Lawmaker taped accepting cash: court document

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – FBI agents videotaped Rep. William
Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, accepting $100,000 in cash
they said was intended as a bribe for a Nigerian official and
later found $90,000 of the money hidden in his freezer,
according to a court document released on Sunday.

The document said the eight-term congressman received the
cash from an FBI informant, who approached the bureau in March
2005 with her suspicion that Jefferson and two business
associates conspired to defraud her out of $3.5 million.

Jefferson, a senior member of the powerful House Ways and
Means Committee, has been under investigation for his role in
helping a Nigerian company with an Internet venture. He has
maintained his innocence in the matter.

The court document was the basis for an FBI search of
Jefferson’s congressional office on Saturday and Sunday. The
FBI had no comment on what it found in the 18-hour search.

According to the document, the FBI recorded a series of
conversations between Jefferson and the informant, leading up
to a July 30, 2005, meeting at a hotel in the Virginia suburbs
of Washington. What happened next was captured by the FBI on
videotape, the document said.

“At the close of the meeting, (the informant) and
Congressman Jefferson exited the building and stood before the
open trunk of (the informant’s) car. At that time, Congressman
Jefferson reached in and removed a reddish-brown colored
leather briefcase which contained $100,000 cash in
denominations of $100 bills,” according to the court document.

“He placed the briefcase in a reddish-brown colored cloth
bag, then took the bag, containing the briefcase and the
$100,000 in cash and placed it inside the passenger compartment
of his 1990 Lincoln Town Car and drove off.”

According to the document, the money was to be used to
bribe a high-ranking Nigerian government official who had
agreed to help an American telecommunications company do
business in Nigeria.

FBI agents searched Jefferson’s Washington residence on
August 3 and found $90,000 of the cash in his freezer, stuffed
in frozen food containers and aluminum foil, the document said.

‘OBVIOUS ATTEMPT TO EMBARRASS’

Jefferson’s attorney, Robert Trout, criticized the FBI for
releasing the court document, which he said was “an obvious
attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson” on the part of
prosecutors who have not charged the lawmaker with any crime.

“It would not be appropriate to comment on the details in
the affidavit at this time,” Trout said. “The congressman has
consistently maintained his innocence, and if he is charged he
will respond at the appropriate time.”

In a statement last week, Jefferson denied any wrongdoing
and said he had no intention of stepping down.

“I wish to say emphatically that in all of my actions here
under scrutiny, that I never intended to dishonor my office, or
you, the public, and I certainly did not sell my office,”
Jefferson said.

A Kentucky businessman pleaded guilty earlier this month to
bribing Jefferson.

Louisville technology executive Vernon Jackson, who faces
up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, has
agreed to help federal investigators as they examine
Jefferson’s dealings with Jackson’s company, iGate Inc.

According to court records filed in the plea deal,
Jefferson helped secure a deal with a Nigerian company called
Netlink Digital Television and in return demanded payments to a
company maintained in the name of his wife and children.

Brett Pfeffer, a former Jefferson aide, pleaded guilty in
January to bribery charges for his role in the deal, and seven
Jefferson staffers told the House in March they had been served
with subpoenas.

(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen)