A jury on Friday convicted five Minnesota residents and acquitted two others of participating in a scheme to steal more than $40 million from a program that was meant to provide meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case attracted widespread attention after someone tried to bribe jurors with a bag containing $120,000 in cash.
That juror was dismissed before deliberations began, and another juror who was informed of the dismissal has also been dismissed. The FBI investigation into the attempted bribery is ongoing, but no arrests have been announced.
Jurors in fraud trial claim they were paid $120,000 and promised more if they voted not guilty
After the verdict was read, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson called the bribery attempt “an attack on our criminal justice system” and told reporters that authorities would investigate it vigorously. Thompson made no other comment on the case, other than expressing satisfaction with the fraud convictions.
“They lied and fraudulently claimed they were providing millions of meals to Minnesota children during the COVID-19 outbreak. The defendants exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the State of Minnesota and steal tens of millions of dollars,” Thompson said. “This conduct is not only criminal, it is corrupt and brazen.”
This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota shows cash in a bag left at the home of a juror in a massive fraud case in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 2, 2024. Authorities seized cellphones and detained all seven defendants as investigators try to determine who tried to bribe the jurors to acquit them of stealing more than $40 million from programs meant to feed children during the pandemic. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota via The Associated Press)
Defense lawyers argued at trial that their clients served real meals to real people.
The seven are the first of 70 people to go to trial in what federal prosecutors are calling one of the nation’s largest COVID-19-related scams, which exploited rules that had been relaxed to keep the economy from collapsing during the pandemic. Overall, the Minnesota scams have stolen more than $250 million in federal funds, with only about $50 million recovered, authorities said.
Food aid was provided by the USDA and administered by states, with money funneled through nonprofits and other partners. As rules were relaxed to speed up delivery of assistance to those in need, the defendants allegedly created invoices for meals they never provided, ran shell companies, laundered money, committed passport fraud and accepted bribes.
Federal prosecutors said only a small portion of the funds the defendants received through their nonprofit organization, Feeding Our Future, went to providing meals to low-income children, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and real estate.
The defendants in the trial faced multiple charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and federal program bribery. Each defendant was indicted for their alleged role and had their own attorney. Ultimately, the jury returned a split verdict.
Abdiaziz Shafi’i Farah, Mohammed Jama Ismail, Abdimadjid Mohammed Noor, Mukhtar Mohammed Sharif and Hayat Mohammed Noor were found guilty of most of the charges. Prosecutors have named Abdiaziz Farah as the ringleader of the seven and he faces the most charges. He was found guilty on 23 of the 24 charges.
Said Shafi’i Farah and Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin were acquitted of all charges against them, with Aftin being the least charged of the seven defendants, with only three charges.
Mr Aftin’s lawyer, Andrew Gervis, said afterwards that the case was complicated.
“The government had a lot of evidence and the jury took their time to consider it,” Garvis said. “That’s what we want from the system, so I’m grateful.”
Said Farah’s lawyer, Steven Schleicher, said he was grateful his client was acquitted.
Lawyers for Abdimadjid Noor, Hayat Noor, Abdiaziz Farah and Ismail did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment. Sharif’s lawyer, Frederick Goetz, declined to comment.
A common defense argument is that investigators failed to thoroughly investigate whether real children were served real meals.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled for a later date.
An Associated Press analysis published last June documented how thieves across the country looted billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief money. Scammers may have stolen more than $280 billion, and another $123 billion was wasted or misused. Combined, the losses amounted to 10% of the $4.3 trillion the government had disbursed through last fall. About 3,200 people have been indicted, and about $1.4 billion in stolen pandemic aid has been seized, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
After jurors reported bribery attempts in the Minnesota case, the judge ordered all seven defendants to turn over their cellphones so investigators could search for evidence, ordered all seven detained and sequestered the jury.
According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, the night before the case was due to go to a jury, a woman rang the doorbell of “Juror No. 52” in the Minneapolis suburb of Spring Lake Park. A relative answered the door and handed her a gift bag decorated with curly ribbons and flowers and butterflies. The woman said it was a “present” for the juror.
“The woman told her relative to tell Juror #52 tomorrow that she would find him not guilty and to hand out more presents tomorrow,” investigators wrote. “After the woman left, the relative looked inside the gift bags and noticed a significant amount of cash inside.”
Juror called police immediately after returning home and handed them a bag containing stacks of $100, $50 and $20 bills, totaling about $120,000.
Deputies said the woman who dropped off the bag knew the names of the jurors, whose names have not been made public, but who had access to the list included prosecutors, defense lawyers and the seven defendants.
“It is highly likely that individuals with access to the personal information of jurors conspired with the women to provide bribes of at least $120,000,” FBI agents wrote, noting that the alleged fraud conspiracy at the center of the trial involved electronic communications, including text messages and emails.
Days later, while the remaining jurors were deciding, FBI agents searched the home of Abdiaziz Shafi’i Farah, according to a neighbor who witnessed the search and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. The FBI confirmed that agents were in the city where Farah lives but gave no details. It is unclear whether the search was related to the bribery investigation.
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The federal charges of jury tampering and influencing a juror carry a maximum possible penalty of 15 years in prison.
Eighteen other people have pleaded guilty in the $250 million fraud scheme. Among those awaiting trial is Feeding Our Future founder Amy Bock, who has pleaded not guilty, saying she didn’t steal and there’s no evidence of fraud among subcontractors.
