A Seattle woman has pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a Minnesota juror with $120,000 in cash in exchange for an acquittal in a significant COVID-19-related fraud case. The woman, aged 31, was part of a group of five individuals charged in the attempted bribery scheme, which prosecutors have likened to a scene from a mob movie. The elaborate plan involved tracking the juror, researching her personal information on social media, surveilling her, and even buying a GPS device to install on her car.
The group initiated the bribery plan in mid-May, with one member recruiting the woman to deliver the bribe money to the juror's home. The woman flew from Seattle to Minneapolis to meet with the group and agreed to deliver the money in exchange for a substantial sum. However, concerns arose about the plan's success, prompting the woman to concoct a separate scheme to steal some of the bribe money.
On the day of the incident, the woman received $200,000 in cash from one of the group members, with the intention of using it to bribe the juror. She then went to the juror's home, handed over a gift bag containing $120,000, and promised more money in exchange for a favorable verdict. However, she kept $80,000 for herself, leading the juror to contact the police and trigger an FBI investigation that resulted in the group's arrest.
The defendants were part of a larger pandemic fraud trial where more than $40 million was stolen from a federal program meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. While five individuals were convicted in that case, two were acquitted. The woman will be sentenced at a later date for her role in the attempted bribery of the juror.
