Five convicted in US Covid fraud case involving failed juror bribe

A jury convicted five Minnesota residents but acquitted two others on Friday for their roles in a scheme to steal more than $40m that was supposed to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic. The case recently received widespread attention after someone tried to bribe a juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash.

That juror was dismissed before deliberations began, and a second juror who was told about the bribe attempt was also dismissed. An FBI investigation of the attempted bribe continues, with no arrests announced.

The seven defendants are the first of 70 to stand trial in what federal prosecutors have called one of the nation’s largest Covid-19-related frauds, exploiting rules that were kept lax so that the economy wouldn’t crash during the pandemic. More than $250m in federal funds was taken in the Minnesota scheme overall, with only about $50m of it recovered, authorities said.

The defendants faced a mix of counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and federal programs bribery. It ended with a split verdict.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur were found guilty on most of the counts against them.

Said Shafii Farah and Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin were acquitted on all counts they faced.

Eighteen other defendants previously pleaded guilty.

Defense attorneys argued that the defendants provided real meals to real people.

After both sides learned about the bribe attempt, the judge ordered all seven defendants to surrender their cellphones so that investigators could look for evidence. She also ordered all seven taken into custody and sequestered the jury.

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, a woman rang the doorbell at the home of “Juror No52” in the Minneapolis suburb of Spring Lake Park the night before the case went to the jury. The juror wasn’t home, but a relative answered the door. The woman handed the relative a gift bag with a curly ribbon and images of flowers and butterflies and said it was a “present” for the juror.

“The woman told the relative to tell Juror No 52 to say not guilty tomorrow and there would be more of that present tomorrow,” the agent wrote. “After the woman left, the relative looked in the gift bag and saw it contained a substantial amount of cash.”

The juror called police right after she got home and gave them the bag, which held stacks of $100, $50 and $20 bills totaling about $120,000. The woman who left the bag knew the juror’s first name, the agent said. Names of the jurors have not been made public, but the list of people with access to it included prosecutors, defense lawyers – and the seven defendants.

“It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information was conspiring with, at a minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe,” the FBI agent wrote, noting that the alleged fraud conspiracy at the heart of the trial involved electronic communications, including text messages and emails.

Federal charges of bribery of a juror and influencing a juror carry a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison.