Seven defendants are in custody, and their phones confiscated in Minneapolis after a bribery attempt against a juror in a case of $40 million stolen from a government support program to feed children during the pandemic.
According to an FBI agent's affidavit, “Juror #52” reported to police that she received a bag containing $120,000 on Sunday at her front door in the Minneapolis suburb of Spring Lake Park. A woman dropped the bag at her house when the juror was absent. The juror’s father accepted the bag, and the woman giving it said that there would be more money if the juror acquitted the defendants in the next day’s court.
Juror #52 has been dismissed and replaced.
“The woman told the relative to tell Juror #52 to say not guilty tomorrow and there would be more of that present tomorrow,” the agent wrote. “After the woman left, the relative looked in the gift bag and saw it contained a substantial amount of cash.”
The bag of cash, decorated with flowers and ribbons, held $100, $50, and $20 bills totaling around $120,000. The FBI took the bag from Spring Lake Park police on Monday morning and interviewed the juror.
The woman who left the bag knew the juror's first name, the agent said. Names of the jurors have not been made public, but the list of people who had access to it included prosecutors, defense lawyers, and the seven defendants themselves.
“It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror's personal information was conspiring with, at a minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe,” the FBI agent wrote, noting that the alleged fraud conspiracy at the heart of the trial involved electronic communications, including text messages and emails.
Another juror was dismissed on Tuesday after it became known to the court that the second juror’s family member had knowledge of Juror #52’s experience with the bribe. The second—now dismissed—juror reported this family member’s knowledge to the court.
Anyone involved in the attempted bribe could face federal charges of bribery of a juror and influencing a juror, with a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison.
According to the Star Tribune, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told the court Monday: “This is completely beyond the pale. This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies.” Defense attorney Andrew Birrell called it “a troubling and upsetting accusation,” according to the newspaper.
The seven were the first of 70 defendants to go on trial in what federal prosecutors have called one of the largest COVID-19-related fraud cases in the country. They have described it as a massive scheme to exploit lax rules during the pandemic and steal from a program that was meant to provide meals to children in Minnesota.
Prosecutors have said the seven collectively stole over $40 million in a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $250 million. At the center of the alleged plot was a group called Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors say just a fraction of the money went to feed low-income kids and that the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel, and property. Federal authorities say they have recovered about $50 million.
The food program took its funds from the Department of Agriculture and was managed by the state. Nonprofits and other partners under the program were supposed to serve meals to kids. Defendants allegedly produced invoices for meals that were never served, ran shell companies, laundered money, indulged in passport fraud, and accepted bribes.
Eighteen other defendants have already pleaded guilty, while the rest are awaiting trial. Among them is Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future. She has maintained her innocence, saying she never stole and saw no evidence of fraud among her subcontractors.
The defendants are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur. The charges against them include wire fraud and money laundering. Mr. Shariff was the only defendant to testify and the only one to call witnesses on his behalf.