US 'Mastermind' gets 41 years in prison or $250 million fraud

In USA, the leader of a Minnesota non-profit group was sentenced to 41 years in prison on Thursday after she was convicted for leading a $242 million pandemic relief fraud scheme. Aimee Bock, 45, was charged in 2022 with using her non-profit group Feeding Our Future to enact what the Justice Department said was the largest known fraud against the U.S. government’s relief programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 70 other people have been charged alongside Bock. The fraud has been often invoked by U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, as part of his rationale for targeting Minnesota, led by Democrats, for an aggressive surge in arresting and deporting immigrants earlier this year. On the same day as Bock’s sentencing, the U.S. Department of Justice announced new charges against 15 people accused of defrauding Medicaid and other welfare programs in Minnesota of $90 million.
“This is a vortex of fraud, and you were at the epicenter,” the judge said, according to the Star Tribune.“The brazen and staggering nature of her crimes has shaken Minnesota to its core, leaving lasting damage and eroding public trust. Her actions have permanently altered the state, and not for the better,” the filing reads. Bock was found guilty on all counts by a federal jury, including wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery. 
“I made mistakes, so many mistakes. If I could go back, I would do everything differently. I don’t have the words to express just how horrible I feel,” Bock said. Federal prosecutors had sought 50 years in prison. In sentencing Bock to 500 months, or 41 years and eight months, Brasel said a lengthy sentence was necessary because of Bock’s central role.