"Rep. Jefferson of New Orleans indicted in fraud case" DAMN. [View All]

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Rep. Jefferson of New Orleans indicted in fraud case
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer
1:51 PM PDT, June 4, 2007

WASHINGTON -- William Jennings Jefferson, the nine-term congressman from New Orleans who was found to have $90,000 in his freezer almost two years ago, was indicted today on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The congressman, 63, could face a sentence of 235 years if convicted on all 16 charges in a scheme in which the Democrat allegedly solicited bribes for himself and his family and allegedly bribed a Nigerian official. The indictments were handed up by a grand jury in Alexandria, Va.


Saying the scheme was complex and played out over a long period, U.S. Atty. Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia said the charges could be boiled down to this: "Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress where he served in the United States House of Representatives to enrich himself and his family through a pervasive pattern of fraud, bribery and corruption that spanned many years and two continents."

Jefferson was reelected last year despite the investigation but, over objections from some in the Congressional Black Caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) stripped him of his slot on the Ways and Means Committee.<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-jefferson5jun05,1,3551986.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true