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Three people were arrested Monday for allegedly trying to pay up to $100,000 in cash to a juror. brooklyn A former heavyweight boxer’s drug test results in a judge suddenly dismissing a jury just as it was about to hear opening statements.
John Marzulli, a spokesman for federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, said an anonymous jury will be selected when Goran Gogic’s trial resumes in a month.
Gogic, of montenegroHe was to be tried for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 20 tonnes (18.1 metric tons) of cocaine. Europe From Colombia Through US ports using commercial cargo ships. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Law enforcement officials have described Gogik as a “major drug trafficker” and said he operates on a “large scale.”
A former heavyweight boxer, Gogik fought professionally in Germany from 2001 to 2012 and compiled a record of 21-4-2, according to boxing website Sport & Note. He was listed as 6-foot-5 (1.96 m) and his weight ranged from 227 pounds (103 kg) to 250 pounds (113 kg).
In a criminal complaint in Brooklyn federal court, an FBI agent wrote that the bribery scheme unfolded between Thursday and Sunday.
According to court papers, one of the men charged in the conspiracy – Mustafa Fateja – already knew the juror described in the complaint as “John Doe #1” and had called him several times on his cellphone on Thursday before the juror agreed to meet him in Staten Island.
The complaint says that during the meeting, which took place Thursday, Fateja told the juror that associates in the Bronx were willing to pay him to return a not guilty verdict.
Two days later, Fatejah told the juror during a second meeting that he was willing to pay him between $50,000 and $100,000 to corrupt the trial, the complaint says.
It was not immediately clear who would represent Fateja and two other accused in the alleged jury tampering scheme when they appear in court on Monday.
According to the complaint, investigators secured several recorded conversations of the defendants planning a juror corruption conspiracy as they spoke in Albanian and English.
In his lawsuit, Gogic is accused of violating the Marine Drug Law Enforcement Act and conspiring to violate it. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to 10 years to life imprisonment.
According to prosecutors, Gogik and his co-conspirators worked with ships’ crew members to smuggle cocaine in shipping containers, loading the drugs from speedboats that were delivered to cargo ships along their route, including ports in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Prosecutors said three shipments were intercepted by US law enforcement agents, including 1,437 kilograms (3,168 lb) of cocaine aboard the MSC Carlotta in port. new york and 17,956 kilograms (39,586 lb) of cocaine – with a street value of more than $1 billion – on the MSC Guyane in the port of New Jersey in February 2019 and Philadelphia in June 2019.