Woman Admits She Stole Chunk Of 'Feeding Our Future' Juror Bribe

MINNEAPOLIS — A Seattle woman has pleaded guilty to her role in providing a $120,000 bribe to a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced Thursday.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a juror. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

In her guilty plea, Ali admitted that she stole a chunk of the bribery money while the scheme was being executed.

Co-defendant Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, 23, pleaded guilty in July to the same charge. Nur was also found guilty in the original Feeding Our Future trial.

The three defendants in the bribery case, who have not pleaded guilty, are:

• Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, of Savage (Original trial defendant, found guilty)
• Said Shafii Farah, 42, of Minneapolis (Original trial defendant, found not guilty)
• Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 24, of Minneapolis

On April 22, seven defendants went to trial before U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel for their roles in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

During the trial, Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, and four others conspired with each other to provide a cash bribe to one of the jurors in exchange for the juror returning a not guilty verdict in the trial, according to investigators.

As part of the scheme, on May 17, Ali flew from Seattle to Minneapolis to meet with her co-defendant — Abdimajid Nur — and discuss the plan to bribe Juror 52, according to authorities.

Ali agreed to deliver the bribe money to Juror 52 in exchange for a $150,000 cash payment, investigators said.

On May 30, Ali again flew from Seattle to Minneapolis to carry out the bribery scheme. Following orders from Nur, Ali attempted to follow Juror 52 home as she left a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp after the first day of closing arguments in the trial, according to prosecutors.

Nur had previously provided Ali with a photo of Juror 52’s car and a map of the parking ramp, authorities said.

While Ali had agreed to contact Juror 52 about the bribe, she was concerned that the plan would not work and that she would not get paid for her involvement in the bribery, according to prosecutors.

Instead, Ali decided to steal the bribe money, authorities said.

On June 1, Ali lied to Nur, falsely saying that she approached Juror 52 at a bar and that Juror 52 was interested in taking the bribe but wanted $500,000, according to investigators.

Ali told Nur that Juror 52 wanted Ali to deliver the money at a specific time when Juror 52 would be home alone, authorities said. However, in reality, Ali did not speak with Juror 52, and Juror 52 never agreed to accept a bribe, according to prosecutors.

But Nur believed Ali and told her that he would obtain the bribe money from co-defendants Abdiaziz Farah and Said Farah, authorities said.

On June 2, Nur handed Ali a cardboard box containing $200,000 in cash, authorities said.

Ali then met up with Abdulkarim Farah, who would accompany Ali to Juror 52’s house and video record her delivery of the bribe, authorities said.

At about 8:50 p.m. on June 2, Ali approached the juror's house with the gift bag containing bribe money, handed it to a relative of Juror 52, and explained that there would be more money if Juror 52 voted to acquit the defendants, according to investigators.

Ali only delivered $120,000 to Juror 52’s relative and kept the remaining $80,000 cash for herself, authorities said.

The juror who was bribed immediately reported the incident to the police and was excused from serving on the jury.