MINNEAPOLIS — Aimee Bock, the former leader of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis after being convicted last year on multiple counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. Prosecutors have asked the court to impose a 50-year prison term.

In a court filing, prosecutors wrote that "Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks." Prosecutors also wrote in the filing that "The ripple effects of her actions are profound, immeasurable, and will have lasting consequences for both Minnesota and the nation."

According to the court filing, the nonprofit sat atop a fraud network that included a web of partner organizations, phony distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children supposedly being fed. Feeding Our Future had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children in need during the pandemic.

Bock's attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, argued in a separate court filing that she should not have to serve more than 37 months in prison because she had provided information to investigators. Udoibok wrote that two co-defendants were responsible for running the scams and that Bock was unfairly painted as the mastermind. Bock has long insisted she is innocent.

Dozens of people, many from Minnesota's large Somali community, have been convicted for their roles in a series of overlapping food fraud cases. Bock is white, and the U.S. Attorney's Office says the overwhelming majority of defendants in the cases are of Somali descent. Most of those defendants are U.S. citizens.

President Donald Trump criticized the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz and pointed to the frauds as justification for launching an immigration crackdown. Trump used the fraud cases to initially justify a surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter.