A woman arrived at a Minnesota home in a Mazda Sunday night with a bag of cash totaling $120,000, ready to hand to one of 12 jurors in a multimillion-dollar charity fraud case in federal court in Minneapolis. .
“This is for Juror 52,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson quoted the woman, according to a Sahan Journal article. “Tell her there will be another purse for her if she votes for acquittal.”
The jury was not home at the time, so the woman left the cash and message with a family member, Thompson said in court, according to accounts from reporters in the courtroom. The US attorney’s office said in an interview with The New York Times that the accounts were accurate and that more details would be provided.
Prosecutors said jurors reported the apparent bribery attempt to local police.
That revelation shook up the trial of seven accused of stealing $41 million from government programs meant to feed hungry children, through a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prosecutors have accused them (and dozens of others) of stealing $250 million by claiming to have served nonexistent meals to nonexistent children.
So far 18 people have pleaded guilty.
The current case is the first related to that scandal to go to trial. After six weeks, the trial is coming to an end. Defense attorneys are expected to present their final closing arguments this week. In court Monday, defense attorneys said they were concerned about the allegations, according to courtroom accounts.
In response to the revelation, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel dismissed the jury and questioned the remaining jurors and their alternates about whether they had been contacted in a similar manner, according to an account by The Star Tribune. They all said no, the newspaper reported.
Police in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, where the bribery attempt took place, referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office.