MINNEAPOLIS (AP) 鈥� A Seattle woman who attempted to bribe a Minnesota juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash in exchange for an acquittal in one of the country's largest COVID-19-related fraud cases changed her plea to guilty in federal court Thursday.
Ladan Mohamed Ali, 31, was accused of tracking a juror to her home and dropping off a cash bribe in exchange for an acquittal in a separate fraud case.
Court documents revealed an in which Ali and her co-defendants are accused of researching the juror鈥檚 personal information on social media, surveilling her, tracking her daily habits and buying a GPS device to install on her car. Authorities believe the defendants targeted the woman, known as 鈥淛uror #52,鈥� because she was the youngest and they believed her to be the only person of color on the panel.
The bribe attempt surrounded the trial of seven defendants in COVID-19-related fraud cases. The defendants were accused of coordinating to steal more than $40 million from a federal program that was supposed to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than $250 million in federal funds were taken overall in the scheme, and only about $50 million has been recovered, authorities say.
Ali is one of five people charged in the attempted bribery of the juror, a scheme prosecutors have described as 鈥渟omething out of a mob movie.鈥�
Michael Goldberg (), The Associated Press
