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William Jefferson, the former U.S. congressman caught with $90,000 in marked currency stuffed in his freezer, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for using his office to solicit bribes.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia, today sentenced Jefferson, more than three months after a federal jury here found him guilty on 11 of 16 counts. He had faced as many as 20 years on each conviction.
Jefferson, 62, was convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and unlawfully seeking millions more, mainly by promoting business deals in Africa. Prosecutors claimed he was involved in 11 separate bribery schemes from August 2000 to August 2005 and that he and his family stood to gain more than half a billion dollars.
The Louisiana Democrat, who lost his bid for a 10th term in the House of Representatives in December, was videotaped in July 2005 accepting $100,000 in a leather briefcase at a hotel in Arlington, Virginia, and putting it in his car. About $90,000 in the marked bills were later recovered from Pillsbury pie crusts and Boca meatless burger patty boxes in the freezer of his Washington residence.
Money as a Bribe
Jefferson allegedly told a witness that the money, which he referred to as "African art," would be used to bribe a high- ranking Nigerian government official.
Others involved in the schemes included Vernon Jackson, a Louisville, Kentucky, businessman sentenced to 87 months in prison in September 2006 after pleading guilty to charges including paying bribes to a public official, and Brett Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member sentenced to 96 months in prison in May 2006 after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy.
Jefferson's trial was delayed by a constitutional fight after federal agents raided his office in the Rayburn House Office Building in May 2006 seeking evidence.
House and Senate leaders from both parties criticized the search, saying it violated more than two centuries of precedent and raised constitutional concerns about the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.
The Supreme Court in March 2008 let stand an appeals court decision that permitted the prosecution to go forward while ordering the government to return some seized documents.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia, today sentenced Jefferson, more than three months after a federal jury here found him guilty on 11 of 16 counts. He had faced as many as 20 years on each conviction.
Jefferson, 62, was convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and unlawfully seeking millions more, mainly by promoting business deals in Africa. Prosecutors claimed he was involved in 11 separate bribery schemes from August 2000 to August 2005 and that he and his family stood to gain more than half a billion dollars.
The Louisiana Democrat, who lost his bid for a 10th term in the House of Representatives in December, was videotaped in July 2005 accepting $100,000 in a leather briefcase at a hotel in Arlington, Virginia, and putting it in his car. About $90,000 in the marked bills were later recovered from Pillsbury pie crusts and Boca meatless burger patty boxes in the freezer of his Washington residence.
Money as a Bribe
Jefferson allegedly told a witness that the money, which he referred to as "African art," would be used to bribe a high- ranking Nigerian government official.
Others involved in the schemes included Vernon Jackson, a Louisville, Kentucky, businessman sentenced to 87 months in prison in September 2006 after pleading guilty to charges including paying bribes to a public official, and Brett Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member sentenced to 96 months in prison in May 2006 after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy.
Jefferson's trial was delayed by a constitutional fight after federal agents raided his office in the Rayburn House Office Building in May 2006 seeking evidence.
House and Senate leaders from both parties criticized the search, saying it violated more than two centuries of precedent and raised constitutional concerns about the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.
The Supreme Court in March 2008 let stand an appeals court decision that permitted the prosecution to go forward while ordering the government to return some seized documents.
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