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Newly disclosed text messages in the Feeding Our Future juror bribery case show suspects haggled over their plans and plotted to deceive each other amid a whirlwind of excitement and uncertainty.
“100 for our freedom is nothing bro,” Abdiaziz Farah wrote after the $120,000 bribe was delivered, according to new court documents filed by federal prosecutors. “Worth trying everything bro.” 
The deleted messages were recovered by the FBI, and also reveal that although five suspects were charged in the bribery case, a sixth person also allegedly knew about the bribe. That person, Mukhtar Shariff, was tried alongside six co-defendants in the first Feeding Our Future trial this past spring, which led to the bribe as jury deliberations were set to begin.
In a legal document filed Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that Mukhtar, who has not been charged in the bribery case, “knew about the bribery attempt and destroyed communications he had with his co-defendant Abdiaziz Farah about the bribe.”
Federal prosecutors allege that Mukhtar received text messages from Abdiaziz just a few hours after a woman delivered the $120,000 cash bribe to a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial. 
Abdiaziz was a co-defendant in that trial. As co-owner of Empire Cuisine, the Shakopee restaurant at the center of the Feeding Our Future trial, Abdiaziz was widely seen as the ringleader of the estimated $40 million fraud in the first trial. Jurors ultimately convicted him of 23 crimes — the most for any defendant who was convicted in the trial.  
Mukhtar’s attorneys declined to comment about the new revelations. 
Abdiaziz sent Mukhtar a video of the money being dropped off at the juror’s home on Sunday, June 2, according to court documents. Abdiaziz and other defendants in the bribery case recruited Ladan Ali of Seattle to deliver the bribe. 
Abdiaziz sent the message about freedom and “trying everything” to Mukhtar that evening, using the Signal app, according to prosecutors. A few minutes later, Abdiaziz specified that the bribe was paid in cash. 
“That’s it bro,” Abdiaziz wrote to Mukthar, according to prosecutors. “I have a good feeling she will come through and that’s a lot of money for her family.” 
“It’s a team effort bro,” Abdiaziz allegedly wrote to Mukthar a few minutes later. 
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson announced the bribery attempt in court the next morning. Mukhtar allegedly deleted the Signal app from his phone shortly afterwards before handing it over to authorities, according to prosecutors. 
The court filing says that because Mukhtar deleted his Signal app, the FBI could not retrieve the messages’ complete text threads, including whether Mukhtar sent any messages in return. But FBI agents were able to recover notifications for all incoming messages from the Signal app from Mukhtar’s phone, and from the phones of Abdimajid Nur and Said Farah.
Prosecutors have said that when Mukhtar is sentenced for his conviction in the Feeding Our Future trial, they will seek more prison time for obstruction of justice because he deleted his Signal app. Abdiaziz, Abdimajid Nur, Mohamed Jama Ismail and Hayat Nur were also convicted in that trial.
Said Farah and Abdiwahab Aftin were acquitted in the Feeding Our Future trial that led to the bribe. Ladan was not a co-defendant in that trial. 
Authorities charged three defendants from the Feeding Our Future trial —  Abdiaziz, Said and Abdimajid — and two others — Ladan and Abdulkarim Farah — in the bribery case. 
Ladan and Abdimajid have pleaded guilty to bribery charges; Abdiaziz, Said and Abdulkarim have pleaded not guilty. 
Text messages disclosed in the legal document also show that Abdiaziz expressed fear to Said that jurors “were going to find all of us guilty,” and leveled contempt at U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, who presided over the trial.
“She is a terrible human being,” Abdiaziz allegedly texted Mukhtar. “My wife and siblings stopped coming to court coz [sic] they couldn’t stand her.”
Prosecutors allege that defendants in the bribery case targeted Juror 52, a 23-year-old woman from Spring Lake Park, in the Feeding Our Future trial because she was the only juror of color serving on the case. The defendants wanted the juror to vote not guilty for all of the defendants, and to encourage other jurors to follow suit. 
The bribery defendants drafted a list of talking points for the juror to share during deliberations, including, “We are immigrants: they don’t respect and care about us,” and, “prejudice against people of color.” 
Ladan admitted to tracking and following the juror before delivering the bribe. But she also admitted to never believing that the bribery plan would work, and to lying to Abdimajid by telling him that she met with the juror, who demanded $500,000. Ladan never met with the juror, and had planned to keep all of the money for herself, according to her plea deal in September.
Abdiaziz was on to Ladan, federal prosecutors revealed in their Monday court filing. 
“Abdiaziz did not fully trust Ali, and remained concerned that Juror 52 would not follow through with an acquittal,” the document reads. 
“She [Juror 52] literally wants it dropped off at her house. 500K,” Ladan allegedly wrote in a text message to Abdimajid.
Abdiaziz later wrote to Abdimajid: “We can do 100k tomorrow and 25k Monday at her house. Tell her the money is coming from overseas. And it needs time or something like that bro.”
Ladan apparently caught wind of the plan and rejected it, demanding $500,000. Court documents have not revealed how Ladan knew the defendants in the Feeding Our Future trial.
“No deal,” Ladan wrote to Abdimajid. “Is he crazy? I promised her that money … I will literally go to jail. This girl is not playing. Tell him to sell a kidney babe if he has to!!! She needs it all tomorrow.”
They eventually settled on a plan to give the juror $200,000. Said Farah supplied the $200,000, prosecutors allege. 
“Getting money was painful bro,” Abdiaziz allegedly wrote in a text message. 
Ladan originally planned to drop the $200,000 off alone, but Abdiaziz insisted that his younger brother, Abdulkarim Farah, accompany Ladan and record the cash dropoff on video, according to the prosecution filing. Abdiaziz also wanted Ladan to wear a hidden body camera and record her conversation with the juror, which did not happen. 
“We just need to record this woman accepting the money and doing what she says she will,” Abdiaziz wrote to Abdimajid.
They ended up dropping off a gift bag containing $120,000 with the juror’s father on Sunday, June 2, because the juror wasn’t home. Ladan later admitted to pocketing $80,000 of the $200,000 for herself. 
Abdulkarim recorded a video of Ladan’s delivery, which quickly circulated among some of the defendants in the Feeding Our Future trial. They instructed each other to watch the video and quickly delete it, according to prosecutors. 
“We did it babe,” Ladan wrote to Abdimajid shortly after dropping the cash off. “I did it. I can’t stop crying. I’m celebrating as if the verdict has been read.” 
Abdiaziz’s skepticism about whether the juror would follow through during deliberations, however, remained.
“I hope we didn’t give 200k to some Mexicans bro. Why didn’t we ask to talk to the [expletive] girl[?]” Abdiaziz wrote to Abdimajid, referring to the juror.
The morning after the bribe was delivered, Abidaziz messaged Abdimajid about the list of talking points for the juror. Abdiaziz allegedly texted Abdimajid, asking him to instruct Ladan to print out the list and to “drop it off to dad and tell him to get it to his daughter asap.”
“I’m sure they took the day off after all that [sic] pesos,” Abdiaziz allegedly texted Abdimajid.
As the Feeding Our Future trial resumed on Monday, June 3, Ladan allegedly texted Abdimajid and asked him if the juror was present.
“She’s in there? Acting normal?” Ladan wrote. “I have a feeling it’s all good baby! Lmk the moment she’s in & it’s all good. Also lowkey read her vibe & face.”
The juror, in fact, was not present; she had called the police immediately after she returned home on June 2 and learned about the bribe. 
Abdiaziz texted Abdimajid as they were inside the courtroom waiting for the trial to begin. Closing arguments were expected to wrap up that morning, and jury deliberations were set to begin later that day. 
“JT looks nervous as shit, we gotta blindside this guy for real,” Abiaziz allegedly wrote, referring to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson. “Tell L[adan] to get on that bro.”
A few minutes later, Thompson informed Judge Brasel about the bribery attempt, prompting the immediate arrest of all seven defendants in trial that day.
“Let’s be honest,” Thompson later said in court that day regarding the bribe, “it wasn’t someone outside of this room.”
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Joey Peters is the politics and government reporter for Sahan Journal. He has been a journalist for 15 years. Before joining Sahan Journal, he worked for close to a decade in New Mexico, where his reporting… More by Joey Peters
Sahan Journal is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.
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