11/17/25 11:37:00
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11/17 11:35 CST Alleged plot to bribe a juror with $100,000 upends former
heavyweight boxer's NYC drug trial
Alleged plot to bribe a juror with $100,000 upends former heavyweight boxer's
NYC drug trial
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) --- Three men were arrested Monday for allegedly trying to pay up
to $100,000 in cash to a juror at the Brooklyn drug trial of a former
heavyweight boxer, leading a judge to abruptly dismiss the jury as it was about
to hear opening statements.
John Marzulli, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, said an
anonymous jury will be chosen when the trial of Goran Gogic resumes in a month.
Gogic, of Montenegro, was set to stand trial for allegedly conspiring to
smuggle 20 tons (18.1 metric tons) of cocaine to Europe from Colombia through
U.S. 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 Gogic as a "major drug trafficker" and
said he operated on a "mammoth scale."
A former heavyweight boxer, Gogic fought professionally in Germany from 2001 to
2012, compiling a 21-4-2 record, according to boxing website Sport & Note. He
was listed as 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) and weighed in at anywhere from 227 pounds
(103 kilograms) to 250 pounds (113 kilograms).
In a criminal complaint in Brooklyn federal court, an FBI agent wrote that the
bribery scheme unfolded between Thursday and Sunday.
According to the court papers, one of the men charged in the plot --- Mustafa
Fteja --- already knew a juror described in the complaint as "John Doe #1" and
called him multiple times on his cellphone Thursday before the juror agreed to
meet him in Staten Island.
During the meeting, which took place Thursday, Fteja told the juror that
associates in the Bronx were willing to pay him to return a not guilty verdict,
the complaint said.
Two days later, Fteja told the juror during a second meeting that they were
willing to pay him between $50,000 and $100,000 to corrupt the trial, the
complaint said.
It was not immediately clear who will represent Fteja and two others accused in
the alleged jury tampering scheme when they appear in court later Monday.
According to the complaint, investigators secured several recorded
conversations of the defendants planning the juror corruption plot as the men
spoke in Albanian and English.
At his trial, Gogic is charged with violating and conspiring to violate the
Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 10
years to life in prison.
According to prosecutors, Gogic and his co-conspirators worked with the ships'
crew members to smuggle cocaine in shipping containers, hoisting loads of the
drug from speedboats that approached the cargo vessels along their route,
including near ports in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Three shipments were intercepted by U.S. law enforcement agents, prosecutors
said, 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 over $1 billion
--- aboard the MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia in June 2019.
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