MINNEAPOLIS — Wiping away tears as a federal prosecutor read through the potential penalties she now faces, Ladan Ali admitted delivering a $120,000 bribe to a juror in an attempt to persuade a not-guilty verdict in the first trial involving the federal meal program fraud now known as "Feeding our Future."
And as Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson began reading off the factual basis for her guilty plea, several new details in the wild bribery attempt became public for the first time.
Ali admitted that she was recruited by her friend and Feeding our Future trial defendant Abdimajid Nur to deliver the bribe in exchange for a $150,000 fee. But as the day grew closer, she became less confident that the plan would work.
"You were concerned they weren't going to pay you, correct?" Thompson asked.
"Yes," Ali responded.
"Rather than follow through with it, you came up with an alternative plan to steal some or all of the bribe money?"
"Yes," Ali said.
Ali admitted falsely telling Nur that she approached Juror #52 at a bar on May 31 and that the woman agreed to accept a $500,000 bribe in exchange for a not-guilty verdict in the ongoing trial. None of that was true, Ali said in court. She never actually talked to the juror.
But that Sunday on June 2, Ali said she and Nur picked up $200,000 cash in Bloomington that was provided by the other defendants. Ali's plan to steal the money was partially thwarted when co-defendant Abdulkarim Farah got into the car with Ali near the juror's home.
"Farah insisted he would drive you there, to make a recording as proof of the bribe being delivered, and to prevent you from stealing the bribe money?" Thompson asked.
"I didn't know that at the time but ultimately found out, yes," Ali said.
But Ali revealed she did steal $80,000 of the $200,000. She delivered $120,000 to the relative of Juror #52 who answered the door and instructed him that there would be more money after the juror voted not guilty.
After the hearing, Ali did not answer questions from reporters about what happened to that $80,000.
According to federal sentencing guidelines, Ali faces between 57 and 71 months in prison. No sentencing date has been set yet.
Last month, Nur pleaded guilty to his role in the bribe scheme. He was also convicted in the meal fraud trial. Ultimately the jury found five of those seven defendants guilty.
