Three brothers charged with bribing juror in Feeding Our Future trial make court appearance

Three defendants charged with bribing a juror last month in the Feeding Our Future trial are scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday morning to enter a plea in the case.

The defendants are all brothers — Abdiaiziz Farah, Said Farah and Abdulkarim Farah. Abdiaziz and Said were tried recently in the first trial in the Feeding Our Future case, where 70 suspects were charged. Abdiaziz, Said and five other co-defendants in the joint trial were accused of stealing more than $40 million in federal money meant to feed underprivileged children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abdulkarim was not charged in the Feeding Our Future case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged the brothers and two others , Ladan Ali and Abdimajid Nur, last week with attempting to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash to acquit the seven defendants in the trial, which ended June 3. Abdimajid was one of the co-defendants in the trial.

Jurors ultimately convicted Abdiaziz and Abdimajid of several crimes, and fully acquitted Said. The jury also convicted three other defendants and acquitted one defendant.

Abdaiziz’s hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m., followed by Said’s at 10 a.m. and Abdulkarim’s at 11 a.m. U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung will preside over the hearings in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. In addition to entering their pleas, the hearing will decide whether the defendants will stay in custody. All three are currently being held in the Sherburne County jail.

The brothers made their first appearance in court last week, and each successfully requested a public defender despite protests from a federal prosecutor, who argued that they still have access to scores of stolen federal money stashed abroad.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko said at the first appearances that he would appoint public defenders for the three defendants “for the purposes of the day.” If the government’s arguments prove correct, he said, the government can seek to recoup the money spent on their public defendants.

Ladan pleaded not guilty to the charges in court last week. Federal prosecutors did not seek to detain Ladan, but she was ordered to not leave Minnesota until her case is resolved.

Prosecutors allege that Ladan, who lives in Seattle, dropped off a bag with $120,000 at the juror’s house on June 3, telling her relative that she would receive another bag of money if she voted not guilty. Prosecutors also allege that Abdulkarim recorded a video of Ladan dropping off the bag and sent it to Said, Abdiaziz, and Abdimajid.

Abdimajid’s arraignment in the bribery case has not yet been scheduled.

The charges allege that Said supplied $200,000 total for the bribe. They do not address what happened to the remaining $80,000.

According to the charges: FBI investigators found a list of juror information inside a water bottle in Abdiaziz’s house.

Federal prosecutors allege that the five defendants engaged in a sophisticated plot, researching and tracking the juror before attempting to bribe her. They targeted the 23-year-old Spring Lake Park juror because she was young and the only person of color on the jury.

FBI investigators found a list of talking points for the juror to use in arguing for an acquittal, the charges said. The arguments, many of which revolved around painting the Feeding Our Future case as racist against Somalis, were on the defendants’ phones. Most of the 70 defendants in the case are East African.

“We are immigrants: they don’t respect and care about us,” read one talking point.

“Prejudice against people of color. The Government kept attacking Somali witnesses and asking them if it’s true in the Somali culture to cheat, steal or lie which was very racist,” read another.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger likened the bribery attempt to gangland prosecutions he worked on early in his career as a federal prosecutor in New York in the 1980s and ‘90s.

“The mafia sometimes sought to corrupt juries through intimidation and rivalry,” Luger said last week when announcing the charges. “This form of corruption has now made its way to Minnesota. We must therefore take this threat to our system of justice seriously.”

The fraud in the broader Feeding Our Future case involved the Minnesota Department of Education distributing federal funds to sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care. The sponsor organizations then dispersed those funds to food vendors and food sites, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children.

Several organizations reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did, or simply never served any meals at all, in order to receive more federal funds, prosecutors say, and allegedly spent the money on cars, property, vacations and other items.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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