After attempted bribe, jury reaches verdict in case of 7 Minnesotans accused of pandemic-era fraud
MINNEAPOLIS– A jury reached a verdict on Friday in the case against seven suspects from Minnesota a scheme to steal more than $40 million which was intended to feed children during the pandemic. The case gained widespread attention after someone tried to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 cash.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel dismissed that juror before deliberations began, as well as another juror who had been informed of the attempted bribery. An FBI investigation into the attempted bribery continues without any arrests announced.
Defense attorneys argued that the defendants provided real meals to real people.
Jurors, prosecutors and defendants gathered in court to hear the verdicts read by Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, who stood in for Brasel because she was traveling Friday.
The seven defendants are the first of 70 to stand trial in what federal prosecutors have called one of the nation’s largest COVID-19-related frauds, using rules kept lax so the economy doesn’t slow during the pandemic would crash. In total, more than $250 million in federal funds were withdrawn from the Minnesota program, of which only about $50 million was recovered, authorities said.
A Associated Press analysis published last June documented how thieves across the country billions looted in federal COVID-19 relief dollars. Fraudsters may have stolen more than $280 billion, while another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represented 10% of the $4.3 trillion the government paid this out last fall. Nearly 3,200 defendants have been charged and approximately $1.4 billion in stolen pandemic aid has been seized, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Minnesota case attracted attention after the judge and lawyers for both sides learned of the attempted bribery. The judge ordered all seven defendants to surrender their cellphones so investigators could search for evidence. She also ordered all seven taken into custody and the jury seized.
According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, a woman rang the doorbell at the home of “Juror No. 52” in the Minneapolis suburb of Spring Lake Park the night before the case went to the jury. The juror was not home, but a family member answered the door. The woman presented the relative with a gift bag with a curly ribbon and images of flowers and butterflies, saying it was a “gift” for the juror.
“The woman told the family member to tell Juror No. 52 not guilty tomorrow, and that there would be more of that gift tomorrow,” the officer wrote. “After the woman left, the family member looked inside the gift bag and saw that it contained a significant amount of cash.”
The juror called the police immediately after she got home and handed them the bag containing stacks of $100, $50 and $20 bills, totaling approximately $120,000. The woman who left the bag knew the juror’s first name, the officer said. The names of the jurors have not been made public, but the list of people with access to them includes prosecutors, defense attorneys – and the seven defendants.
“It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information conspired with, at a minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe,” the FBI agent wrote, noting that the alleged fraud conspiracy at the center stated that the process involved electronic documents. communications, including text messages and emails.
Federal charges of bribery of a juror and influencing a juror carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
The food assistance came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was administered by the state, which channeled the meal money through nonprofits and other partners. When the rules were relaxed to expedite relief to the needy, the defendants allegedly raised invoices for meals never served, ran shell companies, laundered money, indulged in passport fraud and accepted bribes.
Federal prosecutors said only a fraction of the money the defendants received through the nonprofit Feeding our Future went to feed low-income children, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and property. The seven stole more than $40 million together, they said.
These seven suspects are: Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur. All were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering, and some faced additional charges in the 43-count indictment. Everyone had their own lawyers.
The common thread in their defense was that researchers failed to dig deep enough to see that they were serving real meals to real children.
Eighteen other suspects have pleaded guilty. Among those awaiting trial is Aimee Bock, the founder of nourishing our future. She has maintained her innocence, saying she has never stolen and has seen no evidence of fraud among her subcontractors.