Cold Cash Jefferson Convicted on 11 of 16 Counts

This couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Former Congressman William Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana, was found guilty of 11 of 16 bribery and fraud counts in federal court.

A federal court jury in Alexandria, Va., deliberated for five days before finding Mr. Jefferson, 62, a New Orleans Democrat who served in Congress for 18 years until being defeated in 2008, guilty of 11 of 16 counts of bribery-related crimes. The jurors thus rejected defense assertions that Mr. Jefferson’s business-promotion activities in Africa did not qualify as “official acts” under public corruption laws.

Mr. Jefferson faces a long prison term, unless his conviction is overturned on appeal.

In a six-week trial before Judge T.S. Ellis, prosecutors said that from 2000 to 2005, Mr. Jefferson sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a dozen companies involved in oil, communications, sugar and other businesses, often for projects in Africa.

Congressional Democrats did all they could to prevent any action to censure or repudiate Jefferson. In fact, despite the FBI discovering $90,000 in cold cash stashed in Jefferson's freezer, Democrats rallied around this criminal.

Jefferson lost his bid for reelection in 2008.