Five people were charged with bribing a juror in Minnesota after authorities found in confiscated devices a “chilling” plan to give a juror more than $120,000 and specific instructions on how to convince other jurors to acquit, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
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 a person of color, Luger said.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, and Said Shafii Farah devised a “blueprint,” instructing the juror to convince the rest of the panel to acquit all of the defendants because prosecutors were racist, Luger said.
“We are immigrants. They don’t respect or care about us,” the document said, according to Luger. “You alone can end this case.”
Luger said they “studied” the juror, “followed her, and determined that she would succumb to their 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 really is an attack on our system of justice,” Luger said.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur were among the five of 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 meant to feed children during the pandemic.
Said Shafii Farah was one of two defendants acquitted of all the 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 from his phone a video of the person delivering the bribe to that juror’s home.
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 instructed to turn it over in its current state, Luger said.
This is a developing story, please check back for developments.
