Home | Community | Message Board

Kratom Eye
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: PhytoExtractum Maeng Da Thai Kratom Leaf Powder   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
InvisibleDiploidM
Cuban

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation
    #5664714 - 05/23/06 02:15 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

http://washingtondc.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/wfo050306.htm

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A businessman who paid bribes to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives has pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

Vernon L. Jackson, 53, of Louisville, Kentucky, entered his plea earlier today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia before the Honorable T.S. Ellis, III. Jackson faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, under the terms of the plea agreement. As part of his plea, Jackson has agreed to cooperate with law enforcement officials in an ongoing probe of public corruption related to telecommunications deals in Africa and elsewhere.

According to the criminal information, from 1998 through the present, Jackson has been the Chairman and CEO of iGate, Incorporated, a Kentucky firm focused on developing technology which is designed to transmit data, audio, and video communications over copper wire. In his plea today, Jackson admits that in approximately 2000, he was introduced to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Representative A), who was active in promoting U.S. trade and business in Africa. Representative A then provided official assistance to Jackson in persuading the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products. Representative A's official assistance led to the placement of iGate on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) schedule, making iGate products eligible for use in various federal contracts. Ultimately, iGate's products were used by the U.S. Army at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Jackson further admits that in early 2001, Representative A told him that Representative A would not continue to provide official assistance to Jackson's company, iGate, unless Jackson agreed to pay a nominee company ostensibly maintained in the names of Representative A's spouse and children. Jackson agreed and signed a consulting services agreement committing iGate to pay the nominee company various things of value, thereby concealing Jackson's payments in exchange for Representative A's performance of official acts in furtherance of iGate's business in Africa and elsewhere, including, but not limited to: a) monthly payments of $7,500; b) a percentage of iGate's gross sales; c) a percentage of capital investments raised for iGate; and d) options for iGate stock.

In his plea, Jackson admits that he caused over $400,000 to be paid to Representative A's nominee company and that the consulting services agreement was designed to conceal the illegal nature of the payments demanded by Representative A. In return for the agreement to pay things of value, Representative A agreed to perform numerous official acts in furtherance of iGate's business, including, but not limited to: efforts to influence high-ranking officials in Nigeria,

Ghana, Cameroon and elsewhere through official correspondence and in-person meetings; travel to those countries to facilitate these meetings; and meetings with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the official export credit agency of the United States, in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.

"According to his plea, Vernon Jackson got favorable treatment from a Congressman because he paid for it," said Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division. "Public corruption is not a victimless crime - all of us lose when people believe public officials can be brought. Those who conspire with elected officials to subvert the integrity of our government will be prosecuted."

"Public corruption significantly undermines confidence in our government institutions," said Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Those that pay bribes in return for favorable treatment, and public officials who corruptly trade on their office and line their own pockets do so at great risk, because we will pursue these cases relentlessly."

The case is being prosecuted by Mark D. Lytle and Rebeca Bellows, Assistant United States Attorneys, Eastern District of Virginia and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael K. Atkinson of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.


--------------------
Republican Values:

1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.

4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinekotik
fuckingsuperhero
 User Gallery
Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
Last seen: 4 years, 24 days
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: Diploid]
    #5664735 - 05/23/06 02:22 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

that article didnt mention the money wrapped in tin-foil in a freezer. that was the best part!


--------------------
No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleDiploidM
Cuban

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: kotik]
    #5664802 - 05/23/06 02:42 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

http://wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=8623&sID=3

Congressman Jefferson at the Center of a Political Storm
by Lorinda Bullock
Originally posted 5/23/2006

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Since Hurricane Katrina ripped through his congressional district last August, Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) has been fighting on Capitol Hill for much needed funds to help rebuild his hurricane-ravaged 2nd District, one of the hardest hit in New Orleans.

But now Jefferson is in the center of a new storm that could be just as devastating to his political career.
Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office was raided over the weekend, the first for a sitting member of Congress. A redacted copy of the warrant was released Sunday by the FBI.

The indictment accuses the eight-term congressman of accepting bribes and using his office and influence to illegally participate in high-tech business ventures in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana.

According to the 83-page affidavit, the FBI had been tracking Jefferson since last March. The FBI was tipped off by a woman the Washington Post named as Lori Mody, a wealthy northern Virginia businesswoman who, persuaded by Jefferson, invested millions of dollars into iGate Inc., a Louisville-based telecommunications company.

The document describes iGate as a company that produces high-speed Internet and cable television services that is transmitted through copper wires.

At a Capitol Hill news conference Monday, Jefferson said, ''There are two sides to every story; there are certainly two sides to this story. There will be an appropriate time and forum when that can be explained.''

Mody, worried about being swindled out of nearly $4 million she had invested in iGate, approached the FBI about investigating Jefferson, the document said.

Jefferson, a Harvard-trained lawyer, is considered an expert on information technology issues.

While he has not been charged, the affidavit said Vernon Jackson, president and CEO of iGate, and Brett Pfeffer, a former member of Jefferson’s congressional staff, were included as targets of the investigation and both pleaded guilty earlier this year for bribing the congressman to promote iGate’s technology to African nations.

The Washington Post reported that about15 FBI agents entered Jefferson’s congressional office on Saturday evening and completed the search Sunday afternoon.

Key evidence included in the affidavit came from recorded discussions that were also videotaped from July 30, 2005 when Jefferson allegedly accepted $100,000 in a reddish brown leather briefcase from a witness the Washington Post named as Lori Mody in a Ritz Carlton parking lot in northern Va.

Mody cooperated with the FBI by secretly wearing a electronic wire, the document said. She was not identified in the affidavit as a target of the 14-month sting operation.

Mody allegedly gave the money to Jefferson to pay off African officials in Nigeria and Ghana to persuade them to use iGate Inc., a Kentucky-based telecommunications company that offers broadband technology, including the Internet and cable television, the affidavit stated.

Suprisingly, Republicans, who had hoped to exploit the Jefferson case in the upcoming congressional elections, rushed to his defense after the FBI raided his office.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) issued a statement Monday night saying, ''The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important Constitutional issues that go well beyond the specifics of this case.''
He explained, ''Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our Republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this Separation of Powers line, in order to successfully prosecute corruption by Members of Congress. Nothing I have learned in the last 48 hours leads me to believe that there was any necessity to change the precedent established over those 219 years.''

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) sent an e-mail to his former colleagues calling the raid ''the most blatant violation of the Constitutional Separation of Powers in my lifetime.''

The Jefferson case also complicates the Democrats' plan to exploit the corruption admissions of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Washington Post: ''As bad as people want to say the Abramoff situation was, it didn't lead to any House offices getting raided.''

Typically, the FBI seeks subpoenas for items they need rather than raid a federal lawmaker's office.

Jefferson, 59, carries considerable clout because he co-chairs the Africa Trade and Investment Caucus as well as the Congressional Caucuses on Brazil and Nigeria and is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The first African-American to be elected to Congress from Louisiana since Reconstruction, Jefferson is a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittee on trade. He is a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

In one taped conversation with Mody that mentions his Nigerian connections, the affidavit said Jefferson discussed the importance of someone in Nigeria the document refers to as “John Doe #1”.

“We need him. We got to motivate him really good,” Jefferson allegedly told Mody. “He’s got a lot of folks to pay off.”

On August 3, 2005, a few days after the parking lot transaction, Jefferson’s Washington D.C. home was raided. Investigators found $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer stuffed in frozen food containers and wrapped in aluminum foil, the document said.

Jefferson addressed the investigation May 15 while in New Orleans.

“I would take full responsibility for any crime that I committed that were the case. But I will not plead guilty to something I did not do, no matter how things are made to look and no matter the risk,” Jefferson said at the time.

In addition to the federal investigation, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has launched its own investigation of Jefferson’s bribery allegations.
The affidavit also quotes conversations between Jefferson and Mody about how Jefferson had placed iGate stock in his children’s names.

“I make a deal for my children, it wouldn’t be me,” he allegedly told Mody after passing cryptic notes about the shares.

The affidavit said Jefferson allegedly joked with Mody about the notes.
He was quoted: “All these damn notes we’re writing to each other as if we’re talking, as if the FBI is watching.”


--------------------
Republican Values:

1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.

4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinezappaisgod
horrid asshole

Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: Diploid]
    #5665455 - 05/23/06 04:42 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Let's not forget this little blast from the recent past.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1

Quote:

Sept. 13, 2005 — Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, a congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings — even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC News has learned.

On Sept. 2 — five days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast — Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who represents New Orleans and is a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the military blockades set up around the city to reach the Superdome, where thousands of evacuees had been taken.

* Related: Where to Donate to Katrina Relief
* Related: Hurricane Katrina


Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A five-ton military truck and a half dozen military police were dispatched.

Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district. According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.........

The water reached to the third step of Jefferson's house, a military source familiar with the incident told ABC News, and the vehicle pulled up onto Jefferson's front lawn so he wouldn't have to walk in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone, the source says, while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour. Finally, according to the source, Jefferson emerged with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.




Hmmmmmmmmm. "Jefferson went into the house alone....for about an hour...(and)emerged with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck." Yep, nothing to see here, move along.


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinezappaisgod
horrid asshole

Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: zappaisgod]
    #5665465 - 05/23/06 04:45 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

I'm setting the over/under at an initial sentence of 60 months on the charges discussed here. Further charges might change the line. zappaisgod reserves the right to change the line anytime he wishes. All prior bets will be honored.


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineCatalysis
EtherealEngineer

Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 6 months
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: Diploid]
    #5666194 - 05/23/06 07:48 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

I love how all the congresspeople are bitching about this now. Appearantly they thought that "seperation of powers" means no branch is allowed to check another. Who elects these fucking people?


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineSirTripAlot
Semper Fidelis
Male User Gallery

Registered: 01/11/05
Posts: 7,460
Loc: Harmless (Mostly)
Last seen: 2 hours, 55 minutes
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: Catalysis]
    #5667910 - 05/24/06 08:54 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

The "culture of corruption"............


--------------------
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinekotik
fuckingsuperhero
 User Gallery
Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
Last seen: 4 years, 24 days
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: SirTripAlot]
    #5667925 - 05/24/06 09:03 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

this is only proof of the false left/right illusion. corruption is corruption. it does not favor the public despite their perceptions.


--------------------
No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineSirTripAlot
Semper Fidelis
Male User Gallery

Registered: 01/11/05
Posts: 7,460
Loc: Harmless (Mostly)
Last seen: 2 hours, 55 minutes
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: kotik]
    #5667949 - 05/24/06 09:15 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

kotik said:
this is only proof of the false left/right illusion.  corruption is corruption.  it does not favor the public despite their perceptions.





:thumbup:

It happens on both sides........
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/28/AR2005112801827.html


--------------------
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineRedstorm
Prince of Bugs
Male

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 3 months, 11 days
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: SirTripAlot]
    #5668177 - 05/24/06 10:48 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Definitely. Between the and the Abramoff mess, I can't see how Congress expect people to favor it any longer.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinegregorio
Too Damn Old
Male

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 2,831
Loc: Classified
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
Re: Lousiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson [Representative A] Under Investigation [Re: SirTripAlot]
    #5668216 - 05/24/06 10:59 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

This is Louisiana so I am not that surprised. Come to think about it, it wouldn't surprise me no matter what state it happened in, Democrat or Republican.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: PhytoExtractum Maeng Da Thai Kratom Leaf Powder   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Democratic Rep. John Murtha 'Western Pennsylvania is Racist' but Obama should Win lonestar2004 346 0 10/15/08 04:03 PM
by lonestar2004
* Foley Leaves In Hurry
( 1 2 3 4 all )
LunarEclipse 4,109 64 10/06/06 09:01 AM
by LunarEclipse
* Are Democrats Creeping Into Contention? lonestar2004 1,656 2 06/22/05 10:24 PM
by Ravus
* Racial tensions roil Democratic race lonestar2004 715 4 01/12/08 05:25 PM
by Luddite
* Obama's Cabinet Of Corruption (Do Democrats EVER Pay Taxes?)
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 all )
lonestar2004 11,627 179 03/31/09 08:55 PM
by TGRR
* Democrats bristle at Bush's push to confirm Bolton TheHateCamel 670 1 11/10/06 10:04 AM
by TheHateCamel
* Republican Blogger says Obama is Democrat's Reagan
( 1 2 all )
KingOftheThing 2,383 30 01/31/08 10:05 PM
by C21H30O2
* Voters are this stupid? SirTripAlot 719 4 12/11/06 10:34 AM
by Ravus

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Enlil, ballsalsa
1,681 topic views. 4 members, 1 guests and 25 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.024 seconds spending 0.006 seconds on 12 queries.