Somali woman shows up at Juror's Minneapolis home with $120,000 in cash, asking for acquittal of 7 Somalians accused of stealing $41,000,000
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Wow, a federal judge with a pair orders all seven defendants arrested last night!! The marxists in Minnimogudishu are going to be crazed over this!
sahanjournal.com
Feeding Our Future juror bribed with $120K, defendants arrested
Prosecutors in the Feeding Our Future trial are alleging jury tampering after a woman bribed juror 52 with a bag containing $120,000 in cash.
sahanjournal.com
Wow, a federal judge with a pair orders all seven defendants arrested last night!! The marxists in Minnimogudishu are going to be crazed over this!
Feeding Our Future juror bribed with $120K, defendants arrested
Prosecutors in the Feeding Our Future trial are alleging jury tampering after a woman bribed juror 52 with a bag containing $120,000 in cash.
As you noted, they confiscated the 7 defendants' phones, too. I can't wait for the FBI to determine and reveal who the woman was and who she was talking to before & after she delivered the bag of cash.
Now a days, people videotape everything with their phones; i can't believe someone didn't start videotaping this woman as she headed back to her car (where they would get images of the license plate, etc)
A second juror is dismissed after hearing about the attempted bribe of another juror.
The story:
www.kare11.com
The story:
A second juror is dismissed from Feeding Our Future trial
The dismissal is tied to Monday's revelations of an alleged bribe given to one juror who was also dismissed.
www.kare11.com
He said, "Wait....do you mean we're supposed to disclose payoffs to the court??"A second juror is dismissed after hearing about the attempted bribe of another juror.
The story:
A second juror is dismissed from Feeding Our Future trial
The dismissal is tied to Monday's revelations of an alleged bribe given to one juror who was also dismissed.
Bribing jurors is probably BAU in Somalia.
Looks like they know who the woman is.
Oh, and this home that they raided was purchased with the stolen money.
Why we ever got involved in the Somalian civil war and then started bringing over refuges in 1993 is something we are now paying for. Literally.
As the story indicates, the list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. So, who leaked the jurors' names?
The story:
By Kelly Smith and Louis Krauss
Minneapolis Star Tribune
JUNE 5, 2024 — 7:51PM
As the jury in the Feeding Our Future trial continued to deliberate Wednesday for a third day, the house of a Shakopee businessman on trial was raided by FBI agents as they investigate who leaked a list of juror names, leading to an attempted bribe.
The Savage home of Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, was searched for three hours by FBI agents, starting at 7:30 a.m., said a neighbor who declined to give their name.
"There were six or so cars out here and the FBI had their guns out behind their cars," she said, adding that they ordered three women, a toddler and an infant to come outside.
The FBI didn't release any details about what they found at the home, or if other locations were searched. A message left with Farah's attorney, Andrew Birrell, wasn't returned Wednesday.
Farah's home was one of more than two dozen homes and businesses that the FBI raided in January 2022, seizing documents, cars and other items prosecutors say were purchased with federal money meant to fund meals for children in need.
An FBI agent testified during the six-week trial about finding more than $64,000 in cash inside Farah's home and cars, and confiscating four vehicles, including a new Tesla and Porsche. Prosecutors say the house and luxury items were purchased with federal reimbursements meant to pay for meals.
The FBI is investigating who leaked jurors' names after a woman dropped off a bag of $120,000 in cash at one juror's home on Sunday and added that she would get more cash if she voted to acquit the defendants. The juror, who immediately reported the incident to police, was excused from serving on the jury on Monday.
The list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. A second juror was excused Tuesday when she heard about the attempted bribery from a family member.
In a rare move, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sequestered the jury Monday night after the attempted bribery, and added security to the courtroom, detained defendants and confiscated their phones.
Birrell has argued to the jury that his client was a successful businessman who was allowed to make a profit as a vendor in the meal programs and spend the money as he liked. He argued that the federal government cherry-picked data to make their case that high meal counts were improbable.
"They like to flash the cash because it looks like something is wrong," he told the jury in his closing argument, adding that defendants didn't try to hide their transactions using cash but instead made legitimate purchases traceable to bank accounts. "That's not concealment. That's operating completely above board."
Inside the downtown Minneapolis federal courthouse, the six men and six women on the jury began deliberations around 4:30 p.m. Monday after observing about 135 hours of testimonies and arguments over 24 days. So far, they've deliberated for at least 16 hours as they consider 41 federal criminal counts against seven defendants.
Farah and the six other defendants on trial, all tied to his Shakopee restaurant, received more than $40 million for 18 million meals, part of U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse schools, nonprofits and day cares for feeding low-income children after school or during the summer.
www.startribune.com
Oh, and this home that they raided was purchased with the stolen money.
Why we ever got involved in the Somalian civil war and then started bringing over refuges in 1993 is something we are now paying for. Literally.
As the story indicates, the list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. So, who leaked the jurors' names?
The story:
As Feeding Our Future jury deliberates, FBI raids one defendant's home
It wasn't clear why or if other defendants' homes or any other sites were searched.By Kelly Smith and Louis Krauss
Minneapolis Star Tribune
JUNE 5, 2024 — 7:51PM
As the jury in the Feeding Our Future trial continued to deliberate Wednesday for a third day, the house of a Shakopee businessman on trial was raided by FBI agents as they investigate who leaked a list of juror names, leading to an attempted bribe.
The Savage home of Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, was searched for three hours by FBI agents, starting at 7:30 a.m., said a neighbor who declined to give their name.
"There were six or so cars out here and the FBI had their guns out behind their cars," she said, adding that they ordered three women, a toddler and an infant to come outside.
The FBI didn't release any details about what they found at the home, or if other locations were searched. A message left with Farah's attorney, Andrew Birrell, wasn't returned Wednesday.
Farah's home was one of more than two dozen homes and businesses that the FBI raided in January 2022, seizing documents, cars and other items prosecutors say were purchased with federal money meant to fund meals for children in need.
An FBI agent testified during the six-week trial about finding more than $64,000 in cash inside Farah's home and cars, and confiscating four vehicles, including a new Tesla and Porsche. Prosecutors say the house and luxury items were purchased with federal reimbursements meant to pay for meals.
The FBI is investigating who leaked jurors' names after a woman dropped off a bag of $120,000 in cash at one juror's home on Sunday and added that she would get more cash if she voted to acquit the defendants. The juror, who immediately reported the incident to police, was excused from serving on the jury on Monday.
The list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. A second juror was excused Tuesday when she heard about the attempted bribery from a family member.
In a rare move, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sequestered the jury Monday night after the attempted bribery, and added security to the courtroom, detained defendants and confiscated their phones.
Birrell has argued to the jury that his client was a successful businessman who was allowed to make a profit as a vendor in the meal programs and spend the money as he liked. He argued that the federal government cherry-picked data to make their case that high meal counts were improbable.
"They like to flash the cash because it looks like something is wrong," he told the jury in his closing argument, adding that defendants didn't try to hide their transactions using cash but instead made legitimate purchases traceable to bank accounts. "That's not concealment. That's operating completely above board."
Inside the downtown Minneapolis federal courthouse, the six men and six women on the jury began deliberations around 4:30 p.m. Monday after observing about 135 hours of testimonies and arguments over 24 days. So far, they've deliberated for at least 16 hours as they consider 41 federal criminal counts against seven defendants.
Farah and the six other defendants on trial, all tied to his Shakopee restaurant, received more than $40 million for 18 million meals, part of U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse schools, nonprofits and day cares for feeding low-income children after school or during the summer.
As Feeding Our Future jury deliberates, FBI raids one defendant's home
It wasn't clear why or if other defendants' homes or any other sites were searched.
www.startribune.com
Last edited:
Here's a good video from the Minneapolis NBC affiliate.
You will see, among other things, the home that was purchased with the stolen money.
www.kare11.com
You will see, among other things, the home that was purchased with the stolen money.
FBI raids Feeding our Future defendant's home as juror bribe investigation continues
The home was allegedly purchased in 2021 by Abdiaziz Farah with stolen federal meal program money.
www.kare11.com
In the OP I mentioned that "Feeding our Future" was run by a white woman.
Here was her right hand person, who told others in the Somali community how to make a lot of money fast.
Here was her right hand person, who told others in the Somali community how to make a lot of money fast.
As I mentioned, they hid what they stole very well.
Or it's already been spent on vacations, as shown above.
Or it's already been spent on vacations, as shown above.
Somali refuges started arriving in this country in 1993; not sure how many of the defendants were born in the USA.
Import the 3rd World....
Judge Nancy Brasel:
"Aside from attorneys, Defendants are the only ones who had access to the names of jurors. Based on this information, it is likely that at least one Defendant played a role in bribing a juror."
Judge Nancy Brasel:
"Aside from attorneys, Defendants are the only ones who had access to the names of jurors. Based on this information, it is likely that at least one Defendant played a role in bribing a juror."
5 Feeding Our Future defendants found guilty, 2 acquitted in sprawling fraud case
BY: DEENA WINTER - JUNE 7, 2024 1:38 PM
A jury found five defendants guilty and two not guilty on Friday in the first trial in the nation’s largest pandemic relief fraud case.
They faced a total of 41 charges — chiefly wire fraud, bribery and money laundering — alleging they claimed to give away 18.8 million meals to needy children from 50 sites across the state. Prosecutors said they fabricated invoices and submitted thousands of phony names of children in order to get $49 million in federal funds.
Said Shafii Farah and Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin were acquitted of all charges against them, while the others had a mix of convictions and acquittals.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson held a brief press conference after the verdicts were announced, and said “We’re pleased with the verdict. We’re proud of the trial.”
He said the outcome confirms what the feds knew all along: That members of the group falsified documents, lied and claimed to be serving millions of meals, and took advantage of a global pandemic to defraud and steal millions of dollars.
“This conduct was not just criminal, it was depraved and brazen,” Thompson said. “Evidence showed how brazen the scheme was, and how extensive and shameless it was.”
The first day of deliberations was marked by chaos Monday, as federal prosecutors revealed that someone left $120,000 at the home of a juror Sunday night in an effort to sway her vote. The juror — and another juror who became aware of the bribe attempt — were dismissed, while the remaining jurors were sequestered and the defendants detained for the remainder of deliberations.
The home of one of the defendants, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, whom prosecutors have described as a ringleader, was raided Wednesday in connection with the bribe investigation.
The defendants are the first to stand trial out of 70 people charged so far in what’s been dubbed the Feeding Our Future case — named for a nonprofit at the center of the case — and which revolves around a web of people who federal prosecutors say stole some $250 million. Eighteen people have pleaded guilty and one fled the country.
The verdict is sure to affect the 44 others awaiting trial. More could still be charged, especially if the guilty verdicts unleash a wave of cooperation with the investigation, as defendants and suspects seek lighter sentences. However, the two acquittals may give some the confidence to go to trial.
In painstaking detail, government accountants and investigators showed how defendants funneled money through numerous corporations to conceal that they weren’t buying much food, and paid kickbacks to nonprofits that were supposed to be overseeing them. They showed evidence the defendants only spent a few million dollars on food, and spent the rest on pricey vehicles, luxury vacations to the Maldives and the Middle East and new homes, including a suburban lakefront mansion.
This case revolved around a small halal restaurant and market in a Shakopee strip mall called Empire Cuisine & Market. It was incorporated by two of the defendants in April 2020, and soon after began claiming to be feeding kids at a couple dozen distribution sites. The restaurant received nearly $30 million in federal funds, and spent about $3 million of it on food — some of which appeared to be for the restaurant, according to an FBI forensic accountant.
Their defense attorneys argued they actually did give away food — showing photos and videos showing some food being stored, packaged and distributed — and were allowed to make a profit. They blamed the state Department of Education that ran the program and two nonprofits at the center of the case — Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition — for not giving them enough guidance as they navigated a complicated, ever-changing array of federal waivers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture loosened its rules during the COVID-19 pandemic to make it easier to get food to children as schools and daycares shuttered. Prosecutors say the program was flooded with reimbursement requests from the defendants and others charged in Minnesota, even though very little food was actually served.
The defendants
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah of Savage and Mohamed Jama Ismail of Savage incorporated Empire Cuisine & Market on April 1, 2020, got permits to convert it into a grocery store and 18 days later told their sponsoring nonprofit, Partners in Nutrition, they were ready to distribute 250 meals at the Samaha Family Center in Shakopee. They opened a bank account for the company on May 12, 2020, and began filing claims seeking reimbursement from the government for meals.Farah was found guilty on all but one count. He was convicted of six counts of wire fraud; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery; two counts of federal programs bribery; 11 counts of money laundering; making false statements in a passport application; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was acquitted of one count of wire fraud.
Empire Cuisine & Market and other affiliated sites received over $28 million in fraudulent federal child nutrition funds, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors showed jurors WhatsApp messages between defendant Abdiaziz Farah and another person indicted in the case talking about how to divide up the money they made, coming up with names of children served, and dealing with the state and nonprofit that was supposed to be monitoring them — as opposed to the logistics of getting huge amounts of food to distribution sites.
“The next multi-millionaires will be you and me,” Abdiaziz Farah wrote in one message.
He went on to write a $1 million check to buy a lakeside Prior Lake home.
Mohamed Jama Ismail of Savage was a co-owner of Empire Cuisine & Market, and prosecutors say he pocketed over $2 million in the scheme, buying a GMC pickup, two trucks for $167,000, and spending $137,000 to pay off the mortgage on the house he’d bought six years earlier.
Ismail was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and acquitted of another count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to money launder.
His lawyer, Patrick Cotter, portrayed him as a hard-working immigrant who did not purposely defraud the government. Cotter said Ismail nearly died of hepatitis and hunger before making it to America, where realized his dream of opening an East African restaurant.
After the FBI seized Ismail’s passport during a January 2022 raid of his home, he applied for a new one months later, claiming he’d lost his. Three months later, he was arrested in a jetway about to board a one-way flight from Minneapolis to Kenya, where his wife and five children lived.
Abdimajid Mohamed Nur of Shakopee was 20 when he got involved in the food program, where his lawyer Edward Sapone said he may have been “in over his head” but saw it as a dream job and “his big chance.”
Nur was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; four counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to money launder. He was acquitted of three counts of money laundering.
Sapone said Nur picked rocks out of crops at age 10 and put in 14-hour days working at Dairy Queen in high school, where he was an athlete who ran the 800-meter. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a teen before getting involved in the food program, where his lawyer said he made “a lot of money” and was seen as “the star of the family.”
He created a consulting company that prosecutors said was used to launder federal funds from Empire Cuisine & Market and other entities. Prosecutors said he signed off on dozens of sites’ meal claims daily, showed a $30,000 wire transfer from his consulting company to a Dubai jewelry company and an $11,000 payoff of his car.
Said Shafii Farah of Minneapolis, brother of defendant Abdiaziz Farah, was an owner of Bushra Wholesalers LLC, which prosecutors said was a shell company used to launder federal funds.
His attorney, Steven Schleicher, said Said Farah distributed food and is a self-made businessman who lives in a modest Minneapolis home.
Farah was acquitted of all eight charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.
“He’s just very grateful to be to have been acquitted and exonerated of these charges and to put this behind him,” Schleicher said.
Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, 32, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was an owner of Bushra Wholesalers LLC, a shell company used to launder fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
Aftin was acquitted of three wire fraud and money laundering charges.
Aftin’s lawyer Andrew Garvis praised the jury for their decision.
“They were extremely conscientious and I’m glad that they heard the evidence and took it all into consideration,” Garvis said.
Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff of Bloomington was the chief executive officer of Afrique Hospitality Group, which used federal funds to build an East African community center in Bloomington. Prosecutors said was Afrique was a shell company used to fraudulently obtain and launder federal funds, but Shariff, the only defendant of seven who opted to testify in the case, said it was a real project with other investors, and actually got built (although it went through bankruptcy has since been taken over by others and operates under the name Zawadi).
Shariff was convicted of two wire fraud charges and two money laundering charges and acquitted of two bribery charges.
Prosecutors said Shariff pocketed $1.3 million in 2021 working for Afrique and as a consultant to other entities involved in the food program, and invested over $1 million into cryptocurrency. They alleged he also gave a $250,000 kickback to a former Feeding Our Future employee named Ikram Yusuf Mohamed.
Shariff is probably the most well-known defendant, having created the annual Somali Diaspora Conference, started a podcast called Nomadic Hustle and worked in software engineering in Seattle before moving to Bloomington in the fall of 2020.
Hayat Mohamed Nur, 25, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the sister of Abdimajid Nur, participated in the scheme by creating and submitting fraudulent meal count sheets, attendance rosters, and invoices.
Nur was convicted of four wire fraud counts and acquitted of money laundering.
minnesotareformer.com
Nur was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; four counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to money launder. He was acquitted of three counts of money laundering.
Sapone said Nur picked rocks out of crops at age 10 and put in 14-hour days working at Dairy Queen in high school, where he was an athlete who ran the 800-meter. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a teen before getting involved in the food program, where his lawyer said he made “a lot of money” and was seen as “the star of the family.”
He created a consulting company that prosecutors said was used to launder federal funds from Empire Cuisine & Market and other entities. Prosecutors said he signed off on dozens of sites’ meal claims daily, showed a $30,000 wire transfer from his consulting company to a Dubai jewelry company and an $11,000 payoff of his car.
Said Shafii Farah of Minneapolis, brother of defendant Abdiaziz Farah, was an owner of Bushra Wholesalers LLC, which prosecutors said was a shell company used to launder federal funds.
His attorney, Steven Schleicher, said Said Farah distributed food and is a self-made businessman who lives in a modest Minneapolis home.
Farah was acquitted of all eight charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.
“He’s just very grateful to be to have been acquitted and exonerated of these charges and to put this behind him,” Schleicher said.
Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, 32, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was an owner of Bushra Wholesalers LLC, a shell company used to launder fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
Aftin was acquitted of three wire fraud and money laundering charges.
Aftin’s lawyer Andrew Garvis praised the jury for their decision.
“They were extremely conscientious and I’m glad that they heard the evidence and took it all into consideration,” Garvis said.
Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff of Bloomington was the chief executive officer of Afrique Hospitality Group, which used federal funds to build an East African community center in Bloomington. Prosecutors said was Afrique was a shell company used to fraudulently obtain and launder federal funds, but Shariff, the only defendant of seven who opted to testify in the case, said it was a real project with other investors, and actually got built (although it went through bankruptcy has since been taken over by others and operates under the name Zawadi).
Shariff was convicted of two wire fraud charges and two money laundering charges and acquitted of two bribery charges.
Prosecutors said Shariff pocketed $1.3 million in 2021 working for Afrique and as a consultant to other entities involved in the food program, and invested over $1 million into cryptocurrency. They alleged he also gave a $250,000 kickback to a former Feeding Our Future employee named Ikram Yusuf Mohamed.
Shariff is probably the most well-known defendant, having created the annual Somali Diaspora Conference, started a podcast called Nomadic Hustle and worked in software engineering in Seattle before moving to Bloomington in the fall of 2020.
Hayat Mohamed Nur, 25, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the sister of Abdimajid Nur, participated in the scheme by creating and submitting fraudulent meal count sheets, attendance rosters, and invoices.
Nur was convicted of four wire fraud counts and acquitted of money laundering.
5 Feeding Our Future defendants found guilty, 2 acquitted in sprawling fraud case • Minnesota Reformer
A jury found five defendants guilty and two not guilty on Friday in the first trial in the Feeding Our Future fraud case.
minnesotareformer.com
After they serve their sentences they should be deported and never allowed to return.
Regarding the attempted bribe of one of the jurors: it was just reported that 2 of the 7 defendants kept the jurors list, which should have been turned in.
$250 million in stolen money can buy pretty nice 4 bedroom homes, as you can see from this story from today.
By Kelly Smith
Minneapolis Star Tribune
JUNE 12, 2024 — 12:31PM
FBI agents searched a Feeding Our Future defendant's home Wednesday as they investigate how jurors' names were leaked to a woman who attempted to bribe a juror before the jury reached a verdict last week.
About a dozen FBI employees were at Mukhtar Shariff's Burnsville house Wednesday morning, taking photos as they searched the four-bedroom home for about three hours. A neighbor told the Star Tribune that FBI agents began their work around 8 a.m.
The FBI didn't release any details about what they found or any updates about their ongoing investigation.
Shariff, 33, is one of the five defendants convicted by a jury for their role in a scheme to defraud the government of money intended to feed hungry children. Agents raided the Savage home of a second defendant, Abdiaziz Farah, 35, last week, neighbors told the Star Tribune then.
The day before final closing arguments in the six-week trial, a woman dropped off a bag of $120,000 in cash at one juror's home and added that the juror would get more cash if she voted to acquit. The juror, who immediately reported the incident to police, was excused from serving on the jury.
The list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys in the case during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. A second juror was excused when she heard about the attempted bribery from a family member.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sequestered the jury for four nights after the attempted bribery until they reached a verdict on Friday, and added security to the courtroom, detained defendants and confiscated their phones.
FBI agents raided the home of one of the defendants’ of Feeding Our Future in Burnsville on Wednesday.
Prosecutors alleged Farah, the co-owner of Empire Cuisine & Market in Shakopee, was the ringleader of the scheme he owned. All seven defendants on trial had ties to the restaurant and Farah. Shariff was the only defendant to testify during the nearly seven-week trial, saying he distributed meals to thousands of Bloomington families and played no role in preparing financial documents.
The two men and three others convicted last week remain in custody, according to court documents, though Shariff's attorneys filed a request on Monday for him to be released.
They wrote then that his home had not been searched like Farah's was and there was no evidence showing that Shariff had any role in leaking the jurors' names. They said two juror lists went missing after jury selection, but the lists were numbered and not tied to what Shariff and his defense team received.
They also argued that the married father of two young children isn't a flight risk since he's surrendered his passport and has been a U.S. citizen most of his life after immigrating from Somalia at the age of 5 years old.
www.startribune.com
FBI agents raid Feeding Our Future defendant's home
The FBI raided a defendant's home on Wednesday as they investigate how jurors' names were leaked.By Kelly Smith
Minneapolis Star Tribune
JUNE 12, 2024 — 12:31PM
FBI agents searched a Feeding Our Future defendant's home Wednesday as they investigate how jurors' names were leaked to a woman who attempted to bribe a juror before the jury reached a verdict last week.
About a dozen FBI employees were at Mukhtar Shariff's Burnsville house Wednesday morning, taking photos as they searched the four-bedroom home for about three hours. A neighbor told the Star Tribune that FBI agents began their work around 8 a.m.
The FBI didn't release any details about what they found or any updates about their ongoing investigation.
Shariff, 33, is one of the five defendants convicted by a jury for their role in a scheme to defraud the government of money intended to feed hungry children. Agents raided the Savage home of a second defendant, Abdiaziz Farah, 35, last week, neighbors told the Star Tribune then.
The day before final closing arguments in the six-week trial, a woman dropped off a bag of $120,000 in cash at one juror's home and added that the juror would get more cash if she voted to acquit. The juror, who immediately reported the incident to police, was excused from serving on the jury.
The list of jurors' names was briefly available to attorneys in the case during jury selection. Throughout the trial, jurors have been identified only by their juror number. A second juror was excused when she heard about the attempted bribery from a family member.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sequestered the jury for four nights after the attempted bribery until they reached a verdict on Friday, and added security to the courtroom, detained defendants and confiscated their phones.
FBI agents raided the home of one of the defendants’ of Feeding Our Future in Burnsville on Wednesday.
Prosecutors alleged Farah, the co-owner of Empire Cuisine & Market in Shakopee, was the ringleader of the scheme he owned. All seven defendants on trial had ties to the restaurant and Farah. Shariff was the only defendant to testify during the nearly seven-week trial, saying he distributed meals to thousands of Bloomington families and played no role in preparing financial documents.
The two men and three others convicted last week remain in custody, according to court documents, though Shariff's attorneys filed a request on Monday for him to be released.
They wrote then that his home had not been searched like Farah's was and there was no evidence showing that Shariff had any role in leaking the jurors' names. They said two juror lists went missing after jury selection, but the lists were numbered and not tied to what Shariff and his defense team received.
They also argued that the married father of two young children isn't a flight risk since he's surrendered his passport and has been a U.S. citizen most of his life after immigrating from Somalia at the age of 5 years old.
FBI agents raid Feeding Our Future defendant's home
The FBI raided a defendant's home on Wednesday as they investigate how jurors' names were leaked.
www.startribune.com
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