The 41-year prison sentence handed to the ringleader of Minnesotas massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal is renewing scrutiny of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., over her ties to convicted figures in the $250 million scheme.Â
Aimee Bock, the founder and former executive director of Feeding Our Future, was sentenced Thursday after prosecutors said she oversaw a network of fake meal sites that stole federal nutrition funds meant to feed low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic.Â
The convicted fraudster alleged, without evidence, that Omar was likely aware of restaurant owners billing the government for falsified or inflated claims in an explosive interview with The New York Post.Â
“I struggle to believe that she wouldnt have known,” Bock told the outlet, referring to Omar.
More than 60 individuals, most of whom are members of the have been convicted in the Feeding Our Future scandal in which fraudsters pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars from a federally funded child nutrition program.
Federal prosecutors have not charged Omar or accused her of participating in the fraud.Â
However, Republicans have accused Omar of weakening guardrails around the program that allowed a network of fake meal sites to fraudulently bill the government and have zeroed in on her alleged ties to individuals convicted of pilfering taxpayer dollars, according to an 84-page report released by a Minnesota fraud committee earlier this month.
Omar has denied wrongdoing and told Fox News Digital this week that “any claim that I had knowledge of this scheme is flat-out false.”Â
“As I stated from the beginning, stealing millions of dollars under the guise of feeding hungry children to bankroll lavish lifestyles and extravagant expenses is reprehensible,” the Minnesota Democrat continued. “Im grateful that Aimee Bock and every individual involved in this abhorrent scheme are being held accountable for defrauding taxpayers and betraying vulnerable children.”
Omar declined a request from Minnesota’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee to hand over her communications with Feeding Our Future defendants and records related to promoting the program with state officials and constituents. Democrats on the panel subsequently blocked an attempt to subpoena those communications.
The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee report pointed to several “direct ties” between Omar and individuals later convicted in the scheme.Â
Omars one-time staffer, Guhaad Hashi Said, who has been described as the “enforcer” of the Minnesota Democrats prior congressional campaigns, is one of the convicted defendants.
Said pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to commit wire fraud and after establishing a fraudulent food program site called Advance Youth Athletic Development to siphon off taxpayer dollars for personal use. The entity submitted claims for serving more than 1 million meals, but prosecutors allege he served just a “fraction” of those meals while receiving nearly $3 million in reimbursements.
In May 2020, Omar also spotlighted a Somali-owned restaurant as a meal distribution site where low-income children could receive meals during the pandemic, in a Somali-language video.
Salim Said, the since-defunct restaurants co-owner, was ultimately convicted in the Feeding Our Future scheme alongside Bock. Federal prosecutors allege the site received more than $16 million in fraudulent child nutrition funds used for self-enrichment.Â
“Im very thankful for Safari for being part of those places where f
