Legal News

Veggie Burgers and Pie-Crusts: Much Ado About Nothing?

By Dionne Searcey

So William Jefferson will be marched off to jail. A federal jury in Alexandria convicted Jefferson of bribery after a seven-week trial in which prosecutors detailed numerous schemes Jefferson orchestrated to bribe African officials or extort money from U.S. businessmen looking for deals in Africa.

But, interestingly, the apparent smoking gun in the case — the $90,000 in cash wrapped in foil and tucked among the veggie burgers and frozen pie dough in his freezer — turned out not to be his undoing.

The cold cash was the undisputed star of the trial. Feds had wired an informant who handed him the cash after the two had discussed a plot to bribe the Vice President of Nigeria for his help greasing a telecom deal.

But jurors acquitted Jefferson of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the charge that was directly tied to the freezer dough (though they did convict him of conspiring to violate the FCPA). The New Orleans Times Picayune lays it all out here:

The Justice Department has been going gangbusters, wielding the FCPA in five continents to crack down on bribery. In Jefferson's case they had to prove he merely intended to bribe the VP. Apparently, defense attorney Robert Trout succeeded in convincing jurors that Jefferson was keeping the money in his freezer for safe-keeping from his housekeeper and intruders and never planned on using it as bribe money.

We'll wait for the final word from jurors after they're dismissed once they settle on a forfeiture amount for Jefferson. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for today.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).