Minnesota ‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar Knew About $250M COVID Meal Fraud, Scheme ‘Mastermind’ Claims in Jailhouse Interview

The Minnesota “mastermind” of the state’s massive COVID meal fraud claims “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar was in on the $250 million scam.

Aimee Bock, founder of nonprofit Feeding Our Future, was convicted in March 2025 of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud for allegedly helping restaurant owners file fake or inflated claims during the pandemic to steal millions in child nutrition funds from the government.

She spoke to The Post by video call this week from Sherburne County Jail, where she is awaiting sentencing.

“I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known,” Bock said of Omar.

Dozens of members of Minnesota’s Somali community have been convicted of fraudulently billing the state’s Department of Education for millions of meals they claimed they served to low-income children during the COVID outbreak — while pocketing much of the money.

Bock has consistently denied knowingly participating in the fraud and insisted she tried to warn state officials. Her group would review the reimbursement paperwork sent by the local restaurants supposed to provide meals, send them out and then distribute the federal funds to them.

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Omar was instrumental in loosening the laws that set the stage for the scheme — first by introducing the MEALS Act to Congress in March 2020, which allowed the US Department of Agriculture to issue waivers of school-meal requirements during the pandemic.

The waivers dramatically eased oversight of the federal programs by allowing restaurants to participate without any of the usual site inspections.

Omar would personally step in whenever those waivers ran out, allowing the rampant fraud to continue, Bock alleged.

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According to Bock, 45, the six email exchanges with Omar were about help with the waivers, after Feeding Our Future reached out to the “Squad” rep’s office.

The waivers opened the floodgates for scores of Somali eateries to join in, like Safari, where Omar herself filmed a promotional video claiming “every day Safari provides 2,300 meals to children and their families” in May 2020. She also held her 2018 election night party there.

By that July, Safari claimed to be feeding 5,000 kids a day. Its co-owner, Salim Said, has been convicted of defrauding the government of $16 million – the highest sum in the scheme – and is awaiting sentencing.

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