forced to play whack-a-mole with Tehran’s capabilities whenever they endanger regional peace,» Stricker said.
Related Article
iran,israel,conflicts,ali khamenei,national security
Natalie Weber, entre rezarle a San Cupertino o enviar a su hija Mía a una maestra particular: “Felicitaciones”
Cuadernos de las Coimas: Ricardo Jaime recusó a un juez y un empresario pidió anular su declaración como arrepentido
La Justicia realiza 30 allanamientos en la causa que investiga al dueño de Sur Finanzas, Ariel Vallejo
El Gobierno se reunió con el Grupo de los Seis: la postura empresarial sobre la reforma laboral y las preocupaciones de algunos sectores
Marruecos desmiente la salida de Regragui: portazo para Xavi
Apagones, inflación y transporte limitado: la vida incierta de los cubanos sin combustible por el cerco impuesto por Estados Unidos
Villarruel cuestionó la apertura de importaciones: «Sin industria, se pasa a depender de China»
“Ahora es la hora de jugarse”: el mensaje de Patricia Bullrich a los empresarios tras aprobarse la reforma laboral
Según un especialista, el precio de la carne se mantendrá alto “entre dos y tres años”
Cómo será el tratamiento de la reforma laboral en el Senado, luego de haber obtenido la media sanción en Diputados
POLITICA3 días agoAsí está el recuento estimado de votos de la reforma laboral que se debate en la Cámara de Diputados
- POLITICA1 día ago
“Nos hacemos cargo”: Patricia Bullrich admitió un error del Gobierno en la inclusión del artículo de las licencias médicas
- POLITICA23 horas ago
Daiana Fernández Molero defendió la reforma laboral: “Va a haber mayor creación de empleo porque va a ser más fácil contratar en blanco”
