Brothers plead not guilty to bribing Feeding Our Future juror
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Two of the brothers charged with trying to bribe a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial last month entered not guilty pleas Wednesday, and a judge ordered that they remain jailed in pretrial detention.
Federal prosecutors allege that five people, including three who stood trial in April and May on charges of stealing $47 million from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs, conspired to deliver a Hallmark gift bag with $120,000 to a juror and promised her more cash in exchange for an acquittal. The 23-year-old woman, known publicly as juror 52, called 911 and the FBI recovered the money.
According to the indictment, Said Farah, whom the jury acquitted in the fraud trial, gathered the cash, gave it to co-defendant Abdimajid Nur, who in turn handed it to Ladan Ali of Seattle. Ali is alleged to have left the money at the juror’s home.
Prosecutors say that Abdulkarim Farah drove Ali to the juror’s home in Ali’s rented Volkswagen Taos. A search warrant application shows a surveillance photo of Abdulkarim allegedly exiting a Target store after purchasing a screwdriver to remove the vehicle’s Texas license plates prior to dropping off the cash.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said that Abdulkarim recorded video of the cash delivery so that the group could extort juror 52 to follow through with securing an acquittal.
Said and Abdulkarim Farah pleaded not guilty at separate hearings. The arraignment hearing for a third brother, Abdiaziz Farah, was rescheduled for next week. Ali pleaded not guilty at a previous hearing. Nur has yet to make his initial court appearance.
In arguing for the Farah brothers’ continued detention, Thompson said that they helped to concoct a “deeply corrupt scheme” that struck at the heart of the American justice system.
“Juror 52 was terrified,” Thompson said. “She remains terrified because of this.”
Thompson told Magistrate Judge Tony Leung that the juror can be seen crying in video of her initial interview with police, and the FBI had to sweep her car for electronic tracking devices. According to court documents, an Amazon package containing a magnetically-mounted GPS tracker was delivered to Ali’s hotel after she flew back to Seattle.
Thompson noted that juror bribery is rare and has been most associated with organized crime. He pointed to the 1987 trial of mob boss John Gotti, who was acquitted of racketeering along with six co-defendants after a fellow mafia leader gave $60,000 to a juror.
The juror, George Pape, was convicted of obstruction of justice in 1992. Gotti was convicted at a second trial and died in prison in 2002.
“This is the company in which Said Farah and his co-defendants stand,” Thompson said. “It worked for John Gotti. It could have worked here.”
Defense attorneys Mike Villafranca and Kevin DeVore, who represent Said and Abdulkarim respectively, each argued that their clients pose neither a risk of fleeing nor a threat to the community.
Villafranca said that there was no evidence that Said Farah engaged in any threatening or violent behavior and did not contact, follow, or have face-to-face contact with the juror.
“His participation was limited to collecting the money that other people used,” Villafranca said.
“Not everyone’s involved in every step of a conspiracy. That’s the whole idea of it,” Leung replied. “I can’t imagine that the juror who was the target of the attempted bribe wouldn’t be concerned,” the judge added.
Correction (July 4, 2024): A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the name of a defense attorney. This has been corrected.