Deliberations continue in $40 million fraud trial roiled by bag of cash for a juror

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jury deliberations continue in the trial of seven Minnesotans accused of exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to steal more than $40 million meant to feed children. Attention has focused on the case after someone tried to bribe a juror with a gift bag holding $120,000 in cash. The FBI confiscated the defendants cellphones to look for clues and took all seven into custody as the trial ended. The juror who reported the bribe attempt was dismissed, along with another who learned about it. These are the first of 70 defendants to be tried in what federal prosecutors describe as one of the nation’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases.