A third person has pleaded guilty to being part of a scheme to try to bribe a juror with $120,000 during the Feeding Our Future trial in Minneapolis, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota announced Wednesday.

Last April, seven people went on trial in federal court in the Feeding Our Future case, one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases.

Abdulkarim Farah (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Two of the people on trial were brothers of Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 25, of Minneapolis. During the trial, he worked with his brothers and others to provide cash to a juror in exchange for returning a not-guilty verdict, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Farah conducted surveillance of a juror, referred to in court documents as Juror 52, and of her house. He sent a map of where Juror 52 parked while serving on the jury.

Ladan Mohamed Ali was recruited to deliver the money and Farah was instructed to drive Ali to Juror 52’s house. Farah went to a Target store and bought a screwdriver, which he used to remove the license plate from Ali’s rental car, as they attempted to avoid being caught by law enforcement.

Farah drove Ali about 8:50 p.m. June 2 to Juror 52’s house and recorded video of her delivering a gift bag with bribe money inside. Ali handed the money to a relative of Juror 52 and said there would be more money if the juror voted for acquittal in the trial. Farah sent the video he took to his brother.

When the bribe was disclosed in court the next day, Farah uninstalled and deleted the Signal encrypted messaging app from his cellphone to destroy the messages, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Farah pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of bribery of a juror, remains in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.

A bag of cash that was left at the home of a juror in a Feeding Our Future trial. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota via AP)

“Mr. Farah was ready to accept responsibility for his part, which he did,” said his attorney, Kevin DeVore. “He wants to … put this behind him, so he can move on with his life.”

Farah was among five people indicted in the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Juror 52 was targeted because she was the youngest juror and the suspects believed she was the only juror of color. They did online research to find her home address.

“The attempted bribery of Juror 52 is a shameful chapter in Minnesota history,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Lisa Kirkpatrick in a statement. “Juror bribery strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system. … Juror 52 — who could not be corrupted and immediately alerted law enforcement — represents the best of Minnesota.”

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