New Docs Show Details of Prosecutors’ Case against Jefferson

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According to new court documents, prosecutors are building a case against Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) based on a raft of bribery and fraud charges. The documents also show that a cooperating witness wore a wire during conversations with Jefferson, and that prosecutors are in the final stages of preparing their case against him.

The details come from a court order issued today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that a search warrant affidavit filed by federal investigators be unsealed. The warrant was requested in August, 2005 to search the Maryland home of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar – to support the application, an FBI agent detailed the FBI’s case against Jefferson in an accompanying affadavit. The affidavit was sealed to the public, but in February of this year, The Washington Post sued to have the affidavit unsealed. In today’s order, the Judge agreed to release the affidavit with the exception of five paragraphs this Thursday, unless Jefferson contests the ruling.

The judge’s order discloses a number of details about the government’s case against Jefferson.

The affidavit, for instance, shows the FBI considering a number of charges against Jefferson: bribery of a public official, bribery of a foreign official, two fraud charges, and a conspiracy charge. The FBI argued that Jefferson had accepted and was continuing to seek bribes in exchange for “official acts.”

The judge’s order also discloses that the affadavit contains information derived from recordings of conversations with Jefferson. According to the order, a “cooperating witness” – identified in news reports as Lori Mody, a multimillionaire who invested in iGate, a telecommunications company for which Jefferson was trying to secure a contract in Nigeria – engaged in “consensually recorded telephone conversations with Congressman Jefferson and [wore] a wire while engaged in face-to-face meetings with the Congressman.” Prior reports had cited anonymous sources as saying that Mody had worn a wire. The order also shows that the government used wiretaps to gather evidence in the case, although it’s not clear whether it was Jefferson who was the target of the wiretaps.

Perhaps most significant is that prosecutors did not contest the unsealing of the affidavit, admitting that they had nothing to fear from its being made public. The investigation “is no longer in its preliminary stages,” prosecutors wrote, adding “any danger that the government’s access to potential witnesses might be affected by the unsealing of the affidavit is minimal, if existent at all.” Two targets of the investigation have already pled guilty – Jefferson’s former aide Brett Pfeffer and the CEO of iGate Vernon Jackson. Both have implicated Jefferson, identified as “Representative A” in their plea agreements.

Late Update: Here‘s the AP’s take on the story. And the Post‘s.

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