Feeding Our Future: bribery case guilty plea #3

On a cold, rainy morning, a third guilty plea was entered into the juror bribery case arising out of the first Feeding Our Future trial. Your correspondent was there at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis.

Abdulkarim Farah was led into the 12th-floor courtroom by a pair of deputy U.S. Marshals. Farah was clad in an orange sweater, orange track pants, and white tennis shoes.

Abdulkarim is the younger, age 25, (half) brother of Abdiaziz and Said Farah, Defendant Nos. 15 and 19, in the broader fraud scheme. Abdulkarim has never been charged in the fraud case. In the first Feeding Our Future trial conducted last year, Abdiaziz was convicted and Said was acquited.

All three brothers, along with two other individuals, were charged with attempting (unsuccessfully) to bribe a juror in the fraud case. Abdulkarim served as wheelman in the scheme, surveilling the juror and her home, and driving the bagwoman (Ladan Ali) to the juror’s home for the drop-off. $120,000 in cash in a Hallmark gift bag.

He pled guilty to one felony count, bribery of a juror. The sentencing guidelines included in Abdulkarim’s plea agreement suggest a prison sentence of between four and five years. He remains in federal custody, pending sentencing.

This was all supposed to happen a month ago, but an earlier attempt at a guilty plea was snowed out. Luckily, for all involved, last night’s snow turned to rain this morning, so the event occurred exactly on time.

The press release from the U.S. Dept. of Justice can be read here. Of the bribery defendants, only the older Farah brothers remain to stand trial.

Still on the schedule for later this month is the courtroom trial of Hamdi Omar, Defendant No. 12. She has either just given birth to a child, or is just about to, with her trial to begin in less than three weeks.