U.S. Attorney, FBI announce charges against 5 in Feeding Our Future jury bribery scheme

(KSTP) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office and members of the FBI on Wednesday announced charges against five people in the jury bribery case connected to the Feeding Our Future trial. Each defendant has been charged with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror and corruptly influencing a juror:

• Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, of Savage
• Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, 23, of Shakopee
• Said Shafii Farah, 42, of Minneapolis
• Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 24, of Minneapolis
• Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, of Seattle, Washington

Abdiaziz Farah was additionally charged with obstruction of justice.

“These defendants engaged in a chilling attack on our justice system,” Luger said during Wednesday’s news conference. “They sought to buy a juror and use her to infiltrate the jury with their own false arguments — arguments that had nothing to do with the evidence or law.”

Luger added that some of the charges against the defendants had never before been charged in Minnesota.

As previously reported, a juror was dismissed in the sixth week of the trial after she reported a woman showed up at her home with a bag of $120,000 in cash and offered her more money if she voted to acquit the defendants.

Luger stated the group decided to target Juror 52 because she was the youngest juror and they believed she was the only juror of color. They researched her and found her home address and information on her background and family.

Prosecutors allege the group also surveilled Juror 52 to confirm her address and daily habits. One of the conspirators even followed her home one day as she left court and additionally bought a tracking device to put on her car.

“They studied her, they followed her, they determined that she would succumb to their scheme,” Luger said. “The fact that they failed does not lessen the magnitude of what they tried to do.”

The group also gave Juror 52 a list of instructions, including instructions to vote “not guilty on all counts for all defendants” and a list of arguments to convince other jurors. Many of the arguments were designed to allege the prosecution was motivated by racism.

The note also contained the phrase, “You alone can end this case,” Luger said.

Prosecutors allege that Ladan Ali, recruited by Nur, was the woman who dropped off the bag of cash at Juror 52’s home. On May 30, they say she took a flight from Seattle to Minneapolis.

The next day, Ali tried to follow Juror 52 home as she left court on the first day of closing arguments. Ali’s rental car was documented being near Juror 52’s home 19 times, court officials said.

Abdiaziz Farah told Nur to meet him at Bushra Wholesalers — Said Farah’s business — to pick up the bribe money on June 2. Ali then put the money in a Hallmark gift bag to be delivered.

At around 8:50 p.m. that night, Ali and Abdulkarim Farah went to Juror 52’s house. Ali gave the bag of $120,000 to a relative of the juror and explained the money was a gift in exchange for a not guilty verdict, court officials state. Ali said there would be more money if Juror 52 voted to acquit the defendants.

Prosecutors state Abdulkarim Farah stayed in the car and took a video of the interaction, later sending it to the co-conspirators using an encrypted messaging app.

Juror 52 called authorities when she found out about the bribery attempt.

“We sometimes ask ourselves[…] whether one person can actually make a difference. It doesn’t take much,” Luger commented. “Juror 52 gave us a clear example of how to do it. On Sunday night, June 2, Juror 52 refused a bribe and called authorities, and she made a difference.”

The judge ordered the defendants to surrender their phones to law enforcement on June 3. Abdiaziz Farah, Nur and Said Farah deleted evidence from their phones, court officials said.

However, investigators found a “blueprint” for Juror 52 on how to win an acquittal was found on Nur’s phone, Luger said.

The next day, June 4, a second juror was dismissed. According to the judge, the juror called her family to let them know the jury was being sequestered and the family member responded, “Is it because of the bribe?” The juror then reported that conversation to the court, which told her to not talk to any other jurors about what she’d heard.

Jurors later convicted five of the seven defendants.

On June 12, the FBI raided the home of Mukhtar Shariff, who was one of the five convicted.

Shariff’s attorney had previously asked the judge to release him from custody after the FBI raided the Savage home of co-defendant Abdiaziz Farah. A printed list of the jurors’ names was found in Abdiaziz Farah’s home, hidden in a water bottle.

U.S. Court officials say that the defendants will begin making court appearances Wednesday afternoon.

You can see the full press conference in the video above or by CLICKING HERE.