A 25-year-old Minneapolis man will spend nearly five years in federal prison for trying to buy a not guilty verdict for his brothers with a bag stuffed with $120,000 in cash.
District Court Judge Eric Tostrud sentenced Abdulkarim Farah on Wednesday to 57 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for his role in bribing a juror during the first Feeding Our Future trial, the federal case at the center of Minnesota's $250 million welfare fraud scandal. According to the Minnesota US Attorney's Office, the sentence falls at the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines, meaning it is within the range recommended by the federal framework for calculating punishment.
The scheme, according to federal prosecutors, began in April 2024, when two of Farah's brothers were set to stand trial in the sprawling pandemic fraud case. The three allegedly devised a plan to bribe Juror 52 in an effort to secure acquittals.
According to the New York Post, Farah conducted surveillance of the juror, then recruited co-defendant Ladan Ali to make the delivery. On the night of June 2, 2024, prosecutors said, citing Farah's plea agreement, he unscrewed the license plates off a rental car "to avoid detection by law enforcement," drove Ali to the juror's home, and recorded a video of her delivering the bribe.
An FBI affidavit described what the juror found: a Hallmark gift bag stuffed with rolls of $20, $50, and $100 bills, along with a handwritten note. The New York Times reported the note's contents.
This is for Juror 52. Tell her there will be another bag for her if she votes to acquit.
The New York Post previously reported that the bag was delivered just hours before closing arguments in the trial.
Juror 52 reported the bribery attempt to the judge the following day. That single act of civic integrity stopped the scheme cold.
Farah, meanwhile, took a different approach. After the bribery attempt was discussed in court, he uninstalled and deleted the encrypted messaging app Signal from his iPhone. He had already sent the video of Ali delivering the gift bag to one of his brothers on trial.
At sentencing, Judge Tostrud praised the juror directly.
Properly functioning juries are the core of our criminal justice system.
The judge commended Juror 52 for "resisting the temptation to accept the very substantial bribe."
Farah's brothers were among dozens of co-conspirators accused of stealing pandemic relief funds from a federal program meant to feed hungry children. The Feeding Our Future case represents one of the largest pandemic fraud prosecutions in the country, with an alleged $250 million siphoned from taxpayer-funded nutrition programs.
The scope of this case is staggering: a quarter of a billion dollars in federal aid, allegedly looted from a program designed for children in need, spawning a trial so high-stakes that defendants allegedly resorted to tampering with the jury itself. Farah's brothers have been accused in that underlying fraud, though their identities have not been publicly specified in connection with this sentencing.
Farah pleaded guilty, as referenced by prosecutors citing his plea agreement. The 57-month sentence at the top of the guidelines range sends a clear signal about how seriously federal courts treat jury tampering.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether Ladan Ali, the co-defendant who physically delivered the bag, has been sentenced or what charges she faces separately. The identities of Farah's two brothers and the status of their underlying fraud case also remain unspecified in connection with this proceeding.
What is clear: one juror refused to be bought, one judge imposed a sentence with teeth, and the federal system worked the way it is supposed to. The question hanging over Minnesota is whether the institutions that allowed a quarter of a billion dollars in pandemic funds to be stolen in the first place will ever be held to that same standard.
