Bag of cash doesn’t stop jurors from convicting 5 of 7 defendants in $40 million food fraud scheme
Associated PressMINNEAPOLIS — A jury convicted five Minnesota residents and acquitted two others on Friday for their roles in a scheme to steal more than $40 million from a program that was supposed to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic. After the verdicts were read, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson called the attempted bribe “an attack on our criminal justice system” and told reporters that authorities would investigate with all of their resources. According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, a woman rang the doorbell at the home of “Juror #52” in the Minneapolis suburb of Spring Lake Park the night before the case went to the jury. “After the woman left, the relative looked in the gift bag and saw it contained a substantial amount of cash.” The juror called police right after she got home and gave them the bag, which held stacks of $100, $50 and $20 bills totaling around $120,000. “It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information was conspiring with, at a minimum, the woman who delivered the $120,000 bribe,” the FBI agent wrote, noting that the alleged fraud conspiracy at the heart of the trial involved electronic communications, including text messages and emails.
History of this topic
Man pleads guilty to bribing a Minnesota juror with a bag of cash in COVID-19-related fraud case
Associated Press2 more people charged with conspiring to bribe Minnesota juror with a bag of cash plead not guilty
Associated PressFeds charge 5, including man acquitted at trial, with conspiring to bribe Minnesota juror with $120K
Associated PressJury ends second day of deliberations without reaching verdict in fraud trial roiled by bag of cash
Associated PressFeds seek woman who left bag of $120,000 as bribe with promise of more at home of food fraud juror
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