Which named defendants in the Feeding Our Future and related cases have been convicted and what are their documented backgrounds?
Executive summary
A growing roster of named defendants in the Feeding Our Future investigation have been convicted either at trial or via guilty pleas; the most prominent convictions include founder Aimee Bock and co-defendant Salim Said, while dozens more have admitted guilt in linked schemes that reached into Medicaid and autism services [1] [2] [3]. Public reporting and court filings show a mix of backgrounds among those convicted — nonprofit executives, restauranteurs, small-business operators and individuals tied to state-funded care programs — but the full, up-to-date roster of convictions is spread across multiple outlets and lists compiled over time [4] [5].
1. Aimee Bock — the ringleader found guilty and ordered to forfeit millions
Aimee Bock, founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, was convicted by a federal jury in March on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, and a judge has since approved a forfeiture/restitution order seeking more than $5 million and cleared the path to seize cash, real estate and luxury vehicles tied to her case [1] [6] [7]. Federal prosecutors portrayed Bock as the “ringleader” of a network that claimed to serve millions of meals and allegedly siphoned roughly $250 million from federal child nutrition programs; trial exhibits and reporting also tie unusual cash flows and transfers to people in her orbit, though some named associates have not been criminally charged [2] [8].
2. Salim Said — co-defendant with business ties to restaurant services
Reporting identifies Salim Said, the former owner of Safari Restaurant, as a co-defendant who was convicted alongside Bock after the lengthy spring trial and who figures prominently in government descriptions of the network that contracted with Feeding Our Future to provide meal distribution [6] [2]. Court and media accounts place Said among the organizers who received reimbursements for allegedly fabricated meal counts and benefited from the scheme’s proceeds, a profile consistent with other convicted defendants who operated food sites or catering businesses linked to the nonprofit [6] [2].
3. Asha Farhan Hassan — cross-linked fraud in autism services and Feeding Our Future
Asha Farhan Hassan, who ran Smart Therapy LLC, pleaded guilty to wire fraud tied to a roughly $14 million Medicaid scheme and admitted stealing hundreds of thousands connected to Feeding Our Future, according to court documents and local reporting; authorities say she recruited families in the Somali community, paid kickbacks, and billed for services not provided [9] [3]. Her case highlights a repeated pattern prosecutors allege: defendants drawing money from multiple taxpayer-funded programs by using businesses that claimed to deliver services to children but instead overbilled or fabricated records [9] [3].
4. Bekam Merdassa, Adan and other guilty pleas — small operators and site managers
Names beyond the trial defendants appear repeatedly in lists of guilty pleas: Bekam Merdassa pleaded guilty in 2022 for running a shell company called Youth Inventors Lab that used Feeding Our Future as a sponsor [4], while local reporting documents at least one Lakeville man — identified in archived coverage as “Adan” — pleading guilty to a misdemeanor tied to running a site out of Lake Street Kitchen and ordered to pay restitution, with his attorney noting a smaller role in the scheme [10]. Federal filings and news accounts indicate dozens more have pleaded guilty to various roles, from submitting fraudulent meal counts to laundering proceeds, though their individual backgrounds range widely from small-food operators to proprietors of therapy or group-home businesses [4] [11].
5. Community demographics, prosecutorial framing and limits of available reporting
Multiple outlets and a consolidated public wiki note that many charged or convicted defendants are members of Minnesota’s Somali American community — a fact seized on in political rhetoric even as commentators urge not to generalize about the entire community [5] [12]. Reporting also makes clear prosecutors have described the syndicated fraud as sprawling, with convictions coming by trial and plea across programs; however, the sources provided do not supply a single, fully current list of every named defendant convicted or their detailed biographies, so any comprehensive accounting must rely on continually updated court records and local investigative lists such as Sahan Journal’s compilation [4] [5].