FBI Surveillance Contradicts Meal Counts in Feeding Our Future Trial

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul reports on ongoing testimony in the federal fraud trial of Amy Bock, the woman accused of being the ringleader of the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal. According to the station’s coverage, FBI agents testified about surveillance video that allegedly shows dramatic discrepancies between the number of meals sites claimed to serve and the actual foot traffic observed at those locations.

The station reports that in December 2021, the FBI installed surveillance cameras at 12 different meal sites that were claiming to serve extraordinary numbers of meals through the Feeding Our Future program. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul notes this surveillance evidence was not part of the first Feeding Our Future trial last spring because those defendants were allegedly involved with different sites.

According to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, one key example presented to jurors involved Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, which overall took in $12 million in federal child meal payments. The station reports that Safari claimed to feed 4,000 to 6,000 kids per day, but FBI surveillance allegedly showed an average of only 40 people coming and going during the six weeks the site was monitored. The former co-owner of Safari, Salim Saeed, is on trial alongside Bock, according to the report.

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul describes another site—a deli in Saint Paul also registered by defendant Saeed—which allegedly claimed 1,800 meals per day but surveillance video shown to the jury reportedly showed an average of just 23 people per day coming and going. The station reports that jurors were shown side-by-side comparisons of what was claimed in documents versus what the FBI observed on video.

According to the coverage, the jury was also shown dozens of invoices, meal counts, and emails seized from Feeding Our Future’s headquarters in Saint Anthony. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul reports that some evidence allegedly showed links to websites that randomly generated names and ages to create rosters of children who were supposedly served meals. Many of these documents were allegedly signed or sent by Amy Bock, who is charged with wire fraud and bribery for alleged kickbacks she received, the station notes.

In FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Own Words

“Jurors saw side by side documents showing what was claimed and the video showing what the FBI saw.”

“Some showed links to websites that randomly generated names and ages to create rosters of children who were served meals.”

“Her defense attorney tried to raise doubt when it cross-examined the FBI agent that they didn’t see the back entrance, where it’s possible meals left packed in trucks for delivery.”

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul reports that Bock’s defense attorney attempted to cast doubt on the surveillance evidence, suggesting that cameras may not have captured a back entrance where meals could have left in trucks for delivery. However, according to the station, the FBI agent pushed back on this theory. The defense strategy, as described by FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, appears to be arguing that Bock was unaware of the alleged fraud and that site operators were lying to her about meal counts.

This case matters because it involves one of the largest alleged federal fraud schemes in recent history, with millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded child nutrition money allegedly diverted during the COVID-19 pandemic when oversight was reduced and need was high.