After revealing that a woman had left a bag containing $120,000 in cash at her house and that she would receive additional money if she voted to clear seven individuals accused of embezzling over $40 million from a program designed to feed children during the pandemic, a jury was dismissed on Monday.
“This is completely beyond the pale,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson stated. “This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies.’
These seven are the first of seven defendants in a $250 million scheme conspiracy that are scheduled to go on trial. In one of the biggest fraud cases involving pandemics in the country, officials seized almost $50 million, and 18 more people entered guilty pleas.
Not all of the money, according to the prosecution, was used to feed impoverished children; the remainder was used for expensive automobiles, jewelry, trips, and real estate.
In an attempt to keep their clients abreast of the fast changing regulations governing the food assistance program, the defendants’ defense lawyers cast doubt on the FBI’s investigation’s caliber and raised the possibility that there may have been more record-keeping issues than fraud during the trial, which got underway in April.
These seven first-time offenders were connected to a restaurant that took part in the food assistance scheme. Aimee Bock, the creator of Feeding our Future, is among those who are still awaiting trial. She has entered a not guilty plea and denied any wrongdoing.
The 23-year-old juror claimed she gave the police the bag of cash right away. According to a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, she said a woman left it with her father-in-law on Sunday, indicating that if she voted to acquit, she would receive another bag of cash.
The judge was informed by defense attorney Andrew Birrell that the cash bag is “a troubling and upsetting accusation.”
The trial’s last 17 jurors and alternates were questioned by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel before fresh closing arguments were allowed to begin on Monday; none of them disclosed having had any improper contact.
For the duration of the trial, Brasel made the precautionary decision to sequester the jury.
Read Also: MTG Accuses Fauci of ‘Mass Murder,’ Calls for Trial Following Hearing
“I don’t do it lightly,” Brasel stated. “But I want to ensure a fair trial.”
She gave an FBI agent the order to seize the defendants’ phones, but she did not determine right away whether to put them in custody.
The state Department of Education was in charge of overseeing the aid funds, which originated from the United States Department of Agriculture. Children were to be served meals by nonprofit organizations and other program partners.
Prior to the pandemic, Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition were small nonprofit organizations; in 2021, however, each of them disbursed almost $200 million.
Prosecutors claim they managed shell companies, laundered money, engaged in passport fraud, generated invoices for meals that were never served, and took bribes.
