WASHINGTON -- Rep. William J. Jefferson of Louisiana was indicted yesterday for allegedly using his congressional office to enrich himself and his family through a pattern of fraud, bribery and corruption that spanned five years and two continents.
The charges - the first against a Democratic member of Congress in the wake of the Justice Department's recent crackdown on public corruption - follow a two-year investigation that gained public notoriety when FBI agents raided Jefferson's home and found $90,000 in cash in his freezer.
In an unusually sweeping 94-page indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., Jefferson is charged with soliciting millions in fees and company stock in exchange for using his office to promote wide-ranging business interests in West Africa, including a telecommunications startup, an oil exploration company and a waste recycling firm.
He allegedly negotiated one deal in a congressional dining room on Capitol Hill and took official trips abroad to promote ventures in which he or his family had a financial stake without disclosing the true intention of the travel on congressional disclosure forms.
According to the indictment, the trips were designed to "give the false impression that defendant Jefferson was merely acting as an impartial public servant promoting United States business interests abroad."
The 16-count indictment, including allegations of money laundering, bribery and racketeering, contains the first charges ever brought against a U.S. official for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted 30 years ago to combat bribery of foreign officials by U.S. corporations.
Jefferson, a member of Congress since 1990, is expected to be arraigned and enter a plea of not guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. If convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to up to 235 years in prison.
Addressing the media outside his Los Angeles office, Jefferson's attorney, Robert Trout, said that "Congressman Jefferson is innocent" and "he plans to fight this indictment and clear his name."
Trout told reporters that the Justice Department had inspected every aspect of Jefferson's public and private life, and he accused federal agents of contriving "to trap" him in a government sting. Federal agents have searched Jefferson's home and car and raided his congressional office.
