Minnesota COVID Fraud Mastermind On Ilhan Omar: ‘I Struggle To Believe That She Wouldn’t Have Known’ About The Fraud
Ilhan Omar may well have known about this scheme, and was secure in the knowledge that as a valued member of the leftist elite, she was untouchable. She could do anything she wanted and the Democrats, the courts, and the media would protect her. That has changed now to the degree that charges against her circulate widely, but so far, there is no indication that the courts or the Democrats have stopped considering her untouchable.
“Minnesota ‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar knew about $250M COVID meal fraud, scheme ‘mastermind’ claims in jailhouse interview,” by Gabrielle Fahmy, New York Post, May 16, 2026:
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….
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….
Omar would personally step in whenever those waivers ran out, allowing the rampant fraud to continue, Bock alleged.
“There had been a couple times early on that there were some gaps – a waiver would be set to expire on maybe the 15th of a month, and then the renewal didn’t kick in until the 1st,” Bock claimed. “Because of course this was supposed to be a short-term thing . . . we were supposed to be home for two weeks.”
Omar has been under fire since her wealth mysteriously jumped from almost nothing to up to $30 million in 2024, a windfall she tried to chalk up to an accounting error….
House of Refuge’s owner has since been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for fraudulently obtaining $2.4 million in federal funds.
“That’s my biggest regret,” Bock said. “Accepting the answer that the government doesn’t take a position on fraud. . . . I don’t think I comprehended just the magnitude of how important that statement would be.”
Minnesota’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee asked the House Oversight Committee last week to subpoena Omar, who has refused to turn over her communications with convicted fraudsters.
Omar — and fellow Democrats Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison — “played critical roles in creating and enabling” the fraud, concluded the state committee’s report this week….
Article posted with permission from Robert Spencer
