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.

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,

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.

Feeding Our Future’s former executive director, Aimee Bock, is scheduled to go on trial Monday with Salim Said.

Federal prosecutors say the scheme exploited the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort 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.