Feds charge 5, including man acquitted at trial, with conspiring to bribe Minnesota juror with $120K
FILE - This photo, supplied by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota, shows $120,000 in cash, taken from a bag that was left at the home of a juror in one of the country’s largest pandemic aid fraud cases, June 2, 2024, outside Minneapolis, Minn. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI announced charges in the case Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota via AP, File)
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI have announced that five people, including a man acquitted at trial, have been charged with conspiring to bribe a juror in one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases with a bag of $120,000 in cash
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Five people were charged Wednesday with conspiring to bribe a Minnesota juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash in exchange for the acquittal of defendants in one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI announced Wednesday.
Court documents made public reveal an extravagant scheme in which the accused researched the juror’s personal information on social media, surveilled her, tracked her daily habits and bought a GPS device to install on her car. Authorities believe the defendants targeted the woman, known as “Juror 52,” because she was the youngest and they believed her to be the only person of color on the panel.
According to court documents, the group came up with a “blueprint” of arguments for the juror to help persuade other jurors to acquit, injecting the idea that prosecutors were motivated by racial animus: “(w)e are immigrants, they don’t respect us,” the list of proposed arguments read.
The juror reported the bribery attempt and was removed from the case before deliberations began.