A woman pleads guilty to trying to bribe a juror in a major COVID-related fraud case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Seattle woman pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to bribe a Minnesota juror with a bag full of $120,000 cash in exchange for an acquittal in one of the nation's largest COVID-19-related fraud cases.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, was accused of following a juror to her home in another fraud case and offering a bribe in exchange for an acquittal.

Court documents revealed an extravagant plot in which Ali and her co-defendants are accused of researching jurors' personal information on social media, surveilling them, tracking their daily habits and purchasing a GPS device to install in their car. Authorities believe the defendants targeted the woman, known as “Juror No. 52,” because she was the youngest and they believed she was the only person of color on the panel.

The bribery attempt was related to the trial of seven defendants in one of the largest COVID-19-related fraud cases in the country. The defendants were accused of coordinating the theft of more than $40 million from a federal program designed to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, more than $250 million in federal funds were stolen as part of the scheme, and only about $50 million has been recovered, according to authorities.

Ali is one of five people charged with attempting to bribe a juror, which prosecutors called “something out of a mafia movie.” Her attorney, Eric Newmark, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The four other defendants charged with crimes related to the bribery are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Said Shafii Farah, Abdulkarim Shafii Farah and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur.

Michael Goldberg (), The Associated Press