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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

Fearing obstruction, feds seek pause in Feeding Our Future civil suit ahead of criminal trial

a woman sitting and wearing a mask
Aimee Bock speaks with a Sahan Journal reporter in the Feeding Our Future offices in St. Anthony, Minn. on Jan. 31, 2022.
Jaida Grey Eagle | Sahan Journal

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A Ramsey County judge on Thursday agreed to put a key part of a Feeding Our Future civil case on hold after the federal prosecutor leading a related criminal case argued that the suit could interfere with an upcoming criminal trial.

Aimee Bock, the founder of the defunct nonprofit Feeding Our Future and the alleged ringleader of a $250 million scheme to defraud government child nutrition programs, faces trial in February along with 11 co-defendants. Bock pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and bribery soon after a federal grand jury indicted her in September 2022.

Bock, 43, is also a defendant in a civil lawsuit by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), which is seeking to recover $584,000 in legal fees that it incurred defending a 2020 lawsuit that Feeding Our Future filed accusing MDE of racism after the agency, suspecting fraud, slowed the nonprofit’s meal site applications and shut down several sites.

Despite MDE’s concerns, it resumed sending taxpayer funds to Feeding Our Future after a Ramsey County judge found MDE in contempt. Feeding Our Future dropped its lawsuit in early 2022 after the FBI searched Bock’s home, office and other locations tied to the alleged scheme.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson made a rare appearance in a Ramsey County courtroom on Thursday to argue for pausing discovery in MDE’s case. Discovery is a formal process in which parties to a case exchange relevant information ahead of trial.

In a filing, Thompson writes that “there is significant overlap in the evidentiary material in the civil lawsuit and the criminal case,” and that Bock should be prevented “from using the civil discovery process to depose MDE witnesses who are expected to testify in Bock’s federal criminal trial.”

Thompson also notes that to ensure an orderly criminal trial, Bock should be prevented “from continuing to use civil litigation to obstruct the investigation and prosecution of their fraudulent scheme.”

Attorney Rhyddid Watkins, who is one of the attorneys defending Bock in MDE’s civil suit, did not oppose Thompson’s request to stay discovery until the criminal trial is complete, and Ramsey County Judge Laura Nelson granted the motion.

Bock’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 3. She is among 70 people charged overall.

In June, a federal jury in Minneapolis convicted five defendants and acquitted two others in the first Feeding Our Future case to go to trial.