Posted on 08/06/2009 2:11:01 PM PDT by Larry381
After hearing evidence for more than one month in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., a jury found Jefferson guilty on 11 charged counts, including solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy. Jefferson was acquitted on three counts of honest services wire fraud, an obstruction of justice charge and of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the verdict and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 30, 2009. Jefferson faces a maximum penalty of 150 years in prison and the jury will reconvene tomorrow to address whether he will additionally face forfeiture of up to $456,000 plus stock certificates.
We have been reminded today that we are a nation of laws, and not men, said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. It should be a clear signal that no public official and certainly not a U.S. Congressman can put their office up for sale and betray that office. It cannot be tolerated. It cannot just be another cost of doing business. And today, a jury of his peers held Congressman Jefferson accountable for his actions.
Trust and integrity in public officials is at the heart of our democracy, said Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director of the Washington Field Office of the FBI. What a better way to ensure those virtues, than to expose those who breach that trust. I am proud of the fantastic team of career prosecutors, agents and analysts who worked long hours to provide the facts and evidence which resulted in this just conclusion today.
According to evidence at trial, from August 2000 to August 2005 Jefferson used his position as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives to corruptly seek, solicit and direct that things of value be paid to himself and his family members in exchange for his performance of official acts to advance the interests of people and businesses who offered him the bribes. The things of value, according to evidence at trial, included hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in the form of payments from monthly fees or retainers, consulting fees, percentage shares of revenues and profits, flat fees for items sold and stock ownership in the companies seeking his official assistance.
Evidence at trial showed that Jefferson performed a wide range of official acts in return for things of value, including leading official business delegations to Africa, corresponding with U.S. and foreign government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons. The business ventures that Jefferson sought to promote included telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria.
Others involved in this scheme included Vernon L. Jackson, a Louisville, Ky., businessman who was sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official; and Brett M. Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member who was sentenced to 96 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribers by a member of Congress.
This case is being prosecuted by Mark D. Lytle and Rebeca H. Bellows, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Charles E. Duross of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section. The case is being investigated by the FBIs Washington Field Office, with assistance of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Yay!
I sure am glad he was convicted, because if he wasn’t, I am quite certain that the genius voters of New Orleans would return Dallah Bill Jeffuhson to congress as fast as they possibly could.
Let him do one week of community services and the debt is paid.
On the plus side the country is rid of one more HARVARD LAW chump. Let’s hope it isn’t the last.
Obama pardon in the works already
NOTE: Dodd,Rangle,Frank,Pelosi,Reed,Obama
Shall they go alphabetically to select the next corrupt congressman/woman or pull at random?
Was he still in office when he was convicted?
Good, we need more Czars....
Quoteth Barretta:
The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn.
ouch
I am both gratified and stunned that he was convicted.
The convicted felon, who narrowly lost reelection to an 11th term in 2008, faces up to 150 years in prison and a hefty fine of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. His sentencing is scheduled for the end of October. The former lawmaker will join his little sisterguilty of skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from charities operated by her corrupt relativesin prison, with several other family members soon to follow.
Five members of the Jefferson family, once among Louisianas most politically prominent, have been charged with federal crimes in the last few years and little sister Brenda Jefferson was the first to plead guilty last summer. William Jeffersons conviction resolves the second case and three others are still pending. Among them is brother Mose Jefferson, a well-connected lobbyist, charged with bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice involving a public school official. Clearly, corruption is a Jefferson family affair.
Still not holding my breath.
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