Guilty plea in Feeding Our Future bribery scheme during June trial

A 23-year-old Shakopee man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to his role in the Feeding Our Future jury bribery scheme.

As part of a plea deal, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur admitted to one count of bribery of a juror.

Prosecutors say Nur recruited a codefendant during the Feeding Our Future trial to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash, with the promise of more cash if she voted to acquit the defendants.

In June, a juror reported being contacted on a Sunday evening about a "bag of cash". The juror called 911 and and the money is in custody of police and the FBI. That juror was then dismissed from the case.

The 23-year old juror says she was not home a the time, but her father in law was there when it happened.

The judge ordered all defendants' phones be frozen along with the defendants in the case. The jurors were also sequestered during deliberations. One more juror was eventually dismissed after saying they had knowledge of the attempted bribe.

Nur was convicted on ten of 13 counts during the original trial. Four others are charged in the bribery case, two of which have pleaded not guilty.

All were charged in 2022 with wire fraud, money laundering and other charges in the largest COVID-relief fraud case in the country. That group is only the first of 70 defendants to stand trial in what is considered the largest pandemic fraud in the country. 18 others pleaded guilty.

Authorities say $250 million that was meant to feed children was stolen at a time when some of the rules were relaxed in order to keep the U.S. economy running.