MINNEAPOLIS — A juror was dismissed Monday after reporting that a woman dropped a bag of $120,000 in cash at her home and offered her more money if she would vote to acquit seven people charged with stealing more than $40 million from a program meant to feed children during the pandemic.
“This is completely beyond the pale,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in court on Monday. “This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies.”
These seven are the first of 70 defendants expected to go to trial in a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $250 million. Eighteen others have pleaded guilty, and authorities said they recovered about $50 million in one of the nation's largest pandemic-related fraud cases. Prosecutors say just a fraction of the money went to feed low-income kids, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and property.
During the trial that began in April, defense attorneys questioned the quality of the FBI's investigation and suggested that this might be more of a case of record-keeping problems than fraud as these defendants sought to keep up with rapidly changing rules for the food aid program.
These seven initial defendants were affiliated with a restaurant that participated in the food aid program. Those still awaiting trial include Feeding our Future's founder Aimee Bock, who has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
The 23-year-old juror said she immediately turned over the bag of cash to police. According to a warrant, a woman stopped at the home of the juror Sunday night at around 8:50 p.m. The juror was not home, so the woman left a gift bag with the juror's relative. The woman then told the relative to tell the juror to vote not guilty, adding that there would be "more to that present (Monday)," the warrant said.
The relative looked inside the bag and saw it contained a "substantial amount" of money. After the juror returned home, the warrant says the juror immediately called 911 to report the incident.
Defense attorney Andrew Birrell told the judge that the bag of cash is “a troubling and upsetting accusation.”
Before allowing the trial to continue with more closing arguments on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel questioned the remaining 17 jurors and alternates, and none reported any unauthorized contact. Brasel decided to sequester the jury for the rest of the proceeding as a precaution.
“I don’t do it lightly,” Brasel said. “But I want to ensure a fair trial.”
On Monday evening, she ordered that all of the defendants be taken into custody until the verdict.
The aid money came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was administered by the state Department of Education. Nonprofits and other partners under the program were supposed to serve meals to kids.
Two of the groups involved, Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition, were small nonprofits before the pandemic, but in 2021 they disbursed around $200 million each. Prosecutors allege they produced invoices for meals that were never served, ran shell companies, laundered money, indulged in passport fraud and accepted kickbacks.
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