According to the DOJ, the five individuals conspired with one another to bribe an unnamed juror—identified only as “Juror 52” in court documents—with $120,000 in exchange for her returning a not-guilty verdict in the Feeding Our Future fraud trial, which took place earlier this month.
Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit organization, participated in the Federal Child Nutrition Program intended to feed hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Defendants Bought Luxury Cars, Jewelry
Prosecutors in that case said the individuals used large amounts of the funding meant to feed children in low-income families to purchase luxury vehicles, property, and jewelry.The five individuals now additionally charged with conspiracy decided to target Juror 52 because she “was the youngest juror and they believed her to be the only juror of color,” according to the DOJ.
The five allegedly researched the woman online and obtained her personal information, including her home address and information about her background, family members, and even her daily habits.
“One of the conspirators followed Juror 52 home as she left the courthouse during the trial, and they purchased a GPS tracking device to covertly install on Juror 52’s car in order to track her movements,” the DOJ said.
The five defendants later obtained $200,000 in cash, which they planned to deliver to the juror along with specific instructions telling her to vote “not guilty on all counts for all defendants” and to “convince all the remaining jurors to mark ‘not guilty’ for all defendants and all counts,” according to the DOJ.
Cash Present ‘For Not Guilty Verdict’
“We are immigrants. They don’t respect or care about us,” the list of arguments allegedly said, according to court documents.The 5 defendants named in the case and charged with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror, and corruptly influencing a juror are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, of Savage, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, 23, of Shakopee, Said Shafii Farah, 42, of Minneapolis, Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 24, of Minneapolis, and Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, of Seattle, Washington.
Mr. Farah was also charged with obstruction of justice.
All five appeared in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko on June 26.
According to the prosecutors, on June 2, at approximately 8:50 p.m. Mr. Abdulkarim Farah and Ms. Ali drove to Juror 52’s house, but she was not there. They then proceeded to hand a gift bag containing $120,000 in alleged bribe money to one of the juror’s relatives and “explained that the money was a present in exchange for a not guilty verdict.”
Ms. Ali allegedly promised Juror 52 that she would receive more money in the future if she voted to acquit all the defendants, according to the DOJ.
The encounter was filmed by Mr. Abdulkarim Farah, who then sent the video to his co-conspirators, the DOJ alleges.
After a judge ordered the five individuals to surrender their phones to law enforcement, Mr. Abdiaziz Farah, Mr. Nur, and Mr. Said Farah wiped their phones of all evidence of the alleged attempted bribe, prosecutors said.
Three of the people charged in the conspiracy case were defendants in the federal fraud trial, while one was recruited to take part in the alleged conspiracy, and another is the brother of two of the defendants.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Office of the Federal Defender District of Minnesota for comment.
