[StBernard] How to preserve $90,000 in cash

[Westley Annis]

Court filing: Lawmaker taped taking $100,000 
U.S. Rep. Jefferson's comments reportedly recorded by FBI informant

The Associated Press
Updated: 5:00 p.m. CT May 21, 2006


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 company's deal for
work in Africa.

As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the
lawmaker's family might receive, the congressman "began laughing and said,
'All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're 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 Jefferson's
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 Jefferson's 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 Jackson's
telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African countries.

Weekend search of offices
The new details about the case emerged after federal agents searched
Jefferson's 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.

Jefferson's 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 informant's 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
Jefferson's 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, Nigeria's 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
Jefferson's 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 Jefferson's laughter about the FBI watching it all.

'It wouldn't 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 wouldn't 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 he's gotta pay Minister X, we don't want to know. It's not our deal,"
Jefferson told the witness, according to the affidavit. "We're not paying
Minister X a damn thing. That's all, you know, international fraud crap.
We're not doing that. We're 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:
"I'm gonna get your deal out of the way ... and I probably won't last long
after that."

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C 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12903856/