Five Charged In Feeding Our Future Bribery Scandal

(KNSI) – New details are emerging over the complex conspiracy to bribe a juror during the first Feeding Our Future trial, including how the five who are charged stalked and harassed the victim.

United States Attorney Andrew Luger has indicted four Minnesotans and a 31-year-old from Seattle, Washington. Court documents list the defendants as Abdiaziz Shafii Farah from Savage, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur of Shakopee, Said Shafii Farah and Abdulkarim Shafii Farah of Minneapolis, and Ladan Mohamed Ali.

They targeted Juror 52 as they believed she was the only minority on the panel. She is also younger. Court documents say they began to learn more about her by doing online research, even probing into close family members.

They conspired to get a read on her daily habits by following her home early in the trial and secretly installing a tracker on her vehicle. Court documents say the five gathered about $200,000 together and attached instructions telling her to vote not guilty on all counts. They also printed out talking points to use during jury deliberation that could persuade others to reach a similar verdict.

Ali flew into Minnesota and was selected to drop $120,000 at Juror 52’s house. He handed it off to a relative explaining that more was available and it was to be accepted in exchange for a not guilty finding.

The next day, Juror 52 told the judge about the incident, and immediately, the court impounded the cell phones of the defendants in the case. They had wiped any evidence of the scheme from the phones by resetting them to factory settings.

The indictment charges the five with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror, and corruptly influencing a juror. One is also facing an obstruction of justice charge.

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