CBS Scores Jailhouse Interview With Unrepentant Leader in Somali Fraud Ring

Tuesday’s CBS Mornings served as further proof of what we found earlier this month about their evening counterpart (the CBS Evening News), which is they’ve been the strongest in covering the widespread Somali fraud scandal in Minneapolis. This time, CBS News Minnesota’s Jonah Kaplan interviewed Aimee Bock, the leader of the infamous group Feeding Our Future, as she awaits possibly decades behind bars for her role in a quarter-billion dollar scheme.

“Now to a CBS News exclusive interview with the woman who prosecutors say it was the mastermind of the biggest Covid-era fraud scheme. 44-year-old Aimee Bock is her name. She’s not part of the Somali community. Last year, she was convicted of orchestrating a $250 million plot to defraud government program to feed hungry kids,” declared co-host Gayle King in cuing Kaplan.

Kaplan began by pointing out “there’s been so much focus on the Somali community here in Minnesota because of the widespread fraud and most of the suspects charged and convicted in the schemes, they are from the Somali community, but...the mastermind, according to prosecutors, federal prosecutors, she is not Somali.”

Notice how Kaplan and King did not dispute the fraud took place or sought to downplay its severity. Instead, they let the crimes speak for themselves.

Kaplan stated the obvious that “it is rare for someone to speak to us in federal custody, but she expressed some regrets and defended her actions” in the one-hour he was allotted with her.

“Until she was arrested in 2022, Bock led Feeding Our Future, the now-infamous nonprofit, signed up restaurants and caterers, many from Minnesota’s large Somali community, to receive taxpayer money for providing meals to children in need,” Kaplan explained, adding “prosecutors said it turned into something else, the nation’s largest Covid-era fraud with Bock as the mastermind.”

Kaplan asked her if she’s “the mastermind of the scheme” to which Bock was unrepentant: “Absolutely not. I believe in accountability. If I had done this, I would have pled guilty. I wouldn’t have gone to trial. I wouldn’t have put my children and my family through what we’ve been through. I have lost everything.”

Kaplan acknowledged having received from her counsel “video showing stacks of food,” but quickly countered “prosecutors say Bock and the businesses she recruited stole tens of millions of federal dollars, spending it on luxury cars, real estate ventures, and vacations.”

The only time Bock expressed regret was a vague statement that she wishes she “could go back and do things differently, stop things, catch things,” but otherwise did “everything...to protect the program.”

Then came the part of the tale when investigators were allegedly intimidated from investigating fraud because the race card was played. Despite documents having shown Bock threatened the state with playing the race card against Somalis, Bock told Kaplan it was “preposterous” to think they were scared off.

That’s despite the fact that Kaplan found video of her being celebrated by a room of Somalis and said she had been labeled by one as their Robin Hood (click “expand”):

KAPLAN: But in 2021, Bock sued the state agency that oversaw the meal program, alleging its scrutiny of Somali applicants was “discriminatory.” [TO BOCK] How do you think the state officials took that?

BOCK: Nobody wants to be labeled as being racist.

KAPLAN: Minnesota officials told a state watchdog “the threat of legal consequences and negative media attention” intimidated them into easing off.

BOCK: The notion that a state government is paralyzed and has to allow this level of fraud because they were afraid of what I might do in a lawsuit is preposterous.

SOMALI COMMUNITY LEADER [date N/A]: Welcome, Aimee Bock!

KAPLAN: In Minnesota’s large Somali community, one leader called her a modern day robin hood.

BOCK [date N/A]: The community deserves this, the children need this.

Another remarkable exchanged ensued when Kaplan told viewers Feeding Our Future’s meal claims exploded in just two years from $3.4 million to “nearly $200 million.”

When Kaplan asked her “how did you not see that as major red flags,” Bock scoffed: “We relied on the state. We told the state, this site is going to operate at this address, this day, this time, and this number of children. The state would then tell us that’s approved.”

Bock also denied being “a mob boss” and downplayed accepting any bribes or gifts meant to pay for meals (click “expand”):

KAPLAN: Prosecutors also accuse Bock of collecting bribes and kickbacks from meal site operators. At trial, they revealed text messages where she compared Feeding Our Future to the mob. [TO BOCK] Are you a mob boss?

BOCK: Absolutely not, no.

KAPLAN [TO BOCK]: Were you personally benefiting from any of it?

BOCK: I collected my salary and that is all that was collected.

KAPLAN [TO BOCK]: Didn’t federal agents find gold jewelry, cash in your closet?

BOCK: They found minimal jewelry. I believe it was, like, two pair of earrings, a bracelet, a watch. There was some cash there.

KAPLAN: At trial, Bock took the stand, but the jury didn’t buy her story. Within hours, they convicted her on all counts. Last month, a judge ordered her to forfeit $5 million from the fraud. Minnesota officials have defended their actions, noting that it was state employees who first contacted the FBI about implications in the fraud scheme.

Kaplan wrapped by noting how, just among those connected to Feeding Our Future, “78 defendants...have been charged, and more than 60 pleaded guilty or convicted at trial” with Bock “awaiting sentencing and she faces decades in prison.”

Explanatory, substantive, straight-forward, and not produced anywhere else in network TV news. These are the kinds of stories that, if Bari Weiss is to turn CBS News around and appeal to all Americans, she’s going to need more of in the future.

To see the relevant CBS transcript from January 20, click here.