Wow! Who'd a thunk it?

[Icemaster]

Bet he'll claim that the bribes were to rebuild his ravaged city...

Hope he gets nailed hard.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/04/jefferson/index.html



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly two years after federal agents reported finding $90,000 in a freezer in his Washington home, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson has been charged with a global campaign to solicit bribes, obstruct justice and engage in racketeering, Justice Department officials said Monday.

The veteran Louisiana Democrat faces 16 criminal counts, said Alice Fisher, assistant U.S. attorney general in the criminal division.

"This case is about greed, power and arrogance," said Joe Persichini, director of the FBI's Washington field office, which led the investigation.

In addition to the racketeering and solicitation charges, Jefferson has been charged with money laundering, wire fraud, conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (Read the indictment (PDF))

"Congressman Jefferson is innocent. He plans to fight this indictment and clear his name," said Jefferson's attorney, Robert Trout. He said the "creative" indictment does not say Jefferson promised anyone legislative favors.

Jefferson is the first U.S. official ever charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which prohibits corporate bribery.

The charges are based on 11 schemes in which Jefferson allegedly solicited bribes for himself and his family from government and business officials in the United States, Nigeria, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome e Principe, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said at an afternoon news conference. (Watch prosecutors describe the alleged schemes )

"Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress where he served ... to enrich himself and his family through a pervasive pattern of fraud, bribery, and corruption that spanned many years and two continents," Rosenberg said.

Jefferson sought millions of dollars in cash and company stock and received "somewhat less than $400,000," Rosenberg said.

Jefferson has denied wrongdoing, and won a ninth congressional term in a December runoff despite the allegations. But the probe already has led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former aide to the congressman.

Jefferson's homes in Washington and New Orleans were raided in August 2005. The following May, investigators raided his Capitol Hill office, sparking a furor among congressional leaders who argued the search violated the Constitution's separation of powers.

Rosenberg said some documents seized in that search support the case. Fisher called the search "necessary, appropriate and constitutional."

In court papers defending the 2006 search, investigators disclosed that they had found $90,000 in cash in the freezer of Jefferson's Washington home -- part of a $100,000 payment delivered by an informant in the bribery probe, according to federal agents.

Jefferson will be arraigned and have the opportunity to enter a plea in federal court in Washington at 9 a.m. Friday, Rosenberg said. Conviction on all charges could bring a total of 235 years in prison.

"There will be no plea bargain," Trout said.

Fisher and Rosenberg denied that Monday's announcement was in any way affected by recent controversy surrounding the Justice Department and the firings of federal prosecutors.

"Frankly, we don't give a damn about politics," Rosenberg said. "... We believe he broke the law. That's why we brought the charges. Period."

The allegations against Jefferson emerged in the heat of the 2006 congressional election season, when Democrats were castigating House Republicans for tolerating what they called a "culture of corruption." After the raid on Jefferson's office, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi pushed Jefferson out of his seat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

But in February, Pelosi -- now speaker of the House -- agreed to place Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee. The move drew criticism from Republicans, who accused Pelosi of backing away from promises to clean up Congress.

Pelosi said the assignment was appropriate, given the committee's jurisdiction over matters related to Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 storm devastated Jefferson's district.

[Rick Lee]

He's going to jail for sure. Now let's see if he gets drummed out of the House by his own party or the opposition first.

[Hawktel]

The guy has been crooked for years. Heck the wunderbunny's in Louisiana relected him while he was under investigation.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by Icemaster
...After the raid on Jefferson's office, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi pushed Jefferson out of his seat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

But in February, Pelosi -- now speaker of the House -- agreed to place Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee. The move drew criticism from Republicans, who accused Pelosi of backing away from promises to clean up Congress.

Pelosi said the assignment was appropriate, given the committee's jurisdiction over matters related to Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 storm devastated Jefferson's district.

[rouxroux]

Thank goodness...keep posted, he's just the tip of the iceberg down here. I can "feel" that we're going to have very promising elections this fall as well.

[ronin]

took them long enough

[Joeaksa]

Maybe I need to look in my freezer. I usually keep the Tysons buffalo chicken strips there but ya never know...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Rove probably snuck it in while looking for a Hot Pocket.

Seriously, we need MUCH TOUGHER prison sentances for politicians like Jefferson who break the law. I see it as a kind of traitorous act against the people, against the country. 20 years of hard time would be nice. Get a few of those convictions under our belts and you'll see just how clean politics can get.

[stevepaa]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
Seriously, we need MUCH TOUGHER prison sentances for politicians like Jefferson who break the law. I see it as a kind of traitorous act against the people, against the country. 20 years of hard time would be nice. Get a few of those convictions under our belts and you'll see just how clean politics can get.

+1MUCH TOUGHER

[Rick Lee]

I'm quite sure we have tough sentences for the crimes with which he has been charged. Now it's a matter of whether the prosecutor wants to go after bigger fish and cut him a deal and if the judge ignore sentencing recommendations in the event of a plea bargain.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
I'm quite sure we have tough sentences for the crimes with which he has been charged. Now it's a matter of whether the prosecutor wants to go after bigger fish and cut him a deal and if the judge ignore sentencing recommendations in the event of a plea bargain.

really? I doubt it Rick. And even if he gets a measly 5 years, first he'll be in a white collar playground prison wtih cable funded by you and me, and second, he'll be out in 2 years.

If all the small fish are put away with big fish sentancing, guess what, there are no more big fish.

This guy should be breaking rocks with a 12 lb sledge for longer than his natural productive life.

[Rick Lee]

Well, whether you want to believe it or not, in the federal prison system you have to serve at least 80% of your sentence, so in order to only serve two yrs., he'd have to be sentenced to 30 mos. and I'm sure he'll get plenty more than that. Not saying he doesn't deserve to be in a gulag and he probably won't be on hard labor detail. But the man is going away for a while. That's for sure. And he'll be bankrupted by legal bills, no longer allowed to vote or own guns and he'll be radioactive politically.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I want to agree with you Rick, and it all makes sense. Just seems that reality has a way of making these guys superstars making big $ some time in the future.

I'm so tired of hand slaps.

[Icemaster]

Too much to hope that he ends up being used as an example. I'm sure he's already placed a call to OJ's lawyer.

This gives me some hope tho -

"There will be no plea bargain," Trout said.

[Rick Lee]

OJ's lawyer died last year. He'll need one of the Washington super lawyers like Bob Bennett or Plato Cacheris. If it's Cacheris, you know it's because he's guilty as sin and wants a good plea bargain.

[Icemaster]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
OJ's lawyer died last year.

He's got a new one -

"O.J. Simpson’s attorney, Yale Galanter, said he may sue Jeff Ruby, owner of Jeff Ruby's steakhouse in Louisville after Ruby refused to serve the former NFL star Friday night.

Galanter said that the incident was about race, and he intended to pursue the matter and possibly go after the restaurant’s liquor license.

“He screwed with the wrong guy, he really did,” Galanter told The Associated Press by telephone last night.

Ruby said the incident had to do with Simpson’s past.

“It was the first time since 1994 he has ever shown any class,” Ruby said. “He showed it that night in the restaurant” by leaving quietly. "

[KFC911]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
...Seriously, we need MUCH TOUGHER prison sentances for politicians like Jefferson who break the law. I see it as a kind of traitorous act against the people, against the country. 20 years of hard time would be nice. Get a few of those convictions under our belts and you'll see just how clean politics can get.

China has it about right...

[Rick Lee]

While China does not hesitate to sentence corrupt policitians to death, you rarely hear about the sentences ever being carried out and they only go after the really, really egregious ones when they become too big to hide from the public. Jefferson is very small fry compared to the stuff that gets Chinese pols death sentences. Some of those guys are on the take for 8-9 figure bribes, bulldoze entire neighborhoods and hand the land off to developer friends for kickbacks, etc. I'd love to see that stuff enforced uniformly in China and then we can talk about it here.

[speedracing944]

"from government and business officials in the United States, Nigeria, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome e Principe, "

From Nigeria hey?

Must be money made off the check scams.

Speedy

[Racerbvd]

He will place the race card, just like our very own Corrupt Brown. This ***** has gotten away with everything

Rep. Corrine Brown - running on a record of fraud

Rep. Rep. Corrine Brown - running on a record of fraud


In just seven years in Congress, Rep. Corrine Brown has eluded creditors, filed false financial disclosure reports and lied to the Internal Revenue Service.

"She cons people, pure and simple," says Sheryl Wilson, a former travel agency owner in Tallahassee who knew Brown. "I don't think she has an honest bone in her body."


Rep. Brown has a poor memory when it comes to remembering her business dealings. The financial records that every member of Congress is required to file shows the Jacksonville, Florida Democrat failed to disclose the $40,000 sale of her Tallahassee travel agency and improperly reported the sale of her Gainesville agency. And she has omitted other required details from her reports.


Brown has left a trail of unpaid bills from businesses she owned in Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee during the early 1990s.
In 1994, a consortium of airlines sued Brown for $94,000 in because her company, Springfield Travel Agency Inc., falsified sales reports and did not pay its bills. Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill. She also owed $5,697 to the University of Florida and tried to pay part of the bill with a bad check.


The IRS also went after Brown for $14,228 in unpaid taxes and the Whirlpool Corp. had to go to court to try and collect $10,227 in unpaid bills for appliances.


In addition, the House ethics committee is investigating Brown over her dealings with an African millionaire who was imprisoned on bribery charges. Two committee investigators went to Miami recently to interview witnesses for that case.


Brown not only avoids personal responsibility for her financial dealings, but also routinely violates congressional rules and the law.
Members of Congress are required to file reports to reveal any potential conflicts of interest. As a member of the House aviation subcommittee, Brown oversees the very airlines that sued her for unpaid bills.


But Brown not only fails to truthfully report transactions involving her travel business, she also spends money she never reports and buys expensive homes and other items even though she is deeply in debt. Although she recently paid $25,000 for a down payment on a $300,000 townhouse, those who know her say they have no idea where she got the money.

"Somebody is always bailing her out," says a former staff member. "You can bet the money came from sources nobody wants to discuss."


Members who file incomplete or false reports face criminal charges under federal law. Republican George Hansen of Idaho went to prison for 11 months in 1984 and paid a $40,000 for failing to report more than $300,000 in loans and profits.


Last year, Brown's daughter received a $50,000 car from a close associate of the African millionaire who faces bribery charges.
Brown's financial dealings show a long, consistent record of deceit.


In 1985, she started a travel agency, Springfield Travel, while serving as a Florida state legislator. Papers she filed with the Florida Department of State, listed two prominent state legislators as her vice presidents-Reps. Doug "Tim" Jamerson of St. Petersburg and James Hargrett of Tampa.


But Jamerson or Hargrett say didn't know they were affiliated with her company until years later.


"I was somewhat surprised to learn I was even on the board," said Jamerson, now a Tallahassee lobbyist. "It would have been nice to have been asked."


Brown opened the agency's first office in her hometown of Jacksonville and started a second office in Tallahassee where she spend most of her time while serving in the Legislature.


Brown often used the agency to take advantage of the free trips offered to travel agents.


"She was always getting tickets to Aruba and places like that," former employee Ed Curry told The St. Petersburg Times.


But while Brown was running off to Aruba on free trips, creditors were calling to ask why they weren't getting paid.


Brown occasionally paid her employees in cash or wrote personal checks to cover payroll, Curry said. More than once, the paychecks bounced.


Brown also failed to pay unemployment taxes to the state. The State Department of Labor filed a $353 state tax lien against the company. As of last week, the lien had not been paid.


Even though she couldn't pay her bills, Brown sought to expand her company in 1991.


Barnett Bank gave her a $10,000 loan, but could never get a full accounting of how it was spent. At the same time, Brown started a new company, Springfield Enterprises, which she said would resell appliances and seafood.


Whirlpool Corp. filed suit against Springfield Enterprises for an unpaid $10,227 bill, saying Brown bought more than a dozen large appliances and didn't pay for them. Brown finally paid the bill after the company obtained a judgment.


But Brown was busy opening other businesses. In February 1992, she opened Gator Travel at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Seven months later, she was five months behind in her rent and owed the university $7,066. The IRS also filed a lien against Springfield Travel for $14,228 in unpaid taxes. Brown, who was running for her first term in Congress, was busy looking for someone to buy the travel agency.


Two buyers-Melvin Stith, dean of the Florida State University business school, and Edward Scott II, a Tallahassee dentist, paid her $40,000 for the agency, according to a contract filed with the state. Brown did not report the sale on her mandatory congressional disclosure, which required her to list sales of all assets worth more than $1,000.


The cash allowed her to make payments on some of her debts. The University of Florida got a personal check for the overdue $8,479 bill. The IRS withdrew the lien against her in March 1993.


But Brown was soon in trouble again


In February 1993, she wrote the University of Florida a check for $1,413 - partial payment for a $5,600 bill.


The check bounced.


A month later, Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill, a move that effectively put her travel agency out of business (Delta was the primary airline serving Gainesville).


Enter three Miami businessmen who were willing to take over her failing travel agency.


Emilio F. Torres and his partners at Douglas Executive Travel agreed to pay Brown's overdue rent to the university and take over the agency, but the transition to Torres' company took more than six months because Brown owed the airlines so much money. Finally, the airlines seized Brown's official ticketing plates and Torres was allowed to take over the lease.


Brown, however, lied about the transaction on her financial disclosure reports to the House of Representatives. Her 1993 report claims Torres bought her agency for an amount between $50,000 and $100,000. Since then, her reports claim she is owed $50,000 to $100,000 by Torres and his partners.


But Torres never bought Gator Travel. He just assumed the lease.


"We didn't buy anything from her," he says. "I don't owe her anything."
State records support his claims.


Torres also did not pay Brown's overwhelming unpaid debts to the airlines.


The Airlines Reporting Corp., a consortium of the airlines that handles ticket transactions with travel agencies, filed a lawsuit against Brown in U.S. District Court in Washington in September, 1994 (while Brown was running for her second term), saying Brown failed to pay about $94,000 for plane tickets and lied about her financial transactions.
Brown eventually paid the $94,000 and the suit was dismissed.


But Brown never reported the debts on her disclosure forms. Florida state records show she signed a contract in 1992 taking personal responsibility for the bills.


Her disclosure forms also fail to show where she got the $94,000 to pay off the airlines. Her 1994 form said she didn't have enough money to make the payment.


Her latest report shows no savings accounts, no money market funds and no stocks that she could redeem. The only asset she listed is a Jacksonville condo that she rents.


Yet she still hasn't paid back the money she borrowed from Barnett Bank in 1991 and has mortgages on a $110,000 waterfront house in Jacksonville and the $300,000 Alexandria, Va., townhouse she recently bought with her daughter.


Nobody seems to know where Brown got the $25,000 down payment for the townhouse. Brown's daughter, a political appointee for the Environmental Protection Agency, said in her financial disclosure report that she didn't have any assets over $1,000.

"She's always pulling a scam on someone," says Oliver Roster of Jacksonville, who has known Brown for years. "Somebody, somewhere, got the money for her. What we don't know yet is what she had to do or promise to get it."


Brown also forgot to disclose a $10,000 check she received in 1996 from a secret Wisconsin bank account Baptist leader Henry J. Lyons allegedly used for money laundering.

The money came from a secret account in Milwaukee that is a focus of charges against Lyons. Federal prosecutors say Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, hid more than $1 million in the account.