A man was sentenced on Wednesday for attempting to bribe a juror with stacks of cash during a federal trial concerning Minnesota’s $250 million welfare fraud scandal.
Abdulkarim Farah, 25, will spend almost five years behind bars and one year of supervised release for trying to bribe a juror participating in the first Feeding Our Future trial with a gift bag full of $120,000 in cash, the New York Post reported.
Two of Farah’s brothers were supposed to stand trial in the pandemic fraud case in April 2024 when all three devised a plan to bribe Juror 52 into voting to acquit in the first trial, the report states, citing federal prosecutors.
“Farah’s brothers were among dozens of predominantly Somali co-conspirators accused of stealing pandemic relief funds from a federal program meant to feed hungry children in need,” according to the report.
Farah first “conducted surveillance” of the juror and then had his co-defendant Ladan Ali deliver the bag of cash, according to the report.
On June 2, 2024, Farah removed license plates from a rental car to “avoid detection by law enforcement” and then drove Ali to the juror’s home, prosecutors said. Farah recorded a video of Ali bringing the bribe to the juror, per the report.
The bag contained the copious amount of cash, as well as a note to the juror promising more money for a not-guilty verdict, according to the report. The bribe was brought to her home just a few hours before closing arguments in the case were set to begin.
The juror informed the judge about the attempted bribery the next day.
At Farah’s sentencing the judge hailed the juror for “resisting the temptation to accept the very substantial bribe” and added that “properly functioning juries are the core of our criminal justice system.”
The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office said Farah’s 57-month sentence is at the high end of federal sentencing guidelines.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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