Feds Seek Forfeiture of Four Properties Tied to Company in Minnesota Food Fraud Cases
Federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint on October 21 in federal court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, seeking four properties tied to a company affiliated with the nonprofit Partners in Nutrition, involving roughly $1 million. Prosecutors allege that from 2019 to 2022 the organization falsely claimed to operate as many as 72 food distribution sites serving millions of meals to low-income children, and that the federal government overpaid by about $10 million as a result. The organization agreed just last month to dissolve as part of a civil fraud settlement with the state.
Last week a federal jury convicted the organization's top figures, Salim Said and Aimee Bock, of wire fraud in a separate food fraud case tied to Feeding Our Future — one of Minnesota's largest pandemic-relief fraud schemes.
An attorney for Partners in Nutrition said the clients 'strongly deny' the allegations and that the properties were lawfully purchased as school kitchens and office space, adding that they had not yet been served with the forfeiture notice. The case underscores major oversight gaps in federal food aid programs during the pandemic. (GSM, from Fox9 reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：亨内平县政府中心，明尼阿波利斯。作者 AlexiusHoratius，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Hennepin County Government Center, Minneapolis. By AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
