Culture of corruption: All in the Jefferson family
Photoshop: Suitably Flip
Finally. Nearly four years after FBI agents discovered nearly $90,000 in purported bribe money stuffed in Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson’s freezer, the Democrat is finally going on trial this week. He faces 16 federal bribery and public corruption charges. NOLA sums up:
While the “cold cash” came to symbolize the case on the Internet and late-night television, the investigation into complex international business deals also made legal history with the first-ever raid on a sitting congressional member’s office and a constitutional battle over the separation of powers and how bribery statutes are applied to members of Congress.
…If convicted, he would likely face up to 20 years in prison.
The trial, expected to last four to six weeks, won’t lack for drama. The prosecution’s case is likely to include some of the hundreds of hours of secretly recorded conversations, many between Jefferson and Virginia businesswoman Lori Mody, a disgruntled investor who became a cooperating witness.
The snippets of conversations already released by prosecutors include Jefferson telling Mody on May 12, 2005, that Nigerian businessman Suleiman YahYah will probably have to pay bribes to get a telecommunications project proposed by iGate Inc. past regulators. Mody was an iGate investor.
“We got to motivate him real good,” Jefferson said, according to a Justice Department transcript. “He’s got a lot of people to pay off.”
Cries of racism in 3, 2, 1…
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Elsewhere, via the Times-Picayune’s Stephanie Grace, we learn that indictments run in the Jefferson family:
…the tight-knit clan with the damaged name includes several siblings who also benefited from Jefferson’s power and prominence — and who stand accused in a newly revamped federal indictment of forming a criminal enterprise to steer an appalling amount of federal, state and city money into their own pockets. Last year, Jefferson’s political operative brother Mose and his assessor sister Betty, along with Betty’s daughter, were charged with systematically bilking government-funded social service programs. Another sister is cooperating with the feds.
And last week, a grand jury added a new alleged racketeer to the mix, former state representative and City Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt.
Gill Pratt isn’t a sibling, although as Bill Jefferson’s former aide, Mose Jefferson’s longtime companion and a lieutenant in the family’s political organization, she’s as close as it gets.
According to the indictment, she also acted as an inside woman, using her public offices to steer earmarks, grants, inflated leases and even vehicles donated to the city after Katrina to various nonprofits and firms controlled by family members.
Among the new allegations: While in the Legislature, Gill Pratt secured $300,000 for two New Orleans schools to purchase software from a company for which Mose Jefferson was exclusive sales agent. He earned a $30,000 commission, a portion of which he allegedly funneled back to her. The “I Can Learn” software is also at the center of another federal case involving Mose Jefferson, who is accused of bribing former Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms to support the School Board’s purchase of the product.
For her trouble, Gill Pratt is alleged to have received some free home repairs and use of the infamous donated Dodge Durango, which she transferred to a Jefferson family-controlled nonprofit that later hired her. The indictment says she also got a taxpayer-funded ride in the Muses parade, which Mose Jefferson supposedly financed with his ill-gotten gains…The most amazing part of the whole story is that all that taxpayer money was designated to help the most vulnerable of Bill Jefferson’s, Betty Jefferson’s and Renee Gill Pratt’s constituents.
When government grows, corruption flows.
It’s that simple.
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Flashback August 2008: Jason Mattera asks former Rep. Jefferson for some cold cash tips…
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- Finally. Nearly four years after FBI agents discovered nearly $90,000 in purported bribe money stuffed in Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson’s freezer, the Democrat is finally going on trial this week. | Right Voices
- democrat William “Cold Cash” Jefferson going to trial : Urbin Report
- Corrupt Louisiana Democrat Rep. William Jefferson isn’t “movin’ on up” #tcot | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- The Weekly Claw 6-9-09 - AllMilitary.com's Military Blog
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- Democrats Ignore Minority Corruption In Congress « Locust blog
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Categories: Corruption, William Jefferson
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Only 4 yours to trial? Gov’t efficiency at work.
oops-”years”.
Finally.
Guilty.
And NOW…..Only 534 to Go.
I’m surprised BO’s inJustice Dept. didn’t cancel the charges a la Black Panthers!
Where’s the “Culture of Corruption” now?
First, William Jefferson. I hope Murtha is next.
The Jefferson’s are
There’s a guy named Suleiman YahYah in this mess? Could this be made up? Jefferson was getting his YahYahs for the money? Hey, where’s the mayor of New Orleans when moral support is required for one of his corrupt-o-crat brethren? Oh, that’s right, he’s stuck in China because he had the “bad luck” to have someone on his flight have swine flu symptoms, so he aint goin’ nowhere soon. Pity.
Oh, New Orleans…such a sad, bad, corrupt and decaying place.
Jefferson is typical. It is a way of life there, and I despair of it ever changing.
I hope they nail the sleeze.
freezer burn the ethical was only corrupt because the state made him that way. following tradition.
Give it time DagneyT.
Meanwhile the Messiah refills the coffers for the next round of Dem corruption. Meanwhile, in Demo-land, this is what passes for a “scandal”.
I’m not necessarily condoning the long wait to prosecute Jefferson, but I wonder if Justice is mindful of the bungled prosecution of ex-Sen Ted Stevens? Let’s hope all of the T’s were crossed and the I’s dotted this time; we don’t want this guy getting off!
Ron, when do you suppose we’ll learn the Divine Secrets of the YahYah Sisterhood?
He may be on trial, but will he be convicted? Or will our sleazy Attorney General of the U.S. step in and declare him “not guilty”? Seems like Holder thinks he has that kind of power, has used it, and has gotten away with it.
Of course it is. Which is weird, because the democrats do it all the time. So you’d think they would believe it’s not scandalous.
The really sad part is that there is a 50-50 chance he could get off scott free.
So can we make electing a muslim crooked politician, from the hub of corrupt politicians, as CIC simple enough for stoopid voters? I guess we did.
And yet the MSM is ignoring this altogether. You know, just like they did with Ted Stevens. Oh wait…
He’ll probably just not appear, receive a default “guilty” verdict, and then have the justice department dismiss the charges.
Look at all the money we’ll save by just skipping the usual routines!
For those of you who can remember Lee Dorsey’s hit:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=11106
Just need to change the wording a bit:
“Sittin’ in NO LA waiting for my YA YA”
How could this go to trial? Jefferson obviously understands the uses of bribery. Did he somehow fail to make his payments to Holder or Obama?
That’s it! Jefferson needs to be removed from office for incompetence. He should have known to tithe to the big boss!
I’m still trying to wrap my head around Nagin, wife, and aide(?) being in China. Anyone know if the bills are being paid for by taxpayers. Perhaps he’s there as a consultant to divulge the secrets of keeping busses parked while a whole city floods.
Movin’ on to Jefferson, he can always claim ‘temporary sanity’ otherwise he’d have bilked a whole lot more $$ and never been caught.
How is what the Jeffersons did any different from what the Murtha clan have done to move on up and get their piece of the pie? Murtha’s been doing this a lot longer than Jefferson, so why is Jefferson being brought to trial first? Isn’t that racism?
Or perhaps it’s just that a dishonest white man with the richness of his bribing experience would more often than not make better decisions to avoid getting caught than a black male who hasn’t lived that life…
And most of these d@mn fools still think that the evillll Boooooosh cause Katrina.
What the he!! is wrong with these people that they cannot see who the people are that cause their misery?
Did this thief Jefferson show up at THEIR house to help them? or to collect his cash?
Michelle, I am SO glad you revived that link with that Jason Matera confrontation with Jefferson on this story. After reading all the health care plan posts, I needed a good laugh. Matera’s great.
They are just like him. They identify with felons.