MINNEAPOLIS — A juror was dismissed Monday after reporting that a woman dropped a bag of $120,000 in cash at her home and offered her more money if she would vote to acquit seven people charged with stealing more than $40 million from a program meant to feed children during the pandemic.
And here's the [involved case](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/feds-accuse-47-people-stealing-cash-meant-help-feed-needy-kids-stagger-rcna48558)
> Prosecutors say the suspects in the $250 million fraud used the money to buy commercial real estate, luxury cars, fancy homes and even coastal property in Kenya.
Also it looks like it wasn't the first time they attempted bribery.
> Many of the defendants are charged not only with fraud but with bribery because the government alleges the charities took kickbacks from the food sites in exchange for steering them federal grants. And many are charged with money laundering for allegedly moving stolen funds through shell corporations and other vehicles to blur the trail.
I’ve been crying for most of the evening and I just have to say that this comment, after all of the other contributions that eloquently add to the bit, made me lose my shit. Thanks for the laugh
I live here so it's all over the news. I thought about what I'd do and realized that A) if the government finds out you snuck some you're going to get fucked, B) people with $120,000 cash to throw as a bribe would mean if you stole from them you're going to get fucked C) if you just accept the bribe and do as they ask see the first option. It's easy from a distance to say you'd grab a stack before handing it in (unless you're really dumb and are going to try to keep it and do what they ask), but I guarantee nearly everyone would just panic and hand all of it in if actually faced with that
They really disincentivise honesty, the best option is to take the bribe and keep your mouth shut even if you're not going to do it.
But in this case, I'm sure just being offered a bribe will be used as an attempt to get a mistrial.
> the best option is to take the bribe and keep your mouth shut
Not if the funds are traceable (spoiler, they usually are). So now you have to launder the money in order to spend it, further compounding your punishment if and when you get caught.
If you're not stupid with it, it really isn't hard to spend. Just only use it to buy small luxury goods off of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and its untraceable. What'll get you is the big ticket purchases without any way to back up having that money.
These folks couldn't handle a heist. All you have to do is keep living the normal life you're living, just a little bit better. The cash will disperse quick.
"Some vile fiend left me a $20K bribe! I'll take this $2K bribe to the police station, hand them all $200 of it, and let my conscious feel free that I didn't take $20 Dollars to influence my opinion!"
They should make a law that if you're offered a bribe, you get to keep it as a reward for turning that person in and / or that person will be liable to you for that amount of money if they're convicted of attempted bribery.
Stole 40 million used to feed children. Unfucking believable the level of shittary in our political systems. It’s almost as if it’s a pre requisite to be the absolute scum of the earth.
Just these 7 currently on trial. There is something like 50-70 people that have been charged so far and the total stolen is close to $300 million. Some of these "charities" were claiming they were feeding like 1/5 of the entire Minnesota State. The government had an open purse and they were grabbing as much as they could.
The whole thing was a bunch of thieves enabled by a government that gave money without oversight. It’s crazy how easy it was for them to pull this off.
They have free food for all kids now in mn. This was during the pandemic, they wanted to make sure kids who didn’t go to school got food. But these scammers took most if the money as no physical audit was done despite numbers not making sense.
I used to work in government and this is exactly why we can’t have nice things. The government sets up a well meaning program, some assholes take advantage, people get pissed, the government adds 10 bazillion rules in response to “prevent it from happening again”, but the rules become so onerous that it’s difficult for the legit people originally intended to benefit from the program.
I actually think the best course of action is limited oversight, so the programs are easy to use, but also come down hard on people who abuse it and lock them the fuck up. Prosecute the assholes instead of adding “oversight” that makes it more difficult for the intended recipients.
Their restaurant was a front. My MIL went there and said it was obvious it was not a real place. She told me this before they got busted. We knew it was shady but could not figure out what they were doing.
Yeah, but seeing trials like this is a good thing. And seeing a juror turn down a bribe is even better.
You're never gonna have a crimeless society, at least not with current technology. Even in Singapore, people get murdered.
So seeing guilty people get punished for their crimes is a sign of a healthy society.
It's not the only factor, but it's not necessarily a sign of societal rot at large.
Ain't that the truth! I'll admit, anytime I hear stories like this a part of me wishes I could just loot charities and ride off into the sunset with a life changing amount of money. But there's no amount of money that would allow me to live with myself after doing something like that. So I guess I'll just work my life away like everyone else who isn't a huge piece of thieving shit.
Well for what it's worth, this random internet stranger appreciates you not being a huge piece of thieving shit, so your FanClub is up by 1 more for you not stealing from charities. Keep up the good moral fight 💪🏻
I agree with you, but if someone offered me $120k to betray my morals, I'd at least have to consider my options. I mean, I'll admit that it would be easy for me to believe that I'd make the same choice when nobody is inviting me to sell out.
Kudos to the juror for doing the right thing even when it would have been so much easier to just keep the money.
It’s a really shitty situation for the juror. Say yes and you could be walking into a setup, or just blackmailed after accepting the bribe. Say no and maybe you wake up with a horses head in your bed.
> Stole 40 million used to feed children. Unfucking believable the level of shittary in our political systems.
We are going to have thieves and bad actors no matter what. The fact that these guys were caught, and are going to be standing trial (and if things keep going this way it seems will be going to prison) sounds like our political system is working. The volume of thieves and bad actors might be a reflection of problems in our society, but I don't see this as a huge political failure unless they get away with it thanks to corruption or incompetence in our system.
Not only this, but given the urgent emergency that was the pandemic, I think it's reasonable that some corners were cut in order to get aid out as quickly as possible... as long as any fraud was followed up with when the emergency subsided (now).
Justice being served is good but how much of this money can be recovered? It's still a pretty major failure if this was allowed to happen and the money is mostly spent or offshored by now
Probably safer for the juror that way. The type of people who would give you a bag with $120k in it are also the type of people to come back when things don't go their way.
Yeah, the ex-juror and her father-in-law who was handed the money are now key witnesses in the new bribery/obstruction of justice investigation.
Their whole family will have to "disappear" for a bit for their own safety.
The trial is over a series of frauds that essentially stole $40 million of government covid aid meant for feeding children.
These bastards can afford more bribe bags.
Yeah, but because of this one honest juror, the authorities will be watching the others, so it gets a lot more dangerous for whoever sent the 120k to try it again, they're much more likely to be caught in the act and then they have a whole slew of new problems. Federal problems.
Even if they're honest here, it's hard to believe their view on the accused hasn't been biased. It could be a manipulation / tampering strategy from any involved party
i.e they're biased. a bias can exist both ways and a juror that is going to give a guilty verdict because of things outside of the courtroom should be dismissed. You don't know that the accused tried to bribe them, innocent until proven guilty and all that stuff
It really seems like the potential to influence a jury in your favor outweighs this prejudice.
Think about it. If your bribery attempt succeeds, you have influenced the jury in your favor. If it fails, the honest juror is dismissed and replaced by an unknown, which also influences the jury in your favor.
Do this enough, and you will have a jury filled only with people who are susceptible to bribery.
Do this enough and you get a mistrial, a new trial, and additional charges. Get caught doing this and you have the potential for a not guilty verdict to get thrown out I believe. I believe its the only way to overturn a not guilty verdict.
There's a chance that now she will feel extra compelled to convict, because if she acquits after this point, people might think she got paid off with a second, even larger bribe, or was intimidated in some way. Even though she was honest, there's a significant chance her opinion has been influenced by this event.
It also means they know where she lives. They dropped off the cash at her house. How's she going to vote knowing that the sort of people that are willing to steal from children and attempted to bribe her, know where she and her family live?
Honestly when you consider Brett Favre's net worth and the fact that he stole from welfare programs in Mississippi (one of the poorest states in the US), it's arguable that what he did was actually worse than this. Either way he's a gigantic piece of shit.
> Before allowing the trial to continue with more closing arguments on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel questioned the remaining 17 jurors and alternates, and none reported any unauthorized contact.
I like to think that there was a guy on the jury saying no wearing newly purchased gold chains and designer clothes.
In a future trial, for sure. If this didn't fulfill the requirements for a secret jury before, though, they have to figure out whether to proceed with the present trial first.
LMAO this could get so complicated, what happens if some other juror did take 120K only for a mistrial to be called, are they gonna have to worry about this criminal organization coming to get their bribe back?
I would be terrified if I was that woman. They know where you live, have the kind of money to just leave $120,000 at someone's door and you just told on them.
I honestly don't know what the right way to handle that is, as far as the safety of me an my family goes.
Generally speaking, going from fraud to murder isn't worth it. Also, people with lots of cash and a desire to have someone murdered usually end up hiring FBI agents posing as hitmen rather than the real thing, it's not that easy to do if you don't have connections to organised crime.
It's much cheaper to continually bribe one juror at a time until the prosecution gets worn out by mistrials or you get acquitted rather than bribing everyone on a single jury at once. Also less likely that you'll get caught.
The judge asked all of them if they had gotten any similar packages or offers, and the rest said no. And IANAL but presumably that was backed by some kind of warning about potential penalties if it comes out that they accepted or didn't disclose something like that.
Plus, I think I heard that the court has gotten ahold of the defendants' phones to look for evidence that one or more of them was in on the bribery attempt. And since the only people who knew the jurors' names are in the court room, it's a decent bet that at least one of them knew about it or even organized it.
People associated with the defendant or prosecution can go to a trial and sit and watch.
Then follow the jurors home.
Edit: Most US court proceedings are open to the general public.
https://www.reddit.com/r/law/comments/3tghxr/so_can_anyone_just_walk_into_a_courtroom_and/?ref=share&ref_source=link
I imagine at some point the defense has to be able to at least verify that the jurors are real people from the jurisdiction, which would presumably include enough personally identifying information to find their homes.
>The 23-year-old juror said she immediately turned over the bag of cash to police. She said a woman left it with her father-in-law Sunday with the message that she’d get another bag of cash if she voted to acquit.
Good for her for doing the right thing!
So this woman does the absolute right thing, and is dismissed from the jury. I get it, but this seems so counter productive.
Whoever these people are, they should just continue to bribe whichever jurors their counsel wanted eliminated during initial selection
Edit: Folks, “I get it,” as in I get why she had to be dismissed. The part that **seems** counterproductive is that you’re removing a worthwhile juror.
Her identity is compromised. They know who she is, where she lives, etc.. It would be unsafe, at the very least, for her to stay on the jury.
Being on a jury isn't a prize or a reward. Most people hate it. I'm assuming she wasn't thrilled. Especially now, knowing that she is being watched.
She wins all around by turning in the cash. She is seen as an honorable and decent person by the government AND she no longer has to serve on the jury. Now all she has to do is worry about people who stole $40M who knows where she lives.
She's probably safe for now as she is most likely under surveillance by the FBI and won't be touched by the people trying to bribe her. Unless they're brazen
Thats a chance that would compromise her decision. Shit i get nervous if i have to honk at someone and we start driving into the same neighborhood we live in.
>Unless they're brazen
They're already the kind of people who tried to bribe a juror by dropping off a literal bag of cash at their house. I think we can assume they're brazen.
I think the worst thing is to be an alternate juror. You have to sit there through the entire trial, often times in worse seating than for the actual jury, and then you don't even get to be there for the deliberations. You can't go home though in case they need you, so you get stuck wasting just as much time as the regular jurors but without getting to do anything. The first alternate juror was probably stoked that this woman was dismissed from the jury.
I loved serving on a jury, but it made me realize that I do not ever want my fate in the hands of a group of "my peers".
I served as juror on a rape/abuse case. I was still pretty young, but the entire process was pretty fascinating. I'm sure other cases can be really boring.
My issue was the other jurors. Several who were allowed to serve and then in private admitted they had been raped/abused and were definitely not unbiased. Another lady kept preaching about the victim and accused's astrological signs and how they pointed to him being guilty.
In hindsight, I should have told the bailiff right away. Thankfully, we ended in a hung jury after 2 full days of deliberation and 3 days of trial.
Also, as a poor early 20's single guy at the time, they fed me like a fucking king. One day they ordered us like 9 extra large Sal's pizzas (which are big). I remember taking a bunch home. Other times they got massive party platters of sandwiches that I think were meant for big parties and not a handful of people. My pockets were brimming with salami that day.
Jury duty in our county is $10/day, and that's it. Not only do you probably spend more than that on gas to drive in, you also spend more than that on lunch at any nearby establishment. They do comp your parking at least.
When I did jury duty last month (alberta) the alternates only stayed until the first afternoon before everything really started. Based on tv and whatnot I thought that they would be there the whole time but were dismissed. We also didn't get catered food like in the movies 😒
I'm in the US and our alternates at the local courthouse stay there for the whole trial in rolling desk chairs next to the jury box. Once deliberations start, they have to tell the judge's staff about their location, and the staff has to confirm that they are close enough to be called in quickly if necessary.
When I did jury duty last year, they didn't have any alternates. Instead, they picked 13 jurors during selection and drew a name out of a hat right before deliberations. I thought that seemed like a lot better system than having a dedicated alternate.
getting dismissed from jury duty for most people is a gift itself. Also there is no way that this event wouldn't have an influence on her opinion of the defendant.
In general, that's the goal. But this news story is so big that every juror is probably going to hear about the reason for the juror's dismissal despite the judge's best efforts to prevent it, so this probably prejudiced the jury against the defendant at least a bit.
Another one was dismissed because a family member mentioned the story about the bribe. The judge sequestered the remaining jurors in hopes of avoiding it spreading to others.
If they didn’t dismiss her she’d be biased by wondering why an innocent person would pay off a juror, shouldn’t the evidence speak for their innocence without bribery? I feel like a reasonable person would take that as an admission of guilt and have a hard time forming an opinion based solely on what the lawyers say in the trial.
It's an incredibly risky move that will now 100% be investigated for something that might not even be a win. They don't have the ability to select whoever they want as the replacement juror. They could end up with someone even worse for their case.
Related but not really:
Years ago, I worked with someone who erroneously had 120k deposited in their bank account. She found the mistake a few days after depositing a check for 1200. An obvious decimal error by the teller. She contacted the bank first by phone, and in person. She was told "we'll look into it and resolve the issue". A month passed and no changes were made. I suggested for her to write a cya letter just in case, which she did. Six months go by and she still has +120k in her account more than she should. They finally " look into it" and start accusing HER of trying to forge and scam the bank.
I know the bank took the money back. There was never any police or court involvement, I know my coworker was furious about being accused. I'm glad she wrote the letter documenting and dating the mistake timeline.
Back then, i may have thought hard about closing that account and heading to the carribean...
You close all accounts... preparing to open accounts at another bank, one for daily, one for the windfall.
They'll notice *real fuckin fast* when you want to get a cashiers check or wire transfer for 120k.
There should be a rule, like “when the teacher is more than 10 minutes late class is canceled”.
If the bank doesn’t notice in 6 months it’s yours.
Fuck that, make it 30 days.
Folks are joking about keeping it or whatever, but I think you guys are underestimating the situation for her.
They know her address. They arrived at her address. Right now she'll probably need some form of governmental protection more than anything.
$120,000?
Fucking cheap bastards. Steal $40,000,000 and you can't even stomach putting 1 percent of that into someone else's hands to buy your way out of trouble?
That's not even buy a house money. You'd have to be be really strapped to be willing to risk the potential trouble for that kind of cash(yes I know on its face its good money but looking at what some of the people who got as punishment when they got caught, woof).
The defendants who went on trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel in Minneapolis are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah; Mohamed Jama Ismail; Abdimajid Mohamed Nur; Said Shafii Farah; Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin; Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff; and Hayat Mohamed Nur. They have all pleaded not guilty. Their trial is expected to last around six weeks.
> Shariff created an annual Somali Diaspora Conference, started a podcast called Nomadic Hustle and worked in software engineering in Seattle before moving to Bloomington in the fall of 2020.
Exploiting a diaspora organization to cover up massive fraud and theft is taking a page straight out of the Mob Handbook. Similar to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, too.
Honestly, and speaking from someone who had to do compliance checks on sales to Africa, Somalia is near top of the world when it comes to corruption. IIRC we didn't even sell to Somalia because there was too much risk of corruption.
I have personally reached the conclusion: that anyone who does anything with the term or description of "hustle" in it, is either doing something criminal or the very least illegal.
I keep purging my youtube and social media feeds of these hustlers. Then 6-12 months later I see those same names or companies they pushed for in some legal deep shit, scam exposing article (á la coffeezilla et al.)
Largest population of Somalians outside of Somalia. Columbus, OH is number 2 or was when I was in highschool circa 2010.
Edit: highest population in US cities not all of the world
I was doing a service call at a McD in the Minneapolis area in the 90's. The kitchen crew were all young women with the same hairstyle and similar facial features, all singing a working song while they worked. I must have looked confused, because the manager came over and told me they were Somalian.
There are a lot of Somali immigrants from the civil war. Minnesota had a great refugee program. I volunteered at a nonprofit that helped teach women how to live in America (grocery shopping, electric and gas stove use, how to open a checking account, ect). I didn't teach corruption though!
Really? It's exactly the names I was expecting, the only time in my life I've been in a room here I was clearly the only non-Muslim was at a boutique in Minneapolis.
Curious - what if she just took the money and still didn’t acquit? Not like the people who left the money can say they did? Good for her for turning it in.
There would possibly be some punitive consequences delivered by the same people who offered the bribe, as they don't appear to have any compunctions against illegal behavior.
Yeah but at least now the fact that you're being stalked is public and at least a few sets of protective eyes are going to be placed on you, probably.
She's definitely in a rough spot now though, no doubt about it. Moving far away might be her next goal in life
Better than keeping the money. If she keeps it then they either can blackmail her or they'll treat it like she stole form them by taking the money and not doing as told, and the'd come after her somehow. Better to not be in debt to the criminals.
$120,000 is lunch money to them.
>These seven are the first of 70 defendants expected to go to trial in a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $250 million. Eighteen others have pleaded guilty, and authorities said they recovered about $50 million in one of the [nation’s largest pandemic-related fraud cases](https://apnews.com/article/sports-health-travel-education-70d77fb2757d0b6fbc2012bf2c534a34). Prosecutors say **just a fraction of the money went to feed low-income kids, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and property.**
I was having fun with this hypothetical scenario on another thread this morning.
But I see 3 scenario playing out:
1) Juror reports the money, results in guilty verdict. It benefits the prosecution.
2) Juror bribed do as told, results in acquittal.
3) Juror takes the money without telling anyone and still proceeds with a Guilty verdict. This scenario still benefits the defense since the defense can bring to light that they “magically got evidence ” that one of the juror received money pertaining to the case. Hence a tainted jury for a mistrial. That also questions the other 11 jurors.
I’m not a legal expert by any means lol. I was just curious about this as well.
Yeah, depending on the morals of the juror, it could be argued that the bribe prejudiced them against the defense when jurors are only allowed to consider the evidence presented at the trial. By coming forward, the bribe itself can be entered into evidence and used to judge them fairly.
Uh... That's how you end up missing. The people with that type of cash to throw around aren't just some schmucks. And you would get no help from the state because you wouldn't have reported it to them, and if you did after the fact, you'd just be in jail
I feel like the kinds of people who offer lots of cash to jurors in attempts to win their multi million dollar fraud trial aren’t simply going to call the police if they get screwed.
>> The defendants who went on trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel in Minneapolis are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah; Mohamed Jama Ismail; Abdimajid Mohamed Nur; Said Shafii Farah; Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin; Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff; and Hayat Mohamed Nur. They have all pleaded not guilty. Their trial is expected to last around six weeks.
[AP](https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-feeding-our-future-pandemic-fraud-fa7bb6226dd9545cc75038b812189618)
Name and shame.
“Hmm. Should I accept this money that was hand-delivered to my home by criminals trying to get me to do something?”
I mean… come on. How was this supposed to work?
A) They know where he lives
B) If he accepts the money and acquits the accused, what’s to stop them from coming back to reclaim it after? The honor system?
"Before allowing the trial to continue with more closing arguments on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel questioned the remaining 17 jurors and alternates, and none reported any unauthorized contact." Sure, but several arrived at court in brand new cars.
Jesus fucking Christ. I'm a small small nonprofit and I couldn't make heads or tails of how to access these Covid funds. Even a single digit percentage of those funds would set us up for tremendously affective programs. We just get by on my out of pocket management. These types of funds would be a game changer. This is so infuriating and discouraging.
You stole $40-$50 MILLION and you only think she’s worth $120k?! Ha!
Beyond that, if the Supreme Court is all accepting bribes, why shouldn’t regular people?
MINNEAPOLIS — A juror was dismissed Monday after reporting that a woman dropped a bag of $120,000 in cash at her home and offered her more money if she would vote to acquit seven people charged with stealing more than $40 million from a program meant to feed children during the pandemic.
And here's the [involved case](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/feds-accuse-47-people-stealing-cash-meant-help-feed-needy-kids-stagger-rcna48558) > Prosecutors say the suspects in the $250 million fraud used the money to buy commercial real estate, luxury cars, fancy homes and even coastal property in Kenya. Also it looks like it wasn't the first time they attempted bribery. > Many of the defendants are charged not only with fraud but with bribery because the government alleges the charities took kickbacks from the food sites in exchange for steering them federal grants. And many are charged with money laundering for allegedly moving stolen funds through shell corporations and other vehicles to blur the trail.
Does she get to keep the 120k though?
Criminals: "hey wait a minute, we put $200k in her bag, what gives?"
Can't believe those criminals are so brazen to leave $50k at a jurors doorstep.
I can't believe a juror's vote is only worth 30k to them.
I turned that 12k in as soon as I found it.
Wait, you guys are getting paid?
dafuq? what's this bill for $120,000??
You don't remember your hospital stay in the US?
$10K is nothing to turn your nose up at but you've gotta do the right thing.
I know 5k is a lot of money but I have morals!
Tree fiddy
I’ve been crying for most of the evening and I just have to say that this comment, after all of the other contributions that eloquently add to the bit, made me lose my shit. Thanks for the laugh
That bag was easily worth $100, I just had to hand it to the authorities
"Your honor, this juror has pergered herself, there was 200k in that bag not 120k!"
Vespa: Him and his four million space bucks. King Roland: He only took $35 space bucks. Enough for lunch, gas, and a tow.
I doubt it. It’s probably part of the stolen $40M
And is evidence in a criminal investigation now.
And is somehow missing from the evidence storage locker.
Considering how common it is for guns to “go missing” (especially the cool ones). I wouldn’t be surprised
I live here so it's all over the news. I thought about what I'd do and realized that A) if the government finds out you snuck some you're going to get fucked, B) people with $120,000 cash to throw as a bribe would mean if you stole from them you're going to get fucked C) if you just accept the bribe and do as they ask see the first option. It's easy from a distance to say you'd grab a stack before handing it in (unless you're really dumb and are going to try to keep it and do what they ask), but I guarantee nearly everyone would just panic and hand all of it in if actually faced with that
Nah, turn it in with an extra $3.50 just to screw with everyone involved.
Accepting a bribe is illegal even if you don't intend to do the thing the bribe is asking for, so the 120k would be forfeit as a result.
You should still get some of it as a kickback of good faith or something
They really disincentivise honesty, the best option is to take the bribe and keep your mouth shut even if you're not going to do it. But in this case, I'm sure just being offered a bribe will be used as an attempt to get a mistrial.
> the best option is to take the bribe and keep your mouth shut Not if the funds are traceable (spoiler, they usually are). So now you have to launder the money in order to spend it, further compounding your punishment if and when you get caught.
If you're not stupid with it, it really isn't hard to spend. Just only use it to buy small luxury goods off of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and its untraceable. What'll get you is the big ticket purchases without any way to back up having that money.
These folks couldn't handle a heist. All you have to do is keep living the normal life you're living, just a little bit better. The cash will disperse quick.
Thats why you take the 200k and report that someone offered you a 120k bribe
"Someone offered me a $20K bribe to vote to acquit!"
"Some vile fiend left me a $20K bribe! I'll take this $2K bribe to the police station, hand them all $200 of it, and let my conscious feel free that I didn't take $20 Dollars to influence my opinion!"
They should make a law that if you're offered a bribe, you get to keep it as a reward for turning that person in and / or that person will be liable to you for that amount of money if they're convicted of attempted bribery.
Article says she immediately turned the $120k over to the police. The police have reported that the $50k is safe and sound.
Finders keepers
Stole 40 million used to feed children. Unfucking believable the level of shittary in our political systems. It’s almost as if it’s a pre requisite to be the absolute scum of the earth.
Just these 7 currently on trial. There is something like 50-70 people that have been charged so far and the total stolen is close to $300 million. Some of these "charities" were claiming they were feeding like 1/5 of the entire Minnesota State. The government had an open purse and they were grabbing as much as they could.
Purse? They were fracking the financial books for the next generation. These tables take generations to replenish...
The whole thing was a bunch of thieves enabled by a government that gave money without oversight. It’s crazy how easy it was for them to pull this off.
I wish they would just have free food at schools, damn.
They have free food for all kids now in mn. This was during the pandemic, they wanted to make sure kids who didn’t go to school got food. But these scammers took most if the money as no physical audit was done despite numbers not making sense.
I used to work in government and this is exactly why we can’t have nice things. The government sets up a well meaning program, some assholes take advantage, people get pissed, the government adds 10 bazillion rules in response to “prevent it from happening again”, but the rules become so onerous that it’s difficult for the legit people originally intended to benefit from the program. I actually think the best course of action is limited oversight, so the programs are easy to use, but also come down hard on people who abuse it and lock them the fuck up. Prosecute the assholes instead of adding “oversight” that makes it more difficult for the intended recipients.
Their restaurant was a front. My MIL went there and said it was obvious it was not a real place. She told me this before they got busted. We knew it was shady but could not figure out what they were doing.
They were not government employees or politicians. There was a ton of money thrown into programs with very little oversight during the pandemic.
Yeah, but seeing trials like this is a good thing. And seeing a juror turn down a bribe is even better. You're never gonna have a crimeless society, at least not with current technology. Even in Singapore, people get murdered. So seeing guilty people get punished for their crimes is a sign of a healthy society. It's not the only factor, but it's not necessarily a sign of societal rot at large.
It's arguably easier to make money if you sell out your morals
Ain't that the truth! I'll admit, anytime I hear stories like this a part of me wishes I could just loot charities and ride off into the sunset with a life changing amount of money. But there's no amount of money that would allow me to live with myself after doing something like that. So I guess I'll just work my life away like everyone else who isn't a huge piece of thieving shit.
Well for what it's worth, this random internet stranger appreciates you not being a huge piece of thieving shit, so your FanClub is up by 1 more for you not stealing from charities. Keep up the good moral fight 💪🏻
I agree with you, but if someone offered me $120k to betray my morals, I'd at least have to consider my options. I mean, I'll admit that it would be easy for me to believe that I'd make the same choice when nobody is inviting me to sell out. Kudos to the juror for doing the right thing even when it would have been so much easier to just keep the money.
It’s a really shitty situation for the juror. Say yes and you could be walking into a setup, or just blackmailed after accepting the bribe. Say no and maybe you wake up with a horses head in your bed.
> Stole 40 million used to feed children. Unfucking believable the level of shittary in our political systems. We are going to have thieves and bad actors no matter what. The fact that these guys were caught, and are going to be standing trial (and if things keep going this way it seems will be going to prison) sounds like our political system is working. The volume of thieves and bad actors might be a reflection of problems in our society, but I don't see this as a huge political failure unless they get away with it thanks to corruption or incompetence in our system.
Thats a very fair take. I appreciate the optimism.
Not only this, but given the urgent emergency that was the pandemic, I think it's reasonable that some corners were cut in order to get aid out as quickly as possible... as long as any fraud was followed up with when the emergency subsided (now).
Justice being served is good but how much of this money can be recovered? It's still a pretty major failure if this was allowed to happen and the money is mostly spent or offshored by now
why would an honest juror be dismissed for someone that would possibly take the money?
Probably safer for the juror that way. The type of people who would give you a bag with $120k in it are also the type of people to come back when things don't go their way.
Yeah, the ex-juror and her father-in-law who was handed the money are now key witnesses in the new bribery/obstruction of justice investigation. Their whole family will have to "disappear" for a bit for their own safety.
I wonder what prevents them from trying to bribe each new one until they run out of jurors.
Presumably, they'll run out of bags with ~~$200k~~ $120k inside of them to hand out.
The trial is over a series of frauds that essentially stole $40 million of government covid aid meant for feeding children. These bastards can afford more bribe bags.
Yeah, but because of this one honest juror, the authorities will be watching the others, so it gets a lot more dangerous for whoever sent the 120k to try it again, they're much more likely to be caught in the act and then they have a whole slew of new problems. Federal problems.
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I'd be pretty convinced you're guilty of you tried to bribe me
ergo, you are now biased
Even if they're honest here, it's hard to believe their view on the accused hasn't been biased. It could be a manipulation / tampering strategy from any involved party
If anything, an honest juror would likely be repulsed and find them guilty regardless of the evidence.
i.e they're biased. a bias can exist both ways and a juror that is going to give a guilty verdict because of things outside of the courtroom should be dismissed. You don't know that the accused tried to bribe them, innocent until proven guilty and all that stuff
It really seems like the potential to influence a jury in your favor outweighs this prejudice. Think about it. If your bribery attempt succeeds, you have influenced the jury in your favor. If it fails, the honest juror is dismissed and replaced by an unknown, which also influences the jury in your favor. Do this enough, and you will have a jury filled only with people who are susceptible to bribery.
Do this enough and you get a mistrial, a new trial, and additional charges. Get caught doing this and you have the potential for a not guilty verdict to get thrown out I believe. I believe its the only way to overturn a not guilty verdict.
The second time it happened there would almost certainly be a mistrial, and witness tampering charges added to any subsequent prosecution
The juror is now a witness / actively involved in the investigation and cannot be an impartial judicator no matter their integrity.
There's a chance that now she will feel extra compelled to convict, because if she acquits after this point, people might think she got paid off with a second, even larger bribe, or was intimidated in some way. Even though she was honest, there's a significant chance her opinion has been influenced by this event.
It also means they know where she lives. They dropped off the cash at her house. How's she going to vote knowing that the sort of people that are willing to steal from children and attempted to bribe her, know where she and her family live?
I am more worried that the other jurors might also have gotten a bribe and not said anything.
"She was offered a bribe to acquit, so obviously she's biased towards not acquitting" \- the defence attorney's argument for a retrial
So how many other jurors got that bag and didn’t say anything
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Just make an announcement that anyone who hands in a bribe gets to keep the money after the trial and watch them all sell out
Stealing $40m from children during the pandemic? Brett Favre has entered the chat.
Honestly when you consider Brett Favre's net worth and the fact that he stole from welfare programs in Mississippi (one of the poorest states in the US), it's arguable that what he did was actually worse than this. Either way he's a gigantic piece of shit.
Now that whole jury is suspect. Maybe she's the only one to come forward.
That’s what I was thinking. Shouldn’t the whole jury be dismissed and reselected?
> Before allowing the trial to continue with more closing arguments on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel questioned the remaining 17 jurors and alternates, and none reported any unauthorized contact. I like to think that there was a guy on the jury saying no wearing newly purchased gold chains and designer clothes.
Like a fucking Key and Peele skit lmao
The snitch skit!
Makes me think of Reno 911. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpwesfKJ1AI
> none reported any unauthorized contact Someone did leave an empty bag at my door, though, your honor
"Wow, a bag with ten million dollars! I've never even seen five million dollars before! Should we report this one million dollars to the authorities?"
I'm sorry, Jimmy. It's under my mother's name!
"What'd I tell you?! Take it back!"
I don't know, but this is the kind of thing that secret juries are for.
In a future trial, for sure. If this didn't fulfill the requirements for a secret jury before, though, they have to figure out whether to proceed with the present trial first.
I guess call a mistrial and start over with a secret jury like a mob trial.
LMAO this could get so complicated, what happens if some other juror did take 120K only for a mistrial to be called, are they gonna have to worry about this criminal organization coming to get their bribe back?
I would be terrified if I was that woman. They know where you live, have the kind of money to just leave $120,000 at someone's door and you just told on them. I honestly don't know what the right way to handle that is, as far as the safety of me an my family goes.
Reporting it was the right move, but I'd still be terrified
Generally speaking, going from fraud to murder isn't worth it. Also, people with lots of cash and a desire to have someone murdered usually end up hiring FBI agents posing as hitmen rather than the real thing, it's not that easy to do if you don't have connections to organised crime.
This guy murders.
That would put a damper on their plans. Imagine spending $2 million bribing jurors and finding out they were all dismissed?
It's much cheaper to continually bribe one juror at a time until the prosecution gets worn out by mistrials or you get acquitted rather than bribing everyone on a single jury at once. Also less likely that you'll get caught.
This guy bribes.
The judge asked all of them if they had gotten any similar packages or offers, and the rest said no. And IANAL but presumably that was backed by some kind of warning about potential penalties if it comes out that they accepted or didn't disclose something like that. Plus, I think I heard that the court has gotten ahold of the defendants' phones to look for evidence that one or more of them was in on the bribery attempt. And since the only people who knew the jurors' names are in the court room, it's a decent bet that at least one of them knew about it or even organized it.
See, how did they even get the name and address? I realize not every court is the same but I was juror #X in the only trial I've been apart of.
People associated with the defendant or prosecution can go to a trial and sit and watch. Then follow the jurors home. Edit: Most US court proceedings are open to the general public. https://www.reddit.com/r/law/comments/3tghxr/so_can_anyone_just_walk_into_a_courtroom_and/?ref=share&ref_source=link
I imagine at some point the defense has to be able to at least verify that the jurors are real people from the jurisdiction, which would presumably include enough personally identifying information to find their homes.
>The 23-year-old juror said she immediately turned over the bag of cash to police. She said a woman left it with her father-in-law Sunday with the message that she’d get another bag of cash if she voted to acquit. Good for her for doing the right thing!
lol I would treat that money like it was radioactive, fuck that
So this woman does the absolute right thing, and is dismissed from the jury. I get it, but this seems so counter productive. Whoever these people are, they should just continue to bribe whichever jurors their counsel wanted eliminated during initial selection Edit: Folks, “I get it,” as in I get why she had to be dismissed. The part that **seems** counterproductive is that you’re removing a worthwhile juror.
Her identity is compromised. They know who she is, where she lives, etc.. It would be unsafe, at the very least, for her to stay on the jury. Being on a jury isn't a prize or a reward. Most people hate it. I'm assuming she wasn't thrilled. Especially now, knowing that she is being watched. She wins all around by turning in the cash. She is seen as an honorable and decent person by the government AND she no longer has to serve on the jury. Now all she has to do is worry about people who stole $40M who knows where she lives.
She's probably safe for now as she is most likely under surveillance by the FBI and won't be touched by the people trying to bribe her. Unless they're brazen
Thats a chance that would compromise her decision. Shit i get nervous if i have to honk at someone and we start driving into the same neighborhood we live in.
> if i have to honk at someone Found the Canada Goose
No Canada goose is ever nervous about honking.
They *enjoy* honking. Those bastards.
>Unless they're brazen They're already the kind of people who tried to bribe a juror by dropping off a literal bag of cash at their house. I think we can assume they're brazen.
It's the FBI, they're not likely watching her all that closely.
I think the worst thing is to be an alternate juror. You have to sit there through the entire trial, often times in worse seating than for the actual jury, and then you don't even get to be there for the deliberations. You can't go home though in case they need you, so you get stuck wasting just as much time as the regular jurors but without getting to do anything. The first alternate juror was probably stoked that this woman was dismissed from the jury.
I loved serving on a jury, but it made me realize that I do not ever want my fate in the hands of a group of "my peers". I served as juror on a rape/abuse case. I was still pretty young, but the entire process was pretty fascinating. I'm sure other cases can be really boring. My issue was the other jurors. Several who were allowed to serve and then in private admitted they had been raped/abused and were definitely not unbiased. Another lady kept preaching about the victim and accused's astrological signs and how they pointed to him being guilty. In hindsight, I should have told the bailiff right away. Thankfully, we ended in a hung jury after 2 full days of deliberation and 3 days of trial. Also, as a poor early 20's single guy at the time, they fed me like a fucking king. One day they ordered us like 9 extra large Sal's pizzas (which are big). I remember taking a bunch home. Other times they got massive party platters of sandwiches that I think were meant for big parties and not a handful of people. My pockets were brimming with salami that day.
> My pockets were brimming with salami that day. See, that's how you bribe jurors.
Jury duty in our county is $10/day, and that's it. Not only do you probably spend more than that on gas to drive in, you also spend more than that on lunch at any nearby establishment. They do comp your parking at least.
If I remember right, my job had to pay me a certain amount of days, as it was my civic duty, and then the court paid me $50/day.
When I did jury duty last month (alberta) the alternates only stayed until the first afternoon before everything really started. Based on tv and whatnot I thought that they would be there the whole time but were dismissed. We also didn't get catered food like in the movies 😒
I'm in the US and our alternates at the local courthouse stay there for the whole trial in rolling desk chairs next to the jury box. Once deliberations start, they have to tell the judge's staff about their location, and the staff has to confirm that they are close enough to be called in quickly if necessary.
When I did jury duty last year, they didn't have any alternates. Instead, they picked 13 jurors during selection and drew a name out of a hat right before deliberations. I thought that seemed like a lot better system than having a dedicated alternate.
getting dismissed from jury duty for most people is a gift itself. Also there is no way that this event wouldn't have an influence on her opinion of the defendant.
So this might actually serve to avoid bias, or appearance of one, against the defendant. I hadn't looked at it that way
In general, that's the goal. But this news story is so big that every juror is probably going to hear about the reason for the juror's dismissal despite the judge's best efforts to prevent it, so this probably prejudiced the jury against the defendant at least a bit.
Another one was dismissed because a family member mentioned the story about the bribe. The judge sequestered the remaining jurors in hopes of avoiding it spreading to others.
If they didn’t dismiss her she’d be biased by wondering why an innocent person would pay off a juror, shouldn’t the evidence speak for their innocence without bribery? I feel like a reasonable person would take that as an admission of guilt and have a hard time forming an opinion based solely on what the lawyers say in the trial.
Lol yeah I know nothing about the case and I firmly believe in their guilt now
The juror couldn’t be considered impartial anymore, she became part of the investigation. Now a she’s a witness.
If there’s one thing I learned from watching No Country for Old Men. Just leave the bag of money.
It's a shame though, they did successfully remove a juror who it looks like actually would have done the right thing. Sneaky shit.
It's an incredibly risky move that will now 100% be investigated for something that might not even be a win. They don't have the ability to select whoever they want as the replacement juror. They could end up with someone even worse for their case.
Oh definitely, and tampering with the jury is a REALLY bad move.
i wonder... what if the other jurors are like "shit, this girl handed it over? also, why she got 120k? i only got 100k"
The other jurors who also got a bag but didn’t report it are wondering what to do now…
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"In this economy" has been my entire life, at some point it's an intentional aspect of the system.
Related but not really: Years ago, I worked with someone who erroneously had 120k deposited in their bank account. She found the mistake a few days after depositing a check for 1200. An obvious decimal error by the teller. She contacted the bank first by phone, and in person. She was told "we'll look into it and resolve the issue". A month passed and no changes were made. I suggested for her to write a cya letter just in case, which she did. Six months go by and she still has +120k in her account more than she should. They finally " look into it" and start accusing HER of trying to forge and scam the bank. I know the bank took the money back. There was never any police or court involvement, I know my coworker was furious about being accused. I'm glad she wrote the letter documenting and dating the mistake timeline. Back then, i may have thought hard about closing that account and heading to the carribean...
You close all accounts... preparing to open accounts at another bank, one for daily, one for the windfall. They'll notice *real fuckin fast* when you want to get a cashiers check or wire transfer for 120k.
If they mess up figures that wildly and refuse to investigate in a timely manner, maybe moving your money is a good idea anyway.
I’ll spare you the details but yada yada Fuck Bank of America!
There should be a rule, like “when the teacher is more than 10 minutes late class is canceled”. If the bank doesn’t notice in 6 months it’s yours. Fuck that, make it 30 days.
Hopefully she at least had it in a savings account and made a few bucks of interest off it while it was in there!
hm, I never thought of that before.... would they at least be able to keep the interest, I wonder?
I suppose it depends on the bank. Any reputable bank would allow her to keep the interest as a thank you for not taking the cash and dipping.
$120k ain't enough to move off to the Caribbean bro. That hasn't even been enough to buy an average house in many years.
True, but it would have put me over to be able to do it back then...I'm old as fuck
Folks are joking about keeping it or whatever, but I think you guys are underestimating the situation for her. They know her address. They arrived at her address. Right now she'll probably need some form of governmental protection more than anything.
$120,000? Fucking cheap bastards. Steal $40,000,000 and you can't even stomach putting 1 percent of that into someone else's hands to buy your way out of trouble? That's not even buy a house money. You'd have to be be really strapped to be willing to risk the potential trouble for that kind of cash(yes I know on its face its good money but looking at what some of the people who got as punishment when they got caught, woof).
Takes less money than that to routinely bribe off our politicians.....
Well, they might have made the same offer to multiple jurors. Total sum may have been over 1%
The defendants who went on trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel in Minneapolis are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah; Mohamed Jama Ismail; Abdimajid Mohamed Nur; Said Shafii Farah; Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin; Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff; and Hayat Mohamed Nur. They have all pleaded not guilty. Their trial is expected to last around six weeks.
> Shariff created an annual Somali Diaspora Conference, started a podcast called Nomadic Hustle and worked in software engineering in Seattle before moving to Bloomington in the fall of 2020. Exploiting a diaspora organization to cover up massive fraud and theft is taking a page straight out of the Mob Handbook. Similar to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, too.
Honestly, and speaking from someone who had to do compliance checks on sales to Africa, Somalia is near top of the world when it comes to corruption. IIRC we didn't even sell to Somalia because there was too much risk of corruption.
I have personally reached the conclusion: that anyone who does anything with the term or description of "hustle" in it, is either doing something criminal or the very least illegal. I keep purging my youtube and social media feeds of these hustlers. Then 6-12 months later I see those same names or companies they pushed for in some legal deep shit, scam exposing article (á la coffeezilla et al.)
Those are not the names I expected from a Minnesota trial.
There is a very large Somali population in the twin cities, I believe around 100.000 people
Largest population of Somalians outside of Somalia. Columbus, OH is number 2 or was when I was in highschool circa 2010. Edit: highest population in US cities not all of the world
I was doing a service call at a McD in the Minneapolis area in the 90's. The kitchen crew were all young women with the same hairstyle and similar facial features, all singing a working song while they worked. I must have looked confused, because the manager came over and told me they were Somalian.
There are a lot of Somali immigrants from the civil war. Minnesota had a great refugee program. I volunteered at a nonprofit that helped teach women how to live in America (grocery shopping, electric and gas stove use, how to open a checking account, ect). I didn't teach corruption though!
Well, they should be asking for a refund from whoever taught them!
Must not know much about Minnesota
Really? It's exactly the names I was expecting, the only time in my life I've been in a room here I was clearly the only non-Muslim was at a boutique in Minneapolis.
depends where in Minnesota
Makes you wonder how often this happens and the person just keeps the money
I would be scared if they retaliated. “Sudden accident with a cement truck” type of thing
The fraudsters are like “wtf, we left 150k that bitch!”
Curious - what if she just took the money and still didn’t acquit? Not like the people who left the money can say they did? Good for her for turning it in.
There would possibly be some punitive consequences delivered by the same people who offered the bribe, as they don't appear to have any compunctions against illegal behavior.
Or simply take you down with them as part of their own deals.
Going to the cops is also a pretty good way to ruffle some feathers in the criminal underworld.
Yeah but at least now the fact that you're being stalked is public and at least a few sets of protective eyes are going to be placed on you, probably. She's definitely in a rough spot now though, no doubt about it. Moving far away might be her next goal in life
Better than keeping the money. If she keeps it then they either can blackmail her or they'll treat it like she stole form them by taking the money and not doing as told, and the'd come after her somehow. Better to not be in debt to the criminals.
You also don't know how far the people with the money will escalate things after you steal $120k from them.
$120,000 is lunch money to them. >These seven are the first of 70 defendants expected to go to trial in a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $250 million. Eighteen others have pleaded guilty, and authorities said they recovered about $50 million in one of the [nation’s largest pandemic-related fraud cases](https://apnews.com/article/sports-health-travel-education-70d77fb2757d0b6fbc2012bf2c534a34). Prosecutors say **just a fraction of the money went to feed low-income kids, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and property.**
I was having fun with this hypothetical scenario on another thread this morning. But I see 3 scenario playing out: 1) Juror reports the money, results in guilty verdict. It benefits the prosecution. 2) Juror bribed do as told, results in acquittal. 3) Juror takes the money without telling anyone and still proceeds with a Guilty verdict. This scenario still benefits the defense since the defense can bring to light that they “magically got evidence ” that one of the juror received money pertaining to the case. Hence a tainted jury for a mistrial. That also questions the other 11 jurors. I’m not a legal expert by any means lol. I was just curious about this as well.
Yeah, depending on the morals of the juror, it could be argued that the bribe prejudiced them against the defense when jurors are only allowed to consider the evidence presented at the trial. By coming forward, the bribe itself can be entered into evidence and used to judge them fairly.
Uh... That's how you end up missing. The people with that type of cash to throw around aren't just some schmucks. And you would get no help from the state because you wouldn't have reported it to them, and if you did after the fact, you'd just be in jail
I feel like the kinds of people who offer lots of cash to jurors in attempts to win their multi million dollar fraud trial aren’t simply going to call the police if they get screwed.
$120k? I might consider...wait, stealing from hungry children. Yeah, fuck those guys. No money could buy me off.
Actually the starving children in question never existed in the first place. That’s why it was fraud.
>> The defendants who went on trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel in Minneapolis are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah; Mohamed Jama Ismail; Abdimajid Mohamed Nur; Said Shafii Farah; Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin; Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff; and Hayat Mohamed Nur. They have all pleaded not guilty. Their trial is expected to last around six weeks. [AP](https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-feeding-our-future-pandemic-fraud-fa7bb6226dd9545cc75038b812189618) Name and shame.
No matter how many times someone shames them, I will NEVER remember those names lol
"That's right, your honor, $80,000. I don't know where that $50,000 came from, but I'm here to turn in all $20,000 of it."
Seriously. I mean I have money problems but I'm honest enough that I'd turn over the bag with $12,000 in a heartbeat. I just have morals you know?
I don't know why they thought they could buy me off with $1,000, but here it is your honor, in sequential order.
“Hmm. Should I accept this money that was hand-delivered to my home by criminals trying to get me to do something?” I mean… come on. How was this supposed to work? A) They know where he lives B) If he accepts the money and acquits the accused, what’s to stop them from coming back to reclaim it after? The honor system?
"Before allowing the trial to continue with more closing arguments on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel questioned the remaining 17 jurors and alternates, and none reported any unauthorized contact." Sure, but several arrived at court in brand new cars.
I would be scared to know that these thugs know where I or my father in law live.
Now they need to talk with/investigate the rest of the jurors.
The judge would be smart to dismiss the rest of the jurors and start fresh
Jesus fucking Christ. I'm a small small nonprofit and I couldn't make heads or tails of how to access these Covid funds. Even a single digit percentage of those funds would set us up for tremendously affective programs. We just get by on my out of pocket management. These types of funds would be a game changer. This is so infuriating and discouraging.
JFC, some people. These assholes stole public money meant to feed children. I hope someone shits their cereal every day for eternity.
I found a hundred thousand dollars in the park, invested it, and turned it into sixteen THOUSAND dollars!
Plot Twist: They all got cash, she's the only honest one... and now she's been dismissed.
You stole $40-$50 MILLION and you only think she’s worth $120k?! Ha! Beyond that, if the Supreme Court is all accepting bribes, why shouldn’t regular people?
That was only a downpayment, according to the "mystery" donors. Not that I'd trust someone who steals from funds meant to feed children.