Feeding Our Future: alleged bribery bagwoman arraigned today

In the Federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul this afternoon, the woman alleged to have delivered the $120,000 in cash to the house of Juror #52 in the recently concluded Feeding Our Future fraud trial was arraigned.

Your correspondent was there.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, aged 31 of Seattle, WA, was read her rights and pled not guilty to the three counts filed against her.

A small, thin Somali woman, Ali was dressed head-to-toe in a black robe and wore a blue Covid mask over her face. She was represented by a retained attorney.

After the hearing she was released, with the prosecution not requesting pre-trial confinement. One condition of her release was that she remain in Minnesota, for now. She was required to surrender her passport.

An interesting tidbit included by the FBI in a search warrant in the bribery case,

The warrant had been issued for Ali’s failure to appear at a November 2022 court hearing.

In that August 2022 check forgery case out of Shakopee, Ali was convicted of a felony and sentenced to time served (3 days). Her two-year probationary period continues to run. One condition of her probation is that she follow all state and Federal laws.

A February 2023 traffic stop in Golden Valley lists Ali’s home address as Shakopee.

After the brief hearing today in St. Paul, neither Ali nor her lawyer offered any comment to the media in attendance.

Among the media present were KARE-11’s Lou Raguse and MPR’s Matt Sepic.

This photo, provided by the Dept. of Justice, shows Ali on surveillance video at MSP airport,

No date has been set yet for her next court appearance. Several of her alleged co-conspirators in the bribery case are scheduled to appear in Federal court in Minneapolis on Monday morning.