Man admits plotting to bribe juror at ex-heavyweight boxer's drug trafficking trial

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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.