A Feeding Our Future fraudster already serving a nearly three-decade prison term was given an additional 10-year sentence Wednesday for his role in a $120,000 cash bribe to a juror during his 2024 trial.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 37, of Savage, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to one count of bribery of a juror for his role in the plot, which included five co-conspirators.

Farah faced between nine and just over 11 years in prison under federal advisory guidelines.

Judge Eric Tostrud granted the prosecutor’s request for Farah’s prison term to run consecutively with his 28-year sentence for defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program of $47 million — money intended to provide meals to needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tostrud described Farah as an “organizer and leader” of the bribery scheme.

“It was a team effort,” the judge added, “and a coordinated assault on our system of justice.”

While handing down the sentence, Tostrud praised the juror for rejecting the bribe.

“I don’t think it is overstating things to call her actions heroic,” he said.

The others involved in the bribery plot, including Farah’s brothers Abdulkarim Shafii Farah and Said Shafii Farah, have also pleaded guilty to the same charge. Abdulkarim Farah received a nearly five-year prison term in March. Said Farah is scheduled to be sentenced next month, while Ladan Mohamed Ali’s sentencing is set for September.

Targeted Juror 52

In April 2024, Abdiaziz Farah, Said Farah and five others went on trial at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis as part of the massive $250 million federal COVID-19 nutrition program fraud case.

During the trial, Abdiaziz Farah worked with his brothers and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and Ladan Mohamed Ali to provide cash to a juror in exchange for returning a not-guilty verdict.

Prosecutors said Abdiaziz Farah quickly identified Juror 52 as the best candidate to bribe — believing her to be the youngest and only person of color on the jury — and began making plans with Said Farah and Nur.

The three began researching Juror 52 online, including locating her home address. Abdulkarim Farah conducted surveillance of the juror and of her home in Spring Lake Park. He sent Nur a map of where the juror parked while serving on the jury.

Nur, who was also on trial, recruited Ali to deliver the money. Abdulkarim Farah was instructed to drive Ali to Juror 52’s house. Farah first went to a Target store and bought a screwdriver, which he used to remove the license plate from Ali’s rental car, as they attempted to avoid being caught by law enforcement.

Farah drove Ali to Juror 52’s house about 8:50 p.m. June 2, 2024, the night before the trial’s closing arguments were set to wrap up. Farah recorded a video of Ali delivering a Hallmark gift bag with the bribe money inside. Ali handed the money to a relative of Juror 52 and said there would be more money if the juror voted for acquittal in the trial.

After the bribe was disclosed in court the next day, Abdulkarim Farah deleted the Signal encrypted messaging app from his cellphone to destroy the video and messages about the bribery attempt, prosecutors said.

Convicted despite bribe attempt

In addition to Abdiaziz Farah, jurors convicted four others during the trial, including Nur. Said Farah was acquitted of all charges. Nur received a 10-year term.

Abdiaziz Farah’s involvement in the underlying Feeding Our Future fraud scheme included paying bribes and kickbacks to employees of Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition in exchange for their sponsorship of his fraudulent meal distribution sites, prosecutors said.

Farah then used those sham sites to submit fraudulent meal reimbursement claims, alleging that he served meals to multiple millions of needy children each month. He used the more than $8 million he personally pocketed from the fraud scheme to fund a lavish lifestyle, including purchasing a Porsche and several other expensive vehicles, domestic and foreign real estate, luxury travel and other personal expenses.

Following his indictment, Farah fraudulently obtained a passport and attempted to flee the country.

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