Posted on 05/27/2006 5:15:44 PM PDT by Libloather
Jefferson can find hope in past case
Friday, May 26, 2006
Lolis Eric Elie
"There are two sides to every story," Congressman William Jefferson said Monday. I doubt anybody would disagree with that general sentiment. But unanimity may have been lost when the New Orleans Democrat tried to apply that platitude to the specifics of his own situation.
We've heard only the FBI's side, but it's pretty compelling. The feds say they have a videotape showing Jefferson accepting a $100,000 bribe. They also say most of that money ended up in Jefferson's freezer.
Two of Jefferson's former associates have pleaded guilty.
**SNIP**
Why had Edwards raised the price? "Because he's a greedy little son of a bitch," Delpit allegedly told Marsellus.
Marsellus pleaded guilty. The government played tapes it said proved Delpit was on the take. Delpit admitted he took the money but said there was a misunderstanding.
Delpit said he was operating a reverse sting, trying to ensnare the killer's uncle, whom he suspected of being a drug dealer.
Moreover, according to Delpit, Edwards suspected Marsellus of corruption, so Edwards specifically asked Delpit to investigate. Delpit said he got the idea of doing a reverse sting from watching police shows on TV. But Edwards denied under oath that he had ordered any investigation or sting operation.
Media reports of the time said Delpit's testimony was tearful.
It must have been very moving. Delpit was acquitted.
**SNIP**
Delpit, like Jefferson, is black. The six jurors were white. "This is a historic day," Delpit said at the time. "An all-white jury based their decision on the facts and not the color of my skin."
Perhaps the Delpit jury was colorblind. No doubt Jefferson is praying for similar blindness at the federal level.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI director Robert Mueller threatened to quit this week if the White House ordered them to give back evidence seized in a disputed search of Democratic Representative of Louisiana William Jefferson's office US media reported.(AFP/Getty Images/File)
Jefferson's going down.
You're right, the Feds have him nailed and he'll do hard time.
He will join his bro-in-law, Judge Green.
Feds say misdeeds cast long shadow -
Prosecutors highlight toll of bond rulings
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
February 8, 2006
Author: Kate Moran
excerpts:
http://www.nola.com
When Judge Alan Green reduced the bond for armed-robbery suspect Christopher Wilson, he helped unshackle a man who would kidnap, beat and attempt to drown a Baton Rouge woman just three weeks after he was released on bail.
Green will face sentencing Thursday in a sprawling corruption case, but his crime was not setting a potentially volatile suspect loose. Instead, federal prosecutors hope to use the Wilson case to secure a stringent sentence for the former Jefferson Parish judge, convicted last summer on a charge that only sounds mild.
When Green went to trial last spring, he fended off six of the seven counts listed in his indictment, including the most serious charge, racketeering. The jury convicted him of a single count of mail fraud for an elaborate scheme in which he accepted bribes from a Gretna bail bonds company in exchange for setting or splitting bonds in a way that inflated its profits.
"By doing these things in return for bribes, Green breached his duty of honest services to the public," they wrote. "But worse than that, he callously put innocent victims at serious risk of harm at the hands of the criminals he put back out onto the street."
Green is being sentenced Thursday in a corruption scheme that dates back at least six years. In a seven-count indictment brought in September 2004, prosecutors said Green accepted cash donations, meals and other valuable items in exchange for setting bonds in a way that favored Bail Bonds Unlimited. With the help of sheriff's deputies, the company would ascertain how much a suspect could afford to pay and go to the judge seeking a bond that would correspond with that amount.
2 more officials subpoenaed -
State judge, Jeff JP called in 'robe' probe
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
August 20, 2005
Author: Michelle Krupa
excerpts:
http://www.nola.com
State appeals court Judge Susan Chehardy and Jefferson Parish Justice of the Peace Steve Mortillaro have received federal grand jury subpoenas for testimony and records of political donations and any other gifts they have received from Bail Bonds Unlimited, their attorneys said Friday.
Revelation of the subpoenas came just days after 24th District Court Judge Kernan "Skip" Hand and Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said they received similar subpoenas, and it further expands insight into federal investigators' work on a corruption probe that has felled two Gretna courthouse judges and snared a dozen other defendants since it began in 1999.
Former state Judge Ronald Bodenheimer is now serving 46 months in prison. A jury convicted state Judge Alan Green of mail fraud in June but could not settle on other charges linked more closely to the heart of the government's case: that Bail Bonds Unlimited owner Louis Marcotte III bribed judges so they would set bonds to favor his company.
Though no campaign worker has been charged with a crime in the Operation Wrinkled Robe investigation, three campaign staffers of state Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, D-New Orleans, were called as government witnesses during Green's trial.
Jefferson, who is Green's niece and the daughter of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, testified that she never received $800 cash from Green for her 2002 campaign. Green was captured by secret FBI surveillance video in his private chambers in 2002 taking the money from Gretna attorney W.J. LeBlanc.
Jefferson-Bullock's staff members, including campaign treasurer Jack Swetland, testified that they did not receive any cash on behalf of the campaign.
Corruption seems to run in the whole fam damily...
September 30, 2004
24th JDC Judge Alan Green Indicted
Yesterday the feds indicted 24th JDC Judge Alan Green, accusing him of accepting $20,000 in bribes in return for helping Bail Bonds Unlimited and its principal, Louis Marcotte III. Media outlets reporting on the indictment include the Times-Picayune, ABC News, and the Associated Press.
prosecutors wasted no time driving their point home by projecting on a large screen secretly recorded video of Green in his chambers on April 3, 2002. It showed the judge collecting what prosecutors said was $5,800 in cash in a 75-minute period, $800 from Gretna City Attorney W.J. LeBlanc, the rest from Norman Bowley, a former employee of bail bonds king Louis Marcotte III.
http://tinyurl.com/f2hxk
Photo here...
http://tinyurl.com/gd9b5
Representative Jalila Jefferson-Bullock
Democrat - District 91
http://house.legis.state.la.us/H-Reps/members.asp?ID=91
LOL! Thanks, it seems to be a family tradition. :-)
Mr. Jefferson received significant campaign contributions from iGate’s CEO, Vernon Jackson, and Jackson’s wife. Mr. Jackson and iGate also made campaign contributions to Rep. Jefferson’s daughter, Louisiana state Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock.
In order to further a deal in Ghana similar to the Nigerian deal, Rep. Jefferson traveled to that country with official staff, a member of his extended family and an employee of Mr. Pfeffer’s. He again used his official position to promote the deal, in exchange for a percentage of the Ghanian company and a position within that company for his family members.
http://tinyurl.com/e85ah
Jefferson's brother-in-law, a former state judge, recently was convicted of mail fraud in a wide-ranging investigation of bail bond corruption in suburban New Orleans.
The brother-in-law, Alan Green, was the 14th defendant convicted in the investigation called "Operation Wrinkled Robe." The others, including a former judge, Ronald Bodenheimer (search), pleaded guilty.
http://tinyurl.com/kswu8
Yet another perp walk...
In summer 2004, Pfeffer, Mody, Jefferson and others met in New Orleans at the law firm of one of Jefferson's daughters, who provided the legal work for the business deal.
"Jefferson's going down.
You're right, the Feds have him nailed and he'll do hard time."
Yeah right. $10 says he walks or at worst a suspended sentence for some minor infraction. He's a Dem and a "minority" and the race card will be tossed out soon.
We'll see. ;-)
He walks if he gets a jury from New Orleans or Washington D.C.
"Jefferson's going down."
But this 45 day sealing of his records is like a gift from God. For 45 addtional days, Wm Jefferson (D), Louisiana will twist in the wind while EVERYBODY knows he is guilty as sin and Rush et. al. get to do frequent updates of the case against Wm. Jefferson, (D) Louisiana. Additionally, the mid term erections are 5+ months away. The records of Wm. Jefferson, (D) Louisiana will be unsealed 3 1/2 months prior to the erections - then everything goes back into motion. Shop for popcorn before it gets too late.
You can see the hands of Karl Rove around this entire episode. Nothing really gets settled, and the whole mess will reopen in mid-September...which will get front-page results. And if Nancy or Denny want to play hardball...then resignations of 3 or 4 characters from the FBI/Attorney General's office will set another firestorm into play. Nothing positive comes out of this mess except the administration doing the legal and ethical thing. And the politicans look like corrupt car dealers from Moline, Ill.
They've got a million of 'em
Not surprisingly, the late-night TV comics are having a field day with the federal investigation of Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, especially the revelation in government documents that agents found $90,000 stuffed in the freezer of his Washington, D.C. home. Jay Leno on NBC: "As you may have heard, Rep. William Jefferson was caught on tape taking a $100,000 bribe and then the FBI found $90,000 cash in his freezer. Jefferson said he didn't do anything wrong. He said he just fell in with the wrong crowd. You know, other congressmen." David Letterman on CBS: "Down in Washington, D.C. earlier today, it was so hot, it was so hot in Washington that one congressman actually got into the freezer with his bribe money." Another from Leno: "House Speaker Dennis Hastert has attacked the FBI for raiding the congressman's office, saying it was an abuse of power. Imagine the nerve of the FBI treating members of Congress like they are regular Americans. Can you imagine? If there's anything that people who make the laws hate is being treated like the people who have to follow the laws."
Some publicity is bad publicity
iGate Inc. CEO Vernon Jackson's guilty plea to bribing Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, has caused problems for another company with a similar name. iGate Corp. is based in Pittsburgh, Pa., and has nothing to do with iGate Inc. of Louisville, Ky. The Pittsburgh firm has 6,000 employees and has been in business 20 years, while iGate Inc. had only six employees, most in Kentucky, and had been in business only since 1997. The only thing they have in common is both are in the technology business, and that has caused plenty of confusion -- involvement in a criminal corruption probe isn't publicity that any company covets. iGate Corp. is trying to spread the word that there are two iGates, and that iGate Corp. is reputable and has no criminal issues pending. "It's been a little frustrating," said iGate Corp. CEO and founder Sunil Wadhwani. He said some people have come up to him and asked "if we're involved with the investigation and I tell them in no uncertain terms, 'No.' But fortunately it's been relatively few calls and questions. The good news is we've been in the industry over 20 years and we have a track record of integrity."
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1148801429199590.xml
Or Los Angeles anyone can crook can win.
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