Affidavit Details Bribery Probe of Congressman

WASHINGTON —  Agents investigating allegations of bribery involving a Louisiana congressman found $90,000 in $100 bills wrapped in aluminum foil in the freezer of his home, the FBI said in a court filing released Sunday.

The cold cash came from a transaction videotaped July 30, 2005, the court filing said, a few days before agents searched the northeast Washington home of Rep. William J. Jefferson, a Democrat from New Orleans.

According to the 83-page affidavit, Jefferson offered to help a McLean, Va., businesswoman win contracts to install telephone and Internet service in Nigeria and Ghana in exchange for 30% of the business.

Jefferson proposed she deliver a substantial amount of money to move the deal along, the affidavit alleges.

“Cash,” he allegedly specified on a note to her.

All the while, FBI agents were listening to the conversations, because the woman had reported the dealings to the government and was cooperating with investigators.

Jefferson has denied any improper behavior and has not been charged with a crime. The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it would investigate Jefferson. It announced at the same time that it would investigate Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio), who has been linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The heavily blacked-out affidavit released Sunday was filed in connection with a request for a warrant to search Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office. That search was conducted Saturday.

The informant approached the FBI in March 2005, complaining about dealings she had had over the previous nine months with Jefferson and several of his associates. At the government’s request, she agreed to wear a hidden microphone for subsequent meetings.

At a dinner last May, Jefferson and the informant negotiated, on paper, the percentage of the company that the congressman wanted for his children, the affidavit said.

He even joked about the possibility that he was being watched, the affidavit said: “As they continued to write down figures on the paper, Jefferson began laughing and said, ‘All these damn notes we’re writing to each other as if we’re talking as if the FBI is watching.’ ”

On July 30, the congressman met the woman for breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton hotel near the Pentagon. As they were leaving, Jefferson took from the trunk of her car “a reddish-brown-colored leather briefcase which contained $100,000 cash in denominations of $100 bills.” He put it in his Lincoln Town Car and drove away, the affidavit said.

Four days later, most of the marked bills were found in Jefferson’s freezer. The rest of the cash was recovered from his office assistant and his lawyer.

The court filing, prepared for a magistrate, described the state of the investigation. It suggests that the government is preparing an indictment of the congressman on multiple counts of bribery. An FBI agent working on the case said Jefferson tried to conceal his involvement in the corrupt deals by funneling the payments to his daughters.

In January, Brett M. Pfeffer, once a top aide to Jefferson, pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges and said his boss had demanded kickbacks for facilitating business deals in Nigeria.

A Kentucky businessman, Vernon L. Jackson, pleaded guilty May 3 to paying bribes to Jefferson’s family in a related Nigeria business scheme.

Pfeffer and Jackson agreed to cooperate with the government investigation of the congressman.

Robert Trout, Jefferson’s lawyer, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the court filing. In a statement to the Associated Press, he said the FBI’s affidavit was “part of a public relations agenda and an attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson.” He called the search of Jefferson’s office “outrageous.”

Jefferson, 59, is a Harvard Law School graduate who is on the House Ways and Means Committee.

To some degree, his mounting legal problems in Washington have been overshadowed by the problems in his hometown of New Orleans. His district was flooded after Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, and residents have been focused on recovery.

In early September, Jefferson was criticized for enlisting a military truck and half a dozen National Guard members to go to his residence in New Orleans, where he was seen removing a laptop computer, suitcases and a storage box.