Fourth defendant pleads not guilty, will remain jailed as Feeding Our Future bribery case proceeds

A fourth person accused of conspiring to bribe a juror in last month’s federal Feeding our Future food aid fraud trial pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday and will stay jailed as the case proceeds.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 35, one of two people in this case who were also convicted of a majority of the fraud charges against them last month, on Friday waived a hearing that would have allowed him to challenge prosecutors’ requests that he stay detained in this case.

Farah, who has been held in Sherburne County jail since the alleged bribery’s disclosure last month, appeared for a short hearing alongside his attorney, Daniel Gerdts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert confirmed that the government wanted Farah to stay detained, citing that no conditions or combinations of conditions existed to ensure public safety.

Farah is being charged alongside his brother Said Shafii Farah, their half-brother Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and Ladan Mohamed Ali. They are all being charged with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror and corruptly influencing a juror.

All but Abdulkarim Farah and Ali were previously among those charged in the massive Feeding Our Future pandemic aid fraud case, and Said Farah was acquitted in the case’s first trial before the new bribery charges. Abdiaziz Farah is also charged with one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting the contents of his phone when a judge ordered all seven defendants in the trial to turn over their phones after the bribery attempt was revealed.

According to charges, Ali was recruited by Nur and flew from her home in Seattle to offer the 23-year-old juror $120,000 in cash supplied by Said Farah, one of the defendants on trial, on June 2. Juror No. 52, as she was known during jury selection, was allegedly targeted by the defendants because she was the youngest juror and appeared to be the only person of color.

Ali is the only defendant in this case to be released under supervision as she awaits trial. Nur has yet to make a first appearance on the new charges and is being represented by a New York-based attorney.