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Court filing: Lawmaker taped taking $100,000
U.S. Rep. Jeffersons comments reportedly recorded by FBI informant
Updated: 6:00 p.m. ET May 21, 2006
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.
At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications companys deal for work in Africa.
As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmakers family might receive, the congressman began laughing and said, All these damn notes were writing to each other as if were talking, as if the FBI is watching, according to the affidavit.
Jefferson has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The plan was for the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official the name is blacked out in the court document to ensure the success of a business deal in that country, the affidavit said.
All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jeffersons home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food containers and aluminum foil.
Two of Jeffersons associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court in Alexandria. One, businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange for his help securing business deals for Jacksons telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African countries.
Weekend search of offices
The new details about the case emerged after federal agents searched Jeffersons congressional office on Capitol Hill Saturday night and Sunday. The nearly 100-page affidavit for a search warrant, made public Sunday with large portions blacked out, spells out much of the evidence so far.
The document includes excerpts of conversations between Jefferson and an unidentified business executive from northern Virginia. She agreed to wear a wire after she approached the FBI with complaints that Jefferson and an associate had ripped her off in a business deal.
Jeffersons lawyer, Robert Trout, contended that the prosecutors disclosure was part of a public relations agenda and an attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson. The affidavit itself is just one side of the story, which has not been tested in court, Trout said in a statement.
The affidavit says Jefferson is caught on videotape at the Ritz-Carlton as he takes a reddish-brown briefcase from the trunk of the informants car, slips it into a cloth bag, puts the bag into his 1990 Lincoln Town Car and drives away.
The $100 bills in the suitcase had the same serial numbers as those found in Jeffersons freezer.
While the name of the intended recipient of the $100,000 is blacked out, other details in the affidavit indicate he is Abubakar Atiku, Nigerias vice president. He owns a home in Potomac, Md., that authorities have searched as part of the Jefferson investigation.
Jefferson assured the FBI informant in their coded conversations that he paid the money to the Nigerian official, even though the money was still in Jeffersons possession when agents searched his home Aug. 3.
Murky talk about the package
On Aug. 1, two days after Jefferson picked up the $100,000, the informant called Jefferson to ask about the status of the package.
Jefferson responded: I gave him the African art that you gave me and he was very pleased.
When Jefferson and the informant had dinner at a Washington restaurant on May 12, 2005, the FBI was listening, too. Jefferson indicates he will need an increased stake in the profits of one deal, the affidavit said.
Instead of the 7 percent stake originally agreed upon, he writes 18-20 on a piece of paper and passes it to the informant.
That is when negotiations move ahead and notes go back and forth, ending with Jeffersons laughter about the FBI watching it all.
It wouldnt be me
Throughout the conversations, Jefferson makes attempts to deflect direct connections to any bribes.
He tells the informant at one point that money should be paid to businesses operated by his children. I make a deal for my children. It wouldnt be me, Jefferson said, according to the affidavit.
In a different conversation, Jefferson seeks to distance himself from bribes that must be paid to Nigerian government officials to facilitate transactions.
If hes gotta pay Minister X, we dont want to know. Its not our deal, Jefferson told the witness, according to the affidavit. Were not paying Minister X a damn thing. Thats all, you know, international fraud crap. Were not doing that. Were not doing any of that that gets us (unintelligible).
Seven other schemes alleged
The affidavit also spells out seven other schemes in which Jefferson was involved; nearly all were blacked out in the document.
The Jefferson investigation has provided fodder for Republicans who have suffered black eyes in the investigations of current and former GOP lawmakers, including Tom DeLay and Randy Duke Cunningham.
Jefferson, who has pledged not to resign from Congress in the face of the bribery investigation, speculated about his political future in one of the recorded conversations.
When the informant asked Jefferson about his political plans, he responded: Im gonna get your deal out of the way ... and I probably wont last long after that.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Everyone blames Katrina on Bush and FEMA (mostly due to those "fashion god" e-mails over the phone from the ex Fema director Brown). However they called both the Senators and Governor Blanco 48 hours in advance and declared the area a disaster area 24 hours before the storm hit and asked them 4 times if they wanted Federal assisstance...they never okayed it. The one place FEMA messed up was not shoring up the levvys over the years, however Nagin never had an evacuation strategy, Blanco never declared a state of emergency, the Senators and Governor Blanco never took up FEMA's offers until the day of and therefore had to go through all the red tape that could have been gone through 48 hours before. Lousianna Politicians have their heads up their asses.
