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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
St. Paul

Alleged cash courier pleads not guilty to bribing Feeding Our Future juror

Bags of money
Money recovered from a bribe in the Feeding Our Future trial.
Screenshot via Minnesota search warrant

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A woman accused of trying to bribe a juror at the recent Feeding Our Future trial entered not guilty pleas to multiple felony charges.

Ladan Mohamed Ali made her first appearance before Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko in St. Paul on Thursday. Ali, 31, of Seattle, is one of five people charged with trying to bribe a woman known publicly as juror 52 as the trial was wrapping up.

The 23-year-old juror had been hearing testimony against seven people connected to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future charged with stealing $47 million from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said at a news conference Wednesday that Ali delivered a Hallmark gift bag containing $120,000 to the juror’s home on June 2 and promised more in exchange for an acquittal. Prosecutors allege that Ali and her co-conspirators, who include three of the trial defendants, schemed to track down juror 52 and convince her to vote not guilty. Investigators say Ali followed the juror home after she left the courthouse.

The juror called 911 and the FBI recovered the cash. Judge Nancy Brasel replaced the juror with an alternate. Closing arguments resumed, and later in the week the jury returned guilty verdicts against five of the seven defendants.

The jurors’ names were known only to the lawyers and the defendants, and the FBI allegedly found the jury list when they searched the home of defendant Abdiaziz Farah. Luger said the group targeted the unnamed juror for their ill-fated influence operation because she was the youngest member of the jury and appeared to be its only person of color.

Prosecutors did not request that Ali be detained, and Micko released her on conditions that include avoiding contact with her co-defendants and any witnesses. The judge also ordered Ali to surrender her passport.

The four others charged in the bribery case, including one man who was acquitted of fraud charges at the trial, remain jailed. Three are expected to enter pleas at separate hearings on Monday.