Minnesota Jury Finds Five of Seven Somali Defendants Guilty in $250 Million Covid Fraud Scheme After Juror Bribed with Bag of Cash

A Minnesota jury found 5 of the 7 Somali defendants guilty of stealing millions of dollars in Covid funds intended to feed children.

70 members of the Somali community in Minnesota stole about $250 million in Covid funds.

The seven defendants on trial related to the scheme were accused of stealing more than $40 million in taxpayer money.

"The verdict confirms what we've known all along, which is that defendants falsified documents, they lied and they fraudulently claimed to be feeding millions of meals to children in Minnesota during COVID," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said.

"The defendants took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the state of Minnesota and to steal tens of millions of dollars." The guilty verdict comes after a juror was offered a bag of cash to vote to acquit.

NBC News reported: A Minnesota jury on Friday found five of seven defendants guilty of most of the crimes they faced related to a scheme in which they misused millions of dollars meant to feed children during the pandemic.

After deliberating for more than three days, the sequestered jury found five of the defendants - Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Nur - guilty of most of the crimes they were accused of, according to NBC affiliate KARE reporter Lou Raguse. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/06/minnesota-jury-finds-five-seven-somalis-guilty-250/