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SEE IT: Feeding Our Future fraudsters bought mansions and Mercedes with
$250M in stolen meal funds
Court exhibits show luxury cars, designer goods were purchased with
funds meant to feed hungry children during the pandemic
Michael Dorgan By Michael Dorgan Fox News
Published December 13, 2025 6:19am EST

Evidence sheds light on alleged Minnesota fraud scheme
Fox News correspondent Alexis McAdams and contributor Jason Chaffetz
have the latest on how scammers allegedly spent millions of dollars
intended for hungry children on luxury items on America Reports.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. rCo 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 didnrCOt 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 schemerCOs "mastermind" by federal prosecutors.

FEDERAL PROBE TARGETS ALLEGED MINNESOTA SOMALI FRAUD rCyNETWORKrCO AS COVID-AID CRIME RINGS PERSIST

Side-by-side booking photos of Aimee Bock, founder of Feeding Our
Future, and Salim Said.
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. AttorneyrCOs Office. (Sherburne County SheriffrCOs 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.

placeholder
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

DOJ exhibit showing the Minneapolis property prosecutors said Safari
Group bought with laundered funds.
A Minneapolis property at 2722rCo42 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 SaidrCOs
Safari Group. (Department of Justice)

Plymouth Minnesota home shown in DOJ exhibit tied to a $250,000
laundering transaction.
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, SaidrCOs spending spree stretched far beyond
the cars and houses shown in the courtroom exhibits rCo 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 schemerCOs "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. HerCOs 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 standing beside a Rolls-Royce with Empress Malcolm Watson Jr.
in DOJ exhibit.
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 rCo items prosecutors labeled as "Handy Helpers Spending" to illustrate the lavish lifestyle surrounding BockrCOs 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
BockrCOs 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.

Black 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA shown in DOJ exhibit with the $60,000 check
tied to its purchase.
A 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA prosecutors said Salim Said bought with fraud proceeds using a $60,000 check. (Department of Justice)

Black 2021 Chevy Silverado shown in DOJ exhibit next to the $47,000
check used to purchase it.
A 2021 Chevrolet Silverado that prosecutors said Salim Said bought with
stolen federal nutrition funds using a $47,000 check. (Department of
Justice)

DOJ exhibit collage showing luxury bags, jewelry, cash, a Lamborghini
and a white Mercedes labeled as Handy Helpers Spending.
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, BockrCOs 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.

rCySCHEMES STACKED UPON SCHEMESrCO: $1B HUMAN-SERVICES FRAUD FUELS SCRUTINY
OF MINNESOTArCOS 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 rCo 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.

Aimee Bock at a bank counter in DOJ exhibit showing a $30,000 cash
withdrawal.
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)

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The government presented multiple slides showing that witnesses
testified that Bock understood the numbers were fake or impossible and approved them anyway.

"That math ainrCOt mathinrCO," 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 FuturerCOs 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.

DOJ conspiracy diagram showing Aimee Bock and Safari Group members
involved in Feeding Our Future fraud.
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)

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

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