ST. PAUL, MN – Today, Senator Roger Chamberlain (R Lino Lakes) Chair of the Senate Education Committee released the following statement on the largest pandemic relief fraud charges filed today. The charges include 47 individuals, three of whom are prepared to plead guilty later today.
“Today’s charges make one thing clear: Fraud has consequences,” Chamberlain said. “I want to thank U.S. Attorney Andy Luger and his team for their diligent work on holding people accountable. This is the work that the Minnesota Department of Education failed to do. As Mr. Luger stated, the criminals capitalized on the pandemic to make their millions off of taxpayers’ dollars.”
Luger laid out in clear detail how the fraud was committed at such a stunning rate over many months, saying, “They were running a scheme, not a child nutrition program.” A fake LLC was set up, contracts with Aimee Bock and Feeding our Futures were signed, and within months, money flowed freely to these fake groups. Fake rosters of children generated from a website, fake forms that had the exact same number of meals served each day, and fake receipts for food purchases were all part of the scheme. In addition, individuals paid kickbacks to Feeding our Futures, and Bock falsely claimed racism and discrimination when their programs were questioned to get out further scrutiny.
“I have been clear from day one: MDE could have and should have done more,” Chamberlain said. “This is the largest case of COVID fraud in the nation because MDE didn’t do their jobs. The fraud was started and persisted because MDE failed to complete due diligence on these bad actors. They may have assisted in the investigation, but it’s too little, too late. Forty-nine other states simply did not have these problems and we are all wondering why Minnesota is different.”
Senator Chamberlain released a report last week of the Senate Committee’s findings after their own set of hearings this summer. At that time, Chamberlain said, “The summary shows three things: The Department of Education did not follow state and federal law, they lacked accountability, and now refuse to acknowledge their shortcomings. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars may be involved in this fraud, and the department simply cannot address the problem or recognize their mistakes.”
Luger also stated that these were just the first set of charges and to expect more as they continue to investigate the fraud scheme.