Federal indictment charges 15 Minnesotans in multimillion-dollar social-services fraud

Federal prosecutors charged 15 Minnesotans with defrauding government social-service programs in a Covid-era scheme that authorities say siphoned more than $90 million (part of more than $250 million statewide) with about $50 million recovered; the charges span the Federal Child Nutrition Program, state childcare grants, Medicaid, and housing programs, including inflated meal counts, exaggerated staff hours, and even autism-diagnosis schemes to obtain funds. Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock was sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison in the broader case; the investigation included 22 search warrants and officials called it one of the nation’s largest Covid-era frauds.