NEW YORK — Three men were arrested Monday on suspicion of trying to pay up to $100,000 in cash to jurors in the Brooklyn drug trial of a former heavyweight boxer, prompting the judge to abruptly dismiss the jury just as they were 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 Montenegro, is on trial on charges of conspiring to smuggle 20 tons (18.1 metric tons) of cocaine into Europe from Colombia through U.S. ports using commercial cargo ships. He pleaded not guilty. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Law enforcement officials described Gogic as a “major drug trafficker” and said he operated on a “gigantic scale.”
A former heavyweight boxer, Gogic fought professionally in Germany from 2001 to 2012, compiling a record of 21-4-2, according to boxing website Sport. & Note. He was listed as 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 meters) tall and weighed between 227 pounds (103 kg) and 250 pounds (113 kg).
In a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn, an FBI agent wrote that the bribery scheme unfolded between Thursday and Sunday.
According to court documents, one of the conspiracy defendants – Mustafa Fteha – already knew the juror described in the complaint as “John Doe No. 1” and called him several times on his cell phone on Thursday before the juror agreed to meet him in Staten Island.
During a meeting Thursday, Fteya told jurors that colleagues in the Bronx were willing to pay him to secure an acquittal, the complaint says.
Two days later, Fteya told jurors during a second meeting that they were willing to pay him between $50,000 and $100,000 to undermine the trial, the complaint says.
It is unclear who will represent Ftea and two others accused in the alleged jury tampering scheme when they appear in court later Monday.
According to the complaint, investigators obtained several recorded conversations between the defendants planning the jury corruption plot, with the men speaking in Albanian and English.
At trial, Gogic faces charges of trespassing and conspiracy to violate the Maritime Drug Enforcement Act. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
Prosecutors say Gogic and his accomplices worked with ship crew members to smuggle cocaine in shipping containers, lifting shipments of the drug from speedboats that approached cargo ships along their routes, including near ports in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Three shipments were intercepted by U.S. law enforcement agents, including 1,437 kilograms (3,168 pounds) of cocaine aboard the MSC Carlotta at the Port of New York and New Jersey in February 2019 and 17,956 kilograms (39,586 pounds) of cocaine — with a street value of more than $1 billion — aboard the MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia in June, prosecutors said. 2019.
