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MIAMI -- An ousted Filipino congressman pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of tax evasion and one count of election financing fraud. Mark Jimenez, 56, agreed that he owes up to $1.5 million in income tax for 1995 and 1996 and will serve at least 21 months in prison. He will be sentenced at a later day, federal prosecutors said. Jimenez was extradited in December to Miami, where he was charged with using money from his Miami company and a closely related one to reimburse employees for illegal donations to former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats. Jimenez made...

House arrest for lawmaker extradited to US MIAMI: A Philippine lawmaker accused of tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions to US politicians can post bail but will be under 24-hour house arrest in Florida until trial, a US judge ruled on Tuesday. Despite arguments from US prosecutors that Mark Jimenez should be kept in jail because he might flee and “cannot be trusted,” US Magistrate Ted Bandstra set a series of conditions meant to allow the congressman to be freed but keep him on a tight leash. Jimenez, who turned 56 on Tuesday, arrived in Miami on Sunday to...

Mark B. Jimenez provided crucial testimony that led to the overthrow of a world leader. Jimenez fingered Philippine President Joseph Estrada in a series of bribery scandals that pointed directly toward Beijing and the Chinese Triad organized crime syndicates. In the end, the Philippine president could not withstand the allegations. He left the office in disgrace. Jimenez arrived Sunday in the United States, where he is rumored to be ready to testify against Bill Clinton. In 1999, Jiminez, a Miami businessman, was charged with 17 counts of making illegal contributions to then-President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Jimenez is accused of...

Magistrate in Miami grants bail to Filipino congressman A Filipino congressman accused of tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions to Democrats in the United States received a 56th birthday present Thursday from a federal judge who granted him bail. Filipino Rep. Mark Jimenez, former chief executive officer of a Miami computer exporting firm, is expected to spend his birthday and a few extra days behind bars while several of his children and siblings in the U.S. arrange to post $65,000 in cash and $500,000 in assets to back his bond. ''The conditions are stiff, but they are fair...

Suspect in Clinton-era scandal returns to Miami to face charges MIAMI (AP) -- A wealthy Filipino businessman-turned-congressman accused of making illegal contributions to the Democratic Party returned to the U.S. on Sunday, accompanied by U.S. marshals to face an indictment in Miami. Mark B. Jimenez, 55, arrived at Miami International Airport aboard a United Airlines flight at 6 p.m. after a two-day stay in Guam. He was immediately taken by U.S. Marshals to the Federal Detention Center in Miami, said a pilot, who declined to be identified. Jimenez was scheduled to be processed and spend the night at the...

Handcuffed Jimenez brought to Saipan in surprise detourPosted: 1:01 PM (Manila Time) | Dec. 27, 2002By Lira Dalangin INQ7.net THE AMERICAN plane taking a handcuffed Manila Representative Mark Jimenez to Miami, Florida to face charges of fraud, tax evasion, and illegal campaign contributions made an unexpected stopover in Saipan on Friday, a remote US Pacific territory, after landing in Guam, an official told dzBB radio. "Congressman Mark Jimenez was brought from Guam to Saipan. He's here at the US Marshall Service office," said Philippine Consul to Saipan Marcos Punzalan. US justice procedure compels extraditees to appear before the nearest district...

Manila legislator to leave for U.S. to face criminal charges MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- After losing an extradition battle, a wealthy Filipino lawmaker said he was ready to fly to Florida on Thursday to face charges that he made illegal campaign contributions to President Clinton and the Democratic Party in the 1990s. Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez said he was scheduled to fly late Thursday to Miami via the U.S. territory of Guam and Honolulu, Hawaii. A Manila court handling his extradition case had ordered Jimenez, 55, to leave voluntarily by Thursday or face arrest. Jimenez was indicted by a...

While Rep. Mark Jimenez prepares to barricade himself at his yellow brick abode in Forbes Park (you didn’t for one moment think he was holed up in Manila’s impoverished District 6, did you?) in an attempt to stop the Department of Justice from forcibly transferring him to a government guesthouse with iron grills, we are once again hearing the Jimenez camp trotting out the usual line that he is paying the price for having been too close to former US President Bill Clinton. But a few weeks ago we had a pleasant dinner in a private home in Makati...

Case in Manila court MANILA Representative Mark B. Jimenez is no international terrorist, but the head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation wants him badly just the same. How badly? Nothing short of a swift extradition, according to visiting FBI director Robert Mueller who refuses to even acknowledge Jimenez's current official title. To Mueller, the fugitive is just plain old "Mr. Jimenez". "We want Mr. Jimenez extradited expeditiously back to the US to face charges. The extradition of Mr. Jimenez is important to us," the FBI chief told newsmen Monday at the US embassy's seafront compound along Roxas Boulevard....