02/19/26 05:44:00
Printable Page
02/19 17:42 CST Man admits plotting to bribe juror at ex-heavyweight boxer's
drug trafficking trial
Man admits plotting to bribe juror at ex-heavyweight boxer's drug trafficking
trial
NEW YORK (AP) --- A man charged with trying to bribe a juror with up to
$100,000 at the drug trafficking trial of a former heavyweight boxer pleaded
guilty Thursday to obstructing justice.
Mustafa Fteja entered the plea in Brooklyn federal court, where a plea
agreement with the government called for him to serve roughly five to six years
in prison when he is sentenced on June 23.
He was among three men charged in Novembe r in the plot to corrupt the trial of
boxer Goran Gogic.
Gogic's trial, originally set to begin in November, has not yet taken place. He
has pleaded not guilty to violating and conspiring to violate the Maritime Drug
Law Enforcement Act. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 10 years to life in
prison.
Fteja has remained free on $150,000 bail since his arrest. According to court
records, Fteja already knew a juror described in court papers as "John Doe #1"
when he called him multiple times on his cellphone to get him to meet him on
Staten Island.
Over the span of two meetings over three days, Fteja told the juror that
associates in the Bronx were willing to pay him between $50,000 and $100,000 to
return a not guilty verdict, according to charging documents.
Investigators said evidence included several recorded conversations of the
defendants planning the bribery plot as they spoke in Albanian and English.
|
