Jefferson - Feds get specific on bribery allegations
- From: "Halcombe" <halcombe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 22 May 2006 08:06:09 -0700
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-jefferson22may22,1,1521502.story?coll=la-news-a_section
Affidavit Details Bribery Probe of Congressman
The FBI says it taped Louisiana Democrat William J. Jefferson taking
$100,000 in cash.
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer
May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - Agents investigating allegations of bribery involving a
Louisiana congressman found $90,000 in $100 bills wrapped in aluminum
foil in the freezer of his home, the FBI said in a court filing
released Sunday.
The cold cash came from a transaction videotaped July 30, 2005, the
court filing said, a few days before agents searched the northeast
Washington home of Rep. William J. Jefferson, a Democrat from New
Orleans.
According to the 83-page affidavit, Jefferson offered to help a McLean,
Va., businesswoman win contracts to install telephone and Internet
service in Nigeria and Ghana in exchange for 30% of the business.
Jefferson proposed she deliver a substantial amount of money to move
the deal along, the affidavit alleges.
"Cash," he allegedly specified on a note to her.
All the while, FBI agents were listening to the conversations, because
the woman had reported the dealings to the government and was
cooperating with investigators.
Jefferson has denied any improper behavior and has not been charged
with a crime. The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it
would investigate Jefferson. It announced at the same time that it
would investigate Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio), who has been linked to
disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The heavily blacked-out affidavit released Sunday was filed in
connection with a request for a warrant to search Jefferson's Capitol
Hill office. That search was conducted Saturday.
The informant approached the FBI in March 2005, complaining about
dealings she had had over the previous nine months with Jefferson and
several of his associates. At the government's request, she agreed to
wear a hidden microphone for subsequent meetings.
At a dinner last May, Jefferson and the informant negotiated, on paper,
the percentage of the company that the congressman wanted for his
children, the affidavit said.
He even joked about the possibility that he was being watched, the
affidavit said: "As they continued to write down figures on the paper,
Jefferson 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.' "
On July 30, the congressman met the woman for breakfast at the
Ritz-Carlton hotel near the Pentagon. As they were leaving, Jefferson
took from the trunk of her car "a reddish-brown-colored leather
briefcase which contained $100,000 cash in denominations of $100
bills." He put it in his Lincoln Town Car and drove away, the affidavit
said.
Four days later, most of the marked bills were found in Jefferson's
freezer. The rest of the cash was recovered from his office assistant
and his lawyer.
The court filing, prepared for a magistrate, described the state of the
investigation. It suggests that the government is preparing an
indictment of the congressman on multiple counts of bribery. An FBI
agent working on the case said Jefferson tried to conceal his
involvement in the corrupt deals by funneling the payments to his
daughters.
In January, Brett M. Pfeffer, once a top aide to Jefferson, pleaded
guilty to federal bribery charges and said his boss had demanded
kickbacks for facilitating business deals in Nigeria.
A Kentucky businessman, Vernon L. Jackson, pleaded guilty May 3 to
paying bribes to Jefferson's family in a related Nigeria business
scheme.
Pfeffer and Jackson agreed to cooperate with the government
investigation of the congressman.
Robert Trout, Jefferson's lawyer, did not return a phone call seeking
comment on the court filing. In a statement to the Associated Press, he
said the FBI's affidavit was "part of a public relations agenda and an
attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson." He called the search of
Jefferson's office "outrageous."
Jefferson, 59, is a Harvard Law School graduate who is on the House
Ways and Means Committee.
To some degree, his mounting legal problems in Washington have been
overshadowed by the problems in his hometown of New Orleans. His
district was flooded after Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, and residents
have been focused on recovery.
In early September, Jefferson was criticized for enlisting a military
truck and half a dozen National Guard members to go to his residence in
New Orleans, where he was seen removing a laptop computer, suitcases
and a storage box.
.
- Prev by Date: "No Child" law Won't be Left Behind
- Next by Date: Re: "No Child" law Won't be Left Behind
- Previous by thread: "No Child" law Won't be Left Behind
- Next by thread: Tom Friedman Gives Iraq Six Months... Again
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
