A convicted figure at the center of Minnesota’s massive $250 million COVID meal fraud scandal is now alleging Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., helped create the environment that allowed the scheme to thrive.
In an exclusive interview with the New York Post published Saturday, Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock, speaking from Sherburne County Jail while awaiting sentencing, said she “struggle[s] to believe” Omar was unaware of widespread fraud tied to pandemic meal programs.
“I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known,” Bock told the Post.
Bock was convicted in March on conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud charges for her role in the sprawling scheme, in which operators fraudulently billed the government for millions of meals allegedly served to low-income children during the pandemic.
According to Bock, Omar played a key role in helping expand federal USDA waivers during COVID that loosened oversight requirements and allowed restaurants and nonprofits to participate in meal reimbursement programs without traditional inspections.
“There had been a couple times early on that there were some gaps,” Bock said, referring to expiring federal waivers. “There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff, and I presume her personally, to work through some of those gaps.”
The Post reported Omar’s name surfaced at least six times in emails and text messages introduced during Bock’s federal trial.
Bock claimed those communications involved efforts to maintain the waivers that fueled the rapid expansion of meal sites across Minneapolis and St. Paul.
One of the most notorious operations tied to the fraud was Safari Restaurant, where Omar filmed a 2020 promotional video praising its food distribution efforts. Safari later claimed to serve 5,000 children daily.
Its co-owner, Salim Said, was convicted of stealing roughly $16 million, the largest amount linked to the scandal.
“A lot of the sites were working directly with her,” Bock claimed, noting many operators came from Minneapolis’ Somali community, which forms a major part of Omar’s congressional district.
Bock also said she warned Minnesota officials about suspicious feeding sites but was ignored.
“I have the emails that show that I told you, so you knew,” she said, referring to communications with state education officials in 2021.
Omar has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied involvement in the fraud scandal.
However, scrutiny intensified this week after Minnesota’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee urged Congress to subpoena Omar’s communications with individuals convicted in the scheme.
The committee additionally concluded that Omar, and fellow Minnesota Democrats Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison “played critical roles in creating and enabling” the conditions that allowed the fraud to continue.
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