By Alex Oliveira
A juror in a Minneapolis trial related to $250 million in stolen pandemic aid reported that she had a sack containing $120,000 in cash delivered to her door — and a note promising more if she voted to acquit.
The bribe was delivered to the juror’s home on Sunday evening — just hours before the jury was due back in court to hear the closing arguments in the trial.
Juror 52, a 23-year-old woman, was not home when the bag was dropped off but immediately notified police after family at the house showed it to her.
“This is completely beyond the pale,” said Assistant US Attorney Joseph Thompson in court on Monday. “This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies.”
All seven defendants in the case were arrested and taken back into custody following the bribe attempt.
The juror has since been dismissed from the trial, which is over whether members of the Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future stole over $40 million intended to feed children during the pandemic.
Juror 52’s father-in-law was home when the money was dropped off, and identified the woman who left it as being Somalian, according to the Sahan Journal.
The seven defendants in the case are East African.
The bag contained rolls of $20, $50 and $100 bills, according to an FBI affidavit.
“This is for Juror 52,” the note read, according to the New York Times.
“Tell her there will be another bag for her if she votes to acquit.”
That note and the cash were delivered to Juror 52’s home in a Hallmark gift bag decorated with flowers and butterflies.
“It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information was conspiring with, at minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe,” the affidavit read.
Before the trial proceeded Monday, the remaining 17 jurors and alternates were asked whether they had received any bribes.
None said they had, but US District Judge Nancy Brasel decided to sequester the jurors for the remainder of the trial.348
The seven defendants on trial are just the first of 70 people expected to be tried over the sprawling scheme, which cost taxpayers about $250 million.
Eighteen others have already pleaded guilty.
The defendants were led from the courtroom in cuffs Monday after the alleged bribe was revealed.
With Post wires
