It was just two days ago I was writing about Rep. William Jefferson and the rest of his crew of corrupt politicians and now this afternoon we get news that finally….finally, an indictment has come down:
A federal grand jury on Monday handed up an indictment accusing Rep. William J. Jefferson of accepting bribes in exchange for helping put together telecommunications deals in Africa.
The grand jury in Alexandria, Va., declared that there are grounds to try the Louisiana Democrat on 16 charges, including soliciting bribes, racketeering, money laundering, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Jefferson has been under investigation for years, and won re-election in 2006 despite reports that FBI agents had found $90,000 in marked bills in the freezer of his home during a 2005 raid.
In September 2006, Vernon Jackson, former head of the telecom firm iGate, was sentenced to 87 months in prison for trying to bribe Jefferson with more than $400,000 in hopes of landing contracts from the Army and a number of African nations.
As part of the probe, investigators allege that on July 30, 2005, they videotaped Jefferson receiving a briefcase containing $100,000 from an FBI informant. A few days later, the FBI executed search warrants to examine Jefferson’s homes and car, seizing a number of items, including $90,000 in marked bills from a freezer in his Washington home.
Jefferson, who maintains his innocence, was re-elected in November. He is fighting in court to retrieve documents seized by the FBI during a raid on his congressional office last year.
As the indictments were being announced, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner issued a statement warning that he intended to bring up a privileged resolution demanding that the ethics committee investigate whether Jefferson should be expelled.
Yes Nancy, bang up job on that swamp.
If we look back at prior cases Duke Cunningham received 8 years 4 months in prison and has to pay 1.4 million in restitution. I expect Jefferson to get the same, well…at least I hope he will get the same. Not holding my breath here since we all saw what kind of stern discipline Sandy Berger received.
More here:
Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes from 11 different companies for himself and his family, and also of bribing a Nigerian official. The scheme was complicated and Jefferson set up a front company to hide the money, prosecutors said.
"But the essence of the charges are really very simple: Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress," said Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. attorney for eastern Virginia.
The 60-year-old Jefferson, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the investigation.
Joseph Persichini, who leads FBI’s Washington field office, called on the public to "take the time, read this charging document line by line, scheme by scheme, count by count. This case is about greed, power and arrogance."
Greed, power, and arrogance. Bout describes all the Democrat politicians I know of.
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Wow!
“Greed, power, and arrogance. Bout describes all the Democrat politicians I know of.”
Curt, the Repubs aren’t much better, but I get your point.
Republicans aren’t lily white innocent, but few have tens of thousands of dollars in FBI marked bills in their freezers. I myself was surprised to see that we’re not talking about just the one bribe either. ELEVEN BRIBES!
WOW, as a Democrat, this guy could be looking at some serious community service time!