Fraud and swindling

Five Charged With Bribing Juror in US COVID Fraud Trial

Published JUN 27 2024

Story

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The Facts

Five people accused of siphoning off millions in federal COVID relief aid have been charged with attempting to bribe a juror on the case with $120K in cash.
BBC News
The alleged bribe occurred near the conclusion of the fraud trial in which seven people allegedly defrauded the federal government of $250M in relief funds through the Minnesota-based non-profit Feeding Our Future.
ABC News
In the Feeding Our Future affair, 70 individuals have been implicated by prosecutors, which is believed to be one of the largest instances of relief aid fraud. Earlier this month, five were convicted and two acquitted on charges of embezzling $40M.
ap
Prosecutors allege that "Juror 52" received the $120K at the beginning of jury deliberations after the accused researched her personal life and even purchased a GPS tracker to place on her car. The juror was targeted because she was the youngest juror and thought to be the only person of color, prosecutors say.
USA Today
Juror 52 reported the alleged bribe to authorities. In addition, a document allegedly found on the phone of defendant Abdimajid Nur appeared to outline a plan for Juror 52 to convince the other jurors the defendants were unfairly targeted due to discrimination in the hopes of leading to an acquittal.
ABC News
The juror was removed from the trial before deliberations began. It took investigators three weeks to uncover the alleged plot, which US attorney Andrew Luger called "elaborate" and "something out of a mob movie."
guardian

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The Spin

Right narrative

This mess could have been avoided if the federal government did not give out hundreds of billions indiscriminately during the COVID pandemic. The government lowered fraud checks during the pandemic, which allowed fraudsters and even foreign entities to rake in taxpayer money. Emergency aid should never rely on self-reporting and should be tied to payroll taxes, as criminals abused the system to add billions to the ballooning national debt.

Aei

Left narrative

It is always easy to armchair quarterback after a crisis, which obscures the fact that COVID aid averted a financial disaster that could have been worse than the Great Depression. Most of the money went into the pockets of people who desperately needed it, and it was third-party lenders, rather than the government, that were responsible for most of the improper loans. While fraud should always be prosecuted, the furor over pandemic aid is largely misplaced.