Aimee Bock, the convicted ringleader of the country’s most extensive pandemic-era case of fraud, was sentenced Thursday to 41 years in prison for using her nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, to steal millions from a federal program meant to help needy children.

Bock’s sentencing for the $242 million plot was the culmination of a yearslong investigation that began in 2022. FBI raids of her St. Anthony organization first brought the fraud scheme to public attention, and a federal jury last year convicted Bock, 45, of seven federal charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery.

Presiding over a packed Minneapolis federal courtroom, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sentenced Bock to 500 months in prison, or 41 years and 8 months. The prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

Brasel also ordered Bock to pay more than $240 million in restitution. It wasn’t yet clear whether Bock will appeal, said her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok.

Bock cried continuously as she addressed the judge before receiving her sentence.

“I understand the situation I’m in. I understand the jury’s verdict. I understand that I failed,” Bock said. “I failed the public, I failed my family, I failed everyone. It was not something I ever set out to do.”

Prosecutors had asked for a 50-year prison term, saying that sentence “appropriately reflects the seriousness of Bock’s crimes” and also would deter others from fraud. Udoibok sought a three-year sentence.

In court documents, he argued Bock did not get credit for handing over documents used to help build the massive case.

Prosecutors urged the judge to consider Bock’s role as the leader of the fraud plot.

“In light of this defendant’s absolute refusal to take a single inkling of responsibility, not just for her leadership role as the beating heart of Feeding Our Future but also for any criminal conduct whatsoever, it is the government’s belief that disabling Aimee Bock from ever meaningfully participating in society ever again is the only just outcome,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Kline said.

In all, 79 people have been charged, with 66 convicted.

Before Thursday, the longest sentence had been given to Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, a 28-year prison term handed down last year after he was convicted of 23 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. A total of 15 defendants have been sentenced so far, with terms ranging from a year of probation to Farah’s 28 years.

Feeding Our Future sponsored nearly 300 of the food distribution sites in Minnesota enrolled in the federally funded food program. Prosecutors said many of the employees, food sites and vendors submitted fake attendance sheets and false invoices to rake in more money. Much of the cash was spent on cars, luxury homes or sent overseas.

At her trial, Bock testified that she rarely looked at the falsified reimbursement claims and deflected much of the blame to her lower-level employees, who she said approved fraudulent claims in exchange for kickbacks. The jury ultimately convicted Bock and her alleged accomplice, Minneapolis restaurant owner Salim Said, after only five hours of deliberation at the end of a six-week trial. Said is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 18.

In arguing for a lesser sentence, Udoibok said Bock did not start out as a criminal but was caught up in a “vortex” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that upended the meals program.

“Miss Bock, I still maintain, is a good person,” he said. “She meant well.”

Compared to other defendants, Udoibok said, Bock was not out to enrich herself, noting that the evidence showed she personally received about $1.2 million, while other conspirators took home millions.

“Her personal gain was not significant,” Udoibok argued.

He also said that records show the Minnesota Department of Education failed to perform proper oversight. He told the judge his client “should not be a symbol” of the scandal.

Brasel disagreed, saying Bock repeatedly perjured herself on the witness stand. Brasel said the fact that other conspirators “bought expensive items and were enriched more doesn’t lessen your culpability at all.”

The state’s oversight of the meals program, she said, was not the issue.

“That has never been a defense to fraud,” Brasel said.

“Whatever the state did or did not does not reduce your culpability.”

Brasel said Bock established “protocols” that enabled the conspirators to evade detection for months.

“She created a fake board of directors,” Brasel said. “She created fake board minutes … She started a lawsuit to divert attention away from the scheme.”

Brasel said she wanted the sentence to send a message that fraud is not tolerated in Minnesota. She took into consideration the amount of prison time given to others for fraud.

She also agreed to recommend that Bock be incarcerated as close as possible to Minnesota, where her two sons live.

“This is a vortex of fraud, and you were at the epicenter,” Brasel said.

Udoibok said he was “beyond disappointed” with the sentence. “She’s a brilliant woman,” he said of Bock. “She has flaws, but her flaws don’t justify, you know, 42 years in prison.”

The Feeding Our Future scandal triggered similar investigations of activity in other Minnesota social services, including within autism centers and housing providers alleged to have been given money for services never provided. The fraud scheme has since brought national scrutiny to the state, including from President Donald Trump, who has slammed Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the situation. Allegations of widespread fraud within Housing Stabilization Services have since led the state to terminate that program. The Justice Department on Thursday announced new fraud charges against 15 people in Minnesota who are accused of stealing $90 million from taxpayers.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison thanked federal prosecutors for their work on the Feeding Our Future case and said Bock got the “sentence she deserves.”

“There can be no question about her guilt,” Ellison said in a statement. “After a six-week trial at which prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence that she was indeed the mastermind of the Feeding Our Future fraud, a jury of her peers found her guilty on all counts beyond a shadow of a doubt after just five hours of deliberation.”

Four of the former federal prosecutors who handled the majority of the Feeding Our Future prosecutions attended the sentencing. After the hearing, Joe Thompson, former acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, said Bock “earned” her sentence.

“That’s the end of a dark chapter in Minnesota history,” said Thompson, who left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in January after a dispute over the handling of the shooting death of Renee Good. “It’s no exaggeration to say Aimee Bock and the Feeding Our Future scandal has changed our state forever.” sarah.nelson@startribune.com jeff.meitrodt@startribune.com