State officials were right to disqualify Partners In Nutrition from federal food program participation last year as part of the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud investigation, a Minnesota Appeals Court panel ruled Monday.

Although none of the 70 people charged in the Feeding Our Future investigation worked directly for Partners In Nutrition, based in St. Paul, both nonprofits saw explosive growth in food reimbursement claims during the coronavirus pandemic, when state oversight was minimal. And some of the people who pleaded guilty to submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims were sponsored by Partners In Nutrition, also known as Partners In Quality Care.

As a sponsor of food distribution sites, Partners submitted claims on their behalf and took administrative fees from the money that was reimbursed.

The appeals court ruling says Partners “‘did not deny’ that they submitted reimbursement claims to the program for meals that in fact were not served to participants ‘but maintained that [they were] unaware of the fraud and deception undertaken by the sites it sponsored.’”

The three appellate judges said the Minnesota Department of Education followed proper procedures in disqualifying Partners, that Partners had a meaningful opportunity to defend itself and that the Department of Education was not biased in its decision making.

Partners, the judges said, “‘did not ‘monitor … the program’ or ‘ensure fiscal accountability,’ as required by the agreement with MDE.”

A federal jury in March convicted Aimee Bock on numerous charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery for leading the nation’s largest fraud involving pandemic relief. Bock and an associate co-founded Partners In Nutrition before she left to start the competing Feeding Our Future.

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