Three Men Arrested for Bribery Attempt in Drug Trafficking Trial
In an unexpected turn of events, three individuals were arrested on Monday for allegedly attempting to bribe a juror in the drug trial of Goran Gogic, a former heavyweight boxer. Judge Joan Azrack was forced to dismiss the jury just before opening statements were to begin.
According to the spokesman for federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, John Marzulli, an anonymous jury will be selected when Gogic’s trial resumes in a month. Judge Azrack scheduled a conference for December 17th.
Gogic, originally from Montenegro, was to be tried for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 20 tons of cocaine into 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.
The three men were arrested after approaching a jury and offering them $100,000 to issue a not guilty verdict, according to Assistant District Attorney Francisco Navarro, who informed Judge Azrack. The defendants could have obtained information from the jury from “individuals related to this trial,” the prosecutor added.
Gogic’s lawyer, Joseph Corozzo, informed the judge that he told the former boxer that the trial would not continue on Monday.
Mustafa Fteja, one of the accused, was released after paying a bail of $150,000 after a court hearing on Tuesday. The other two, Valmir Krasniqi and Afrim Kupa, remain in pre-trial detention pending further proceedings. Fteja, Krasniqi, and Kupa were not required to enter pleas during their initial appearances.
Authorities have described Gogic as a “major drug trafficker” who operated on a “large scale”.
Gogic, who was a heavyweight boxer, competed professionally in Germany from 2001 to 2012, with a record of 21-4-2.
In a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, an FBI agent detailed that the bribery scheme unfolded between Thursday and Sunday.
According to court documents, Mustafa Fteja, one of the defendants, already knew a juror, described as “John Doe #1”, and called him several times on Thursday before the juror agreed to meet with him in Staten Island.
During the meeting, Fteja told the jury that associates in the Bronx were willing to pay him to issue a not guilty verdict.
Two days later, Fteja informed the jury, in a second meeting, that they were willing to pay him between $50,000 and $100,000 to corrupt the trial.
The authorities obtained several recorded conversations of the accused planning the bribery of the jury, speaking in Albanian and English.
Gogic faces charges for violating and conspiring to violate the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act. If convicted, he could be sentenced from 10 years to life in prison.
According to prosecutors, Gogic and his accomplices collaborated with crew members of the ships to smuggle cocaine in shipping containers, loading the drug from speedboats that approached the cargo ships along their route, including near ports in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
U.S. law enforcement agents intercepted three shipments, including 1,437 kilograms of cocaine aboard the MSC Carlotta at the Port of New York and New Jersey in February 2019, and 17,956 kilograms of cocaine, with a street value of over one billion dollars, aboard the MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia in June 2019.
The seizure in Philadelphia was one of the largest of cocaine in the history of the United States, according to prosecutors.
