Prosecutors told jurors the evidence would show how the founder “transformed a sleepy nonprofit into an engine for the largest COVID fraud in the country.” The defense cast Aimee Bock,

Monday marks the beginning of the trial of the alleged ringleader of a scheme that federal prosecutors say exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to steal $250 million from a program meant to feed children.

Aimee Bock, the founder of the defunct Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding Our Future, is facing trial along with Salim Said, who co-owned Safari Restaurant on Lake Street.

Federal prosecutors say the scheme exploited the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to steal $250 million from a program meant to feed children.

Jurors heard opening statements Monday in the trial of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock and Salim Said, one of her co-defendants. Federal prosecutors allege that Bock was the ringleader of a $250 million scheme to defraud taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during the pandemic and that Said’s restaurant siphoned $16 million of that.

Monday marks the beginning of the trial of the alleged ringleader of a scheme that federal prosecutors say exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to steal $250 million from a program meant to feed children.