Dollar Bill's Money On Ice -- Again!
Rep. William Jefferson finds himself almost back to square one regarding his finances as a result of the corruption investigation of his alleged corruption. The year after the FBI found $90,000 in cash inside Jefferson's freezer, a judge has frozen his assets:
A federal judge in Virginia issued a restraining order to freeze the assets of Louisiana Democrat, Representative William Jefferson, including stocks he owned from two West African companies.Jefferson was indicted Monday on charges he solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
The congressman is facing 16 criminal counts including a forfeiture count. Federal prosecutors have said they will seek to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars from Jefferson that they believe he obtained illicitly by peddling his influence to help broker business deals in Africa.
The man who redefined cold cash will now have to watch his accounts and assets frozen by federal authorities. They'll need to bring lots of coolers -- according to NBC, his assets are substantial. He has almost a half-million dollars in the bank, under the name of the ANJ Group. He also has almost 31 million shares of stock in iGate, and another 1.5 million shares in a Nigerian corporation, and yet another 1.5 million in International Broad Band Services.
How did Jefferson gather these kinds of assets as a Congressman?
We still have not seen much action from Congress in dealing with Jefferson. The Congressional Black Caucus still supports Jefferson, as The Hill reported today. They want no action taken at all until Jefferson goes to trial, which puts Democratic leadership in a bind. It will be uncomfortable, to say the least, to have Jefferson on the Small Business committee, and provide a sharp counterpoint to Nancy Pelosi's efforts to push ethics reform legislation.
They're freezing Dollar Bill's assets, but I suspect that it might be a little chilly in the Democratic caucus in the House as well.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on June 7, 2007 5:15 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (2)
Comments (7)
Posted by exdem13 | June 7, 2007 6:11 PM
1.5 million shares in a Nigerian corporation? What is that, a fancy way to say "money laundering"? Well, at least there's finally been some legal action against that useless kleptocrat. Somehow I think the CBC's support is more pro forma and not exactly sincere. If the congessmen really want to serve the cause of Black public officials & Black improvement, they might want to ditch him later on, after things come out. Henceforth the wait for the trial.
Posted by BearOfNH | June 7, 2007 6:21 PM
Does he have to file financial statements annually? If so, perhaps he can demonstrate he had these holdings before taking office. Otherwise he's got some 'splainin' to do.
Posted by Skip | June 7, 2007 6:32 PM
He'll probably argue that the money came from responding to a business offer he got from a certain gentleman via email...
Posted by Tom Henderson | June 7, 2007 7:19 PM
How did Jefferson gather these kinds of assets as a Congressman?
I'd almost suggest the question should be how did he get these kinds of assets as a Louisiana congressman.
But then the question would answer itself....
(Like Huey Long said, "When I die, I want to be buried in Louisiana, so I can stay active in politics.)
Posted by George | June 7, 2007 9:18 PM
Maybe he made his fortune in cattle futures. He wouldn't be the first person to get rich that way.
Posted by Del Dolemonte | June 7, 2007 10:16 PM
Any time you want to make a Democrat squirm in their chair, ask them about the history of Lyndon Johnson and Halliburton. It began back in 1936, and his widow is still on their Board of Directors.
Lyndon's history with Halliburton makes Dick Cheney look like an absolute hack by comparison. But since recorded history only began in January of 2001, everything that happened in the past centuries isn't true.
Posted by vnjagvet | June 7, 2007 10:32 PM
del's comment points up and exposes the profound ignorance of history from the left side of the political spectrum even though that side's colleagues wrote much of that history.
Robert Caro's magnificent biography of LBJ lays the relationships with the construction and oil industry's connections all out page and verse.
Facts are stubborn things.