By Allan Lengel and Jonathan Weisman The Washington Post
On May 12, 2005, over dinner with business partner and FBI informant Lori Mody, Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) furtively scrawled the letter "c" on a sheet of paper, and next to it wrote some numbers indicating that he was demanding a much larger personal stake in an African business deal than previously agreed to.
"The 'c' is like for 'children,' " the congressman told Mody, as an FBI tape recorder rolled. "I make a deal for my children. It wouldn't be for me."
As court records, sworn affidavits, plea agreements and search warrants attest, it was quite a deal, one of several involving at least seven business entities, nearly a dozen family members and hundreds of thousands of dollars sloshing through bank accounts, all for Jefferson's personal benefit.
An FBI raid on Jefferson's congressional office last month triggered a constitutional showdown between the White House and congressional leaders from both parties over separation of powers. But as that controversy subsides, the focus has shifted back to Jefferson and the corporate labyrinth that federal authorities say he erected to secretly receive illegal payments for promoting high-tech ventures in Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria.
For Jefferson, 59, the money-making schemes were supposed to be all in the family, involving his wife, two brothers, five daughters and two sons-in-law. As a member of the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee, Jefferson has traveled repeatedly to Nigeria and other western African countries and met with their leaders.
Jefferson's secretive business negotiations have already yielded guilty pleas from one business partner, Vernon L. Jackson, and a former top aide, Brett M. Pfeffer. Both have confessed to conspiring to bribe the congressman. Jackson admitted giving Jefferson more than $400,000 in exchange for using his official position to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
posted on June 5, 2006 07:35:31 PM new
He needs to be locked up and his his entire government salary as well as expenses and the value of government padi perks such as protection, transportation, etc returned.
Corruption has no place in governement and the corrupt should never be protected. The really sad thing is that all of the uproar over the seach and seizure came about because our leaders were afraid of what such a precedent could mean when it comes to the investigations of those involved in the wide and slowly unwinding Abramoff web.
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People put their hand on the bible, and swear to uphold the constitution. They do not put their hand on the constitution, and swear to uphold the bible.
posted on June 6, 2006 08:25:12 AM new
Jefferson is an idiot and proves that corruption is in both parties.
My only issue is that the Bush Admin has targeted Jefferson b/c he is a Democrat and some have even speculated because he is black. With all of the Republicans who have proven themselves corrupted, it is ironic that their offices weren't raided. Bush distances himself from people like Delay, Scooter Libby, Duke Cunningham, Ken Lay, Jack Abermoff, yet manages to single out a Democrat. If Bush was truly a "uniter" he would have worked to hold any of these criminals accountable, not single one out that they already had all of the evidence they needed to prosecute him.
