"I've never seen anything like this," says Erica McDonald, a former federal prosecutor. We've only seen it in movies, and even Hollywood wouldn't have staged a jury bribe so dramatic as the attempt to corrupt the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud trial in Minneapolis. The case involves allegations of millions in federal grants allegedly disappearing into the pockets of the leaders of FOF.

That includes, of course, the $120,000 in rolled-up currency in the Hallmark bag presented to Juror 52 to get a vote for acquittal. The juror called the FBI, which set off a sequence of events that culminated -- so far -- in the FBI raid on a house in Savage, MN. The home belonged to defendant and alleged FOF mastermind Abdiaziz Farah. 

And guess how Farah bought the house two years ago? KARE 11's Lou Raguse explains:

FBI agents investigating the source of a $120,000 juror bribe raided a home on Hampshire Lane in Savage on Wednesday morning that was purchased by Feeding our Future trial defendant Abdiaziz Farah. The single-family home was purchased by Farah in April 2021 with money he allegedly scammed from the federal government as part of the widespread meal program fraud, according to federal prosecutors. ... 

During closing arguments, Thompson referred to Farah as the “ringleader” of the group. He was a co-owner of Empire Cuisine in Shakopee which is where this segment of the alleged $250 million overall fraud originated. Farah is accused of pocketing $8 million himself and spending money on multiple cars and properties.

At least Farah knows how to invest! That isn't the only real-estate venture Farah had going, either. Prosecutors allege that Farah had sent a million dollars to Nairobi for his eventual retirement, where he'd built a 11-story apartment building with the stolen funds.

Of course, getting out of the US can be tricky, especially when the FBI has seized your passport, which they did in the initial raid on Farah's property. So Farah decided to get a replacement passport by claiming his was "lost," and walked right into a potential perjury charge:

Prosecutors told the jury Farah planned to flee to Nairobi, where he had already mailed a million dollars and was building an apartment complex. The FBI had seized his passport in his truck though. So look what Farah allegedly wrote on his application for a new passport: pic.twitter.com/Cz3aJljKm1

— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) June 5, 2024

At this point, one may well wonder how these brain surgeons ever succeeded in their fraud at all, let alone to the tune of millions of dollars. Try to remember that we're talking about federal bureaucrats, however. In fact, as Sahan Journal reported two years ago, Farah actually did get a replacement passport and had booked a one-way ticket to Kenya but didn't make the flight, for reasons unexplained at the time and unclear still.

Scott Johnson has been reporting from the trial for Power Line, where he was among the first to break the news of the bribe. (The above links came from his post today.) Scott wonders what the FBI hoped to find in this latest raid on Farah's house, and gives us a glimpse of the scope of the fraud:

Yesterday morning the FBI raided the home of Abdiaziz Farah, one of the seven defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud case that has now been submitted to the jury. Farah’s home in Savage was first searched in January 2022 when the FBI executed warrants on several of the homes and business locations related to the case. At that time the FBI scooped up cash and evidence from Farah’s home. What were they looking for yesterday?

After the January 2022 searches a federal grand jury handed up indictments charging 70 defendants. Eighteen have pleaded guilty. After this first trial, 45 defendants have yet to be tried. Farah is certainly one of the lead defendants at this trial. When it comes to the fraud at issue, his Empire Enterprises made him a galactic millionaire via the federal meal program. His attorney has argued that it’s the American way.

Well ... maybe it's the Chicago way. 

Yesterday, Scott outlined the details of the bribe from the search warrant granted for the seven defendants' phones, which the judge confiscated when the bribe attempt came to light:

Yesterday afternoon the government obtained a search warrant for the cellphones of all seven defendants. FBI Special Agent Travis Wilmer filed a 17-page affidavit in support of the application for a search warrant. This is paragraph 18 on page 6:

On June 2, 2024-the night before trial was set to conclude-at approximately 8:50pm, a woman approached the home of Juror #52 and rang the doorbell. Juror #52 was not home at the time. A relative of the juror answered the door. The relative described the woman as a black woman, possibly Somali, with an accent, wearing a long black dress. The woman handed a gift bag to the relative and said it was a present for Juror #52. The woman used Juror #52’s first name. The woman told the relative to tell Juror #52 to say not guilty tomorrow and there would be more of that present tomorrow. After the woman left, the relative looked in the gift bag and saw it contained a substantial amount of cash. When Juror #52 returned home and was told of the encounter, Juror #52 immediately called 911 to report the incident. The Spring Lake Park Police responded. Juror #52 gave the bag of cash to the Spring Lake Park Police. The bag of cash contained 100-, 50-, and 20-dollar bills, totaling approximately $120,000. This morning, the FBI interviewed Juror #52 and took custody of the bag of cash from the Spring Lake Park Police.

As the video states, the names of the jurors had been under seal. Only the lawyers and the defendants knew their identities. That's why the judge revoked their bail, took their phones, and then did his own voir dire of the jury to make sure no one else had been contacted. 

The jury is still out on the fraud charges involving this first set of defendants as of this morning, including Farah. Yesterday's raid will have no impact on this deliberation; as Raguse explains at the end of the video, this jury doesn't know about the bribe, although the judge's voir dire this week probably has given them some idea that Juror 52 left for some reason. (Juror 52, by the way, did the right thing in alerting the police and the court to the bribe, but obviously could not remain on the panel after that contact.) If the FBI and prosecutors can connect the bribe to Farah and the fraud, then perhaps they can craft a RICO predicate implicating everyone in the bribe attempt. 

So even if this jury can't reach a guilty verdict, Farah will be cooling his heels in jail for a long while, it seems. Three hots and a cot will be feeding his foreseeable future, and not a 12-story condo building in Nairobi. Stay tuned, and keep checking Power Line for more of Scott's excellent reporting from the trial.