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Posted on 05/21/2006 1:24:40 PM PDT by LM_Guy
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.
At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.
As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker's family might receive, the congressman "began laughing and said, 'All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI is watching,'" according to the affidavit.
Jefferson, who represents New Orleans, has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The plan was for the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official _ the name is blacked out in the court document _ to ensure the success of a business deal in that country, the affidavit said.
All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jefferson's home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food containers and aluminum foil.
Two of Jefferson's associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court in Alexandria. One, businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange for his help securing business deals for Jackson's telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African countries.
The new details about the case emerged after....
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
If only they did this to the clnitons the world would be a better place.
Had this been Tom Delay, they would have interrupted programming to bring us this kind of news.
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I smell a race card getting ready to be played. WAUMP!! The Mother of All Jokers.
What's really sad is, even if they convict this guy, he would probably be re-elected in Louisiana.
Ahh. William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana, is part of the "culture of corruption."
Hey, McKinney tried to play it. Don't put anything past these fools.
He should have hid it under his mattress... the FBI would never look there!
shades of
AbScam
Probably a chance coincidence, I guess.
If he can stay out of the slammer, this stuff will get him re-elected in New Orleans.
He was just trying to improve the life of his children. He's a family man. He's just reacting to this racist society. All the Republicans do it how come Democrats can't?
I have no doubt Jess Jackson and Al Sharpton will show this to be a racist prosecution.
And of course, the MSM will largely ignore it.
*Insert "cold cash" one-liners here:
Jefferson also should be in jail for inflicting the ISM lady, Dyan French, on us during the Katrina hearings.
Wait a minute, this isnt the same money he diverted the National Guard to his house for, is it?
I'm "sure" that all of the newspapers will be running photos of any mug shots in this scandal, right? Right???
Oh never mind.
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