Education Department denied legal fees reimbursement in Feeding Our Future case

A Dakota County judge has denied a motion by the Minnesota Department of Education to force Feeding Our Future — the nonprofit at the center of a massive $250 million fraud investigation — to repay previous legal fees.

Dakota County District Judge David Lutz on Wednesday denied the state agency's motion seeking nearly $584,000 from Feeding Our Future. The Education Department said it spent that much defending itself against claims made by Feeding Our Future in an earlier Ramsey County District Court case.

In his court order, Lutz wrote that it's not appropriate for the court to issue sanctions against the nonprofit for a separate Ramsey County case, and that the Education Department didn't follow proper procedures for submitting a claim.

The state filed the lawsuit in March, seeking court supervision of Feeding Our Future's voluntary dissolution as a nonprofit. It was filed in Dakota County because Feeding Our Future was registered to executive director Aimee Bock's Rosemount home.

In January, the FBI raided Bock's home and Feeding Our Future's offices, publicly revealing the extensive investigation into Minnesota's federally funded meal programs meant to feed kids in need. Prosecutors say most defendants spent millions of dollars to enrich themselves.

So far, Bock and 49 others have been charged in what prosecutors say is the largest pandemic-related fraud case in the nation. Bock has pleaded not guilty.

The Education Department said in court it spent more than half a million dollars defending itself in a "sham" lawsuit filed by Feeding Our Future in 2020 after the state cut off the nonprofit's funding. The Education Department has claimed that the lawsuit was a distraction to keep the state from uncovering the fraud.