US Attorney Charges Five People with Attempted Bribery of Juror in Minnesota Feeding Our Futures Trial

Five people were charged with bribing a juror in Minnesota after authorities found on confiscated devices a “chilling” plan to give one juror more than $120,000 and specific instructions on how to convince other jurors to acquit, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. -fair.

Three of the people charged were defendants in the federal fraud trial that ended in June, while the other two were recruited, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said at a news conference.

The unidentified juror, who was offered nearly $120,000 in cash in exchange for voting to acquit on the eve of deliberations, was targeted because she was young and black, Luger said.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and Said Shafii Farah came up with a “plan,” instructing the juror to convince the rest of the panel to acquit all of the defendants because the prosecutors were racist, Luger said.

“We are immigrants. They don’t respect us or care about us,” the document said, according to Luger. “Only you can close this case.”

Luger said they “studied” the juror, “followed her and determined that she would succumb to the scheme.” They “thought carefully” about what they wanted the juror to say to the rest of the jury, and their hopes were to “inflame the jury,” he said.

“This is truly an attack on our justice system,” Luger said.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur were among the five of the seven defendants found guilty earlier this month of most of the crimes they faced related to a scheme in which they misused millions of dollars intended to feed children during the pandemic.

Said Shafii Farah was one of two defendants acquitted of all crimes they faced, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said Said Shafii Farah provided the funds to the juror and deleted a video of the person delivering the bribe to the juror’s home from his phone.

The five people were charged Wednesday with multiple crimes related to bribing a juror. Abdiaziz Shafii Farah faces an additional charge of obstruction of justice for deleting his phone after being told to turn it over in its current condition, Luger said.

This is a developing story, please check back for developments.