Feeding Our Future fraud: Man sentenced to another 10 years for trying to bribe juror

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man who admitted to trying to bribe a juror in his own trial for the Feeding Our Future scheme was sentenced to another decade in prison Wednesday. 

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah pleaded guilty in June to the bribery attempt after he was sentenced to 28 years in prison last year for his convictions in the Feeding Our Future scheme. 

Man sentenced for attempting to bribe Feeding Our Future juror 

Big picture view:

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge for trying to bribe a jury member in his own trial back in 2024. He was also sentenced to an additional three years of supervised release following his prison time.

Court documents show the sentence will run consecutive with his 28-year-sentence, meaning he will serve 38 years overall.

The backstory:

Farah was sentenced to 28 years in prison followed by three years of supervised probation for his role in the Feeding Our Future scheme, which saw about $300 million defrauded from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During that trial, a juror reported that a bag of cash, along with a note promising more money if she voted to acquit, was left at her door. 

Prosecutors say the bribery suspects targeted the juror because she was the youngest one on the case, being 23 years old at the time. She also appeared to be the only person of color.

According to the criminal complaint, the bribery suspects did online research to track down the juror's address and information about her background and family. They even went to the extent of purchasing a GPS device to install on her vehicle to track her movements.

Other people involved in the jury bribery scheme include:

• Abdulkarim Shafii Farah was sentenced to 57 months in prison and one year of supervised release after being found guilty of trying to bribe a juror. 
• Ladan Mohamed Ali pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a juror and has not yet been sentenced.
• Said Shafii Farah, pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a juror and has not yet been sentenced. He was found not guilty of fraud in the Feeding Our Future trial. 
• Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a jury member but has but yet been sentenced for it. He was also sentenced to 10 years for his Feeding Our Future fraud conviction. 

The blueprint for bribery and acquittal

What they're saying:

The following is the text of the "blueprint" for Juror 52 to persuade the rest of the jury, recovered from the phone of Abdimajid Nur, who was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Feeding Our Future scheme:

Below are arguments to convince other jurors. REMEMBER your vote will be NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS for all defendants. We are immigrants they don’t respect and care about us. Government Late investigation-All agents did not swiftly act on the case. Jury doesn’t have full picture of what happened on time. Misleading Information including the math which was done to fit the Government narrative. Lack of credible witnesses (3 years later). Nobody remembers anything about what happened. Assumed guilt from the beginning of the case and didn’t even bother to investigate or talk to anyone at all, just followed the money. No site visits, no surveillance and nothing was ever done to visit any of the locations. They had over a year to do it but they didn’t at all. No one from the main sponsor is indicted. Defendants as presented by the Government made millions and millions outside of the food program. For example, over one million in just credit card sales at one of their businesses. No one from MDE is indicted. Nobody from state government is indicted. No experts including nutritionist and even food experts were presented to jury to explain how the food industry or food program works. Prejudice against people of color. The Government kept attacking Somali witnesses and asking them if it’s true in the Somali culture to cheat, steal or lie which was very racist. The Government just followed the money and didn’t do any real investigation to better understand the reimbursement program. Hadith was a big time liar and nobody should believe him. His main goal is to get a deal from the government and not go to prison. Evidence presented doesn’t support the main facts of the case. Just pictures and pool counts that were not even verified and most of the witnesses did not even understand. Most of the data came from CLICS which the defendants don’t have access to so it was flawed. This is a reimbursement program and it took months to receive payment. The defendants took an enormous financial risk to do this work that they didn’t have a lot of experience for. The government had options for other remedies to collect money back and don’t see this as a criminal case. The defendants are new to the program and never received any kind of support. State leaders and other government entities should have stopped payments and are responsible for such mess. All defendants are not guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The Government hasn’t proven that at all and hasn’t met that burden at all. Why is it always people of color and immigrants prosecuted for the fault of other people including Kara Lomen and even the Governor. Where is Kara Lomen? Where is MDE finance people who paid millions and millions of dollars. Defendants did a lot of work including millions in food and expenses so who the hell does all that to commit fraud. A lot of money was spent on food and other expenses but the government try to hide them by creating their own categories especially in hidden pivot tables. Defendants used their legal names, documents such as passports and driver’s license. No concealment or nothing is hidden so no wire fraud or any money laundering at all. They created legal entities with the state and the federal government with no intentions to hide at all. Sponsor was responsible for everything They received millions and millions of dollars to oversee this but they didn't and the largest sponsor and its staff members is not even indicted. This case is not about money or children and all they are trying to top incite and inflame. The defendants ran for profit entities, worked hard and earned the money rightfully. It's their money and they can spend whatever they want with it. It's not illegal to spend your own money that you so rightfully earned. The above and many other reasons presented I firmly conclude NOT GUILTY on all counts for all 7 defendants. The government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt at all. Not even close at all. She really needs to convince all the remaining jurors to mark NOT GUILTY for all defendants and all counts. Stand your ground and don’t change your mind even if anyone pushes you to vote different. NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS FOR ALL defendants. You alone can end this case. Always do your best to convince other jurors to vote NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS FOR ALL DEFENDANTS.

Feeding Our FutureCrime and Public SafetyMinneapolis