But now, Bock said, Said was threatening to move his meal operation to another sponsoring organization, which would have cost Bock her biggest operator. In 2021, prosecutors said Feeding Our Future received nearly $18 million in federal funds for its 10% cut of the action for all 299 of its sites, allegedly camouflaged as “administrative fees.”
“To be honest I’m tired of helping people with money and doing appeals to get sites approved and then in return I get attacked and my company gets attacked,“ Bock wrote in text, which was shown to the jury. ”I’ve gone above and beyond for your sites.“
Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock, right, walks into federal court with her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, on Feb. 10. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The conversation was never finished, Roase testified, because the alleged conspirators stopped talking to each other after the federal investigation became “overt.”
The relationship between Bock and Said took center stage in the prosecution’s final day of testimony Thursday, with witnesses showing how Said benefited from his favored status. In less than two years, Roase testified, Said personally earned $5.9 million through falsified claims, more than any of his partners. His wife got an extra $219,500, records showed.
Altogether, the dozen or so sites and vendors controlled by Safari’s owners hauled in $44 million, making them the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme, Roase testified.
Sonya Jansma, another FBI forensic accountant, testified that Said spent most of that money on personal possessions. Among them: a $47,000 Chevrolet Silverado, a $60,000 Mercedes and a $1.1 million home in Plymouth — a residence with five bedrooms, five bathrooms and an indoor basketball court.
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