Former congressman convicted in freezer cash case

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former Louisiana congressman accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes was convicted in federal court Wednesday in a case in which agents famously found $90,000 stashed in his freezer.

William Jefferson, a Democrat who had represented parts of New Orleans for almost 20 years, was stoic as the verdict was read and had little to say afterward. Asked how he was doing, he said, "I'm holding up."

Prosecutors contended Jefferson accepted more than $400,000 in bribes and sought millions more in exchange for brokering business deals in Africa. After a two-month trial, jurors took five days to convict him on 11 of 16 counts that also included racketeering and money laundering. He was acquitted on the other five.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle said Jefferson could face more than 20 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Jefferson had been under investigation since March 2005. In August that year, FBI agents searched his Washington home and found the cash in his freezer, wrapped in foil and hidden in boxes of frozen pie crust. Prosecutors said he had planned to use the money to pay a bribe to the then-vice president of Nigeria to secure a multimillion dollar telecommunications deal there, an accusation Jefferson denied.

U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said after the verdict that "no person, not even a congressman, is above the law. Ninety thousand dollars in a freezer is not a gray area. It's a violation."

The defense argued that Jefferson was acting as a private business consultant in brokering the deals and that his actions did not constitute bribery under federal law.

Defense lawyer Robert Trout said he will appeal.

The 62-year-old Jefferson was acquitted of counts that included obstruction of justice and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was the first official to be charged with violating that act, which makes it illegal to bribe foreign government officials.

In 1991, Jefferson became Louisiana's first African-American congressman since Reconstruction. His run ended in December, when Republican attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao beat him a year after a grand jury indicted Jefferson.

The verdicts were a clear victory for the Justice Department, which had been embarrassed earlier this year by allegations of prosecutorial misconduct that forced them to drop corruption charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.