Feeding Our Future defendant sentenced to 10 years for juror bribery
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A man convicted of fraud in the Feeding our Future scheme will serve an additional 10 years in prison for bribing a juror during his fraud trial.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah was on trial in 2024 for running a fraudulent food assistance site in the sprawling Feeding Our Future case when he and other defendants attempted to bribe one of the jurors. According to the indictment, Farah and two of his co-defendants — and two others they recruited to help — delivered a bag containing $120,000 in cash to the juror’s home, and promised more if she voted to acquit.
The juror called the police to report the bribe. Farah was ultimately convicted in the fraud case and charged separately for bribery.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, federal prosecutor Matt Murphy called the bribe “an unprecedented attack on the justice system and on our democracy itself.”
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Federal prosecutors asked Judge Eric Tostrud to sentence Farah to 11 years in prison, the maximum recommended under sentencing guidelines.
Farah, who is currently imprisoned in Sherburne County, addressed Tostrud at his sentencing hearing. Speaking through tears, he apologized to the judges and attorneys who have served on his case — and to juror 52.
“I completely denied her civic responsibility to be an independent, fair and impartial juror,” Farah said. “I regret it every day, and I should have never been involved in such conduct that took away the opportunity for her to proudly serve our community, our state and our country.”
Before the sentence was read, he looked back to wave at his family in the courtroom, who he said he had not seen in a long time.
Tostrud handed down the 10-year sentence.
“It is hard to imagine a more serious case of bribery,” Tostrud said, noting the large sum of money and Farah’s recruitment of others to participate in the bribe. “This was a coordinated assault on our system of justice.”
Farah will serve those 10 years in addition to the 28-year sentence he is currently serving for fraud. He declined a request from Farah’s attorney to let him serve the sentence at the same time as the 28-year sentence he’s currently serving for fraud charges.
According to the indictment, Farah and the others involved singled out the youngest juror, and the only person of color on the jury, believing she would be the most likely to give in to a bribe. Farah monitored her to determine where she parked during the trial and ordered a GPS tracker to attach to her car. Defendants in the bribery scheme found her personal information on social media and watched her house to check that she lived there.
In court the day after the juror reported the bribe, the judge asked Farah and other defendants to hand over their cell phones. Before doing so, Farah did a factory reset of his phone, deleting messages with the other defendants and video of them dropping off the money at the juror’s house. For that, Farah was also charged with obstruction of justice.
Farah’s attorney asked that he serve the sentence at the federal prison in Sandstone. When his sentence is up, he’ll be under three years of supervised release.
