Two of the seven defendants facing a federal fraud trial in Minnesota, where a juror was allegedly offered a cash bribe in exchange for an acquittal, flouted a court mandate to hand back a list containing the jury's personal information, an attorney for one of the defendants has alleged.
All of the defendants, their attorneys and prosecutors had access to the list, which was provided by the court in April when the trial over the alleged misuse of Covid relief funds began, officials said.
The judge had mandated that the defendants return their juror lists once jury selection ended at the end of April. But two of the defendants did not do so, Andrew Mohring, one of the attorneys representing defendant Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, said in a court filing Thursday.
He said the numbering affiliated with the missing two lists did not correspond with the lists given to his client’s defense team.
Shariff and his attorneys returned their juror lists, Mohring said, adding that his client “did not in any way write down or record the name of any juror.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. District Court in Minnesota confirmed the mandate to return the lists but declined to comment on Mohring’s claim.
The seven defendants are accused of misusing millions of dollars meant to feed children during the pandemic.The other defendants are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin and Hayat Mohamed Nur.
Steve Schleicher, an attorney representing Said Shafii Farah, said his client and team returned their juror lists. None of the other defendants’ attorneys responded to requests for comment.
The federal fraud trial, which began April 22, is the first in an alleged $250 million Covid relief scheme that prosecutors say is the largest of its kind.
From April 2020 to January 2022, according to a criminal complaint, the defendants collectively received more than $40 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, which were meant to provide free, nutritious meals to children and low-income families.
While the defendants claimed to have fed millions of children with those funds, prosecutors said they used most of the money to buy multiple homes and properties and luxury vehicles.
The defendants face multiple felony charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, federal programs bribery and money laundering.
The trial lasted six weeks. More than 30 witnesses testified.
On the eve of deliberations Sunday night, a juror said a woman delivered a gift bag full of cash and left it with a relative, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit. The jurors’ names have not been made public, but the visitor knew the woman’s first name and told her relative that there would “be more of that present tomorrow” if the juror agreed to vote not guilty, the affidavit said.
On Monday, after the juror reported the alleged bribe attempt to the court and police and was dismissed from the trial, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel ordered the defendants to surrender their cellphones and all seven were taken into custody.
In a detention order filed Thursday, Brasel said it is “likely” that at least one defendant was involved in the bribe attempt.
In the court filing, Shariff’s attorney requested his client’s release from detention while the sequestered jury continued deliberations into Friday. It’s unclear if that request was addressed. Shariff’s defense team did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
On Tuesday, Frederick Goetz, another attorney for Shariff, told NBC News that his client “had absolutely no part in it.”
The FBI said its investigation into the alleged bribe attempt is ongoing and declined to provide or confirm more information. The agency said it was “present” in Savage, Minnesota, on Wednesday, “conducting court authorized law enforcement activity.” At least three of the defendants have purchased homes in Savage, according to a superseding indictment.
Shariff's home was not part of the FBI's search this week, his attorney wrote in the court filing.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota declined to comment on the jury tampering investigation.
Bribing a juror is a felony and comes with a substantial term of imprisonment, including a 20-year statutory maximum in certain cases, Brasel said.
The seven defendants are among 70 people charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota in a massive fraud scheme involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Eighteen have pleaded guilty, officials said.
Feeding Our Future was a sponsor participating in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Prosecutors said the nonprofit’s employees recruited people and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout Minnesota. Feeding Our Future went from receiving and disbursing about $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, prosecutors said.
