Third Guilty Plea in $250M Feeding Our Future Bribery Scandal

Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News) - A third person has entered a guilty plea to a federal charge connected to a bribery scheme in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case.

According to the US Attorney for Minnesota, 25-year-old Abdulkarim Shafii Farah conspired with others to provide a cash bribe to a member of a jury that was seated to decide the fate of two of his brothers and five other people charged with defrauding a federal child nutrition program during the pandemic. A total of five people were charged in connection with the bribery scheme.

It was alleged that Farah and his co-conspirators conducted online research and surveillance on a member of the federal jury and the juror’s home. Federal prosecutors say another defendant in the case, Ladan Mohamed Ali, was recruited to deliver a bag containing $120,000 to the targeted juror.

READ MORE: Woman Pleads Guilty to Trying to Bribe Juror in Fraud Case

According to court documents, Farah was instructed to drive Ali to the home and record a video of the delivery of the bribe money. A news release indicates that Farah made a video of the bribe being delivered to a relative of the juror, who was also told that there would be more money if the juror voted to acquit the defendants in the fraud case.

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The investigation that led to the disclosure of the bribery scheme led to the dismissal of the targeted juror and a second juror who was aware of it.

“The attempted bribery of Juror 52 is a shameful chapter in Minnesota history,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. “Juror bribery strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system. It is unacceptable—in Minnesota and in the United States—and can never be repeated. In contrast to the reprehensible behavior of the defendants, I am grateful for Juror 52, who is the true hero of this story. Juror 52—who could not be corrupted and immediately alerted law enforcement—represents the best
of Minnesota.”

Ali was one of the two others who previously entered guilty pleas in the bribery case. Farah went before a federal judge in Minneapolis today and entered a guilty plea to one count of bribery of a juror.

His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

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