Feeding Our Future: Witness tampering edition
It’s always something. We are two weeks into the 2nd Feeding Our Future trial at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. The trial is taking place in a 13th-floor courtroom of the building.
So far, nothing as dramatic as the juror bribery incident from the last case. But we’re inching closer.
On trial this round are Aimee Bock, CEO of Feeding Our Future, and Salim Said, co-owner of the Safari Restaurant. They are Defendant Nos. 1 and 3 in the sprawling free-food scandal.
Scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon on behalf of the prosecution was Sharmake Jama, Defendant No. 39. Jama was the lead defendant of the Jama family/Brava Restaurant group of defendants out of Rochester. Jama pled guilty late last month and represents guilty plea/conviction No. 32 in the case.
According to multiple media reports, Defendant Nos. 10 and 11, the brothers Abdinasir and Asad Abshir, were making a nuisance of themselves in the public gallery of the courtroom on Tuesday.
The Abshir brothers are not scheduled to stand trial until April in the case and were attending the day’s proceedings as members of the general public.
Later, Abdinasir, and perhaps Asad, approached Sharmake Jama, awaiting his turn on the witness stand. The encounter occurred in the 13th-floor hallway. Abshir invited Jama to join him into the nearby restroom to discuss the finer points of the case.
Mr. Jama declined the offer and reported the incident to his attorney. At least part of the encounter was reportedly witnessed by a U.S. Marshal standing nearby. As it happened, Mr. Jama did not appear on the witness stand yesterday and was rescheduled for Wednesday morning.
Lead prosecutor Joe Thompson raised the issue of witness intimidation in open court late Tuesday afternoon. Joey Peters of the Sahan Journal reported this morning:
And that’s exactly what happened when Jama took the stand, KSTP reports.
Other coverage from:
Star Tribune: Feeding Our Future trial rocked by witness-tampering allegations
Sahan Journal: Defendant’s relative approached witness in Feeding Our Future trial
KARE-11: Defendant’s relative approached witness in Feeding Our Future trial
MPR News: Prosecutor says Feeding Our Future defendant approached witness in effort to ‘corrupt’ process
In an order issued this morning, the presiding judge, Nancy Brasel, is requiring any defendants attending any trial as spectators must notify the court 24 hours in advance. They will then be seated in an overflow room and may watch via video.
The always-alert Lou Raguse of KARE-11 reported on another Feeding Our Future-related development,
Woman who attempted to bribe Feeding Our Future juror arrested for DWI
Ladan Ali will need to return to federal court where a judge may order her jailed pending her sentencing in the bribe case.
In the state DWI case (BAC .284), Ali is charged with two gross misdemeanors and two regular misdemeanors. The incident occurred late afternoon on Valentines Day and involved a car crash in Mendota Heights. She posted a $12,000 bond and was released.
You will recall that Ali has a felony conviction for check forgery dating back to 2022. She was sentenced in late 2023 to two years’ probation in that case under the following terms,
Presumably, these terms, including “Follow all State and Federal criminal laws,” remain in effect. Despite her 2024 Federal conviction for juror bribery, she remains at large.
Ali must appear in Federal court on March 5. Ali is due back in state court on the DWI matter on March 10.
Speaking of the juror bribery case, a third guilty plea is scheduled to be entered on March 5. Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, the younger half brother of the lead defendants will enter a guilt plea on that data. This Farah was not charged in the larger fraud case. Updating my tracker for the case:
As I said, it’s always something.