Posted on 09/08/2006 4:21:52 PM PDT by Libloather
Ky. businessman gets 7 years for bribe to Jefferson
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
A Kentucky telecommunications executive who admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to Rep. William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison.
Vernon Jackson, 54, of Louisville, is a key figure in the federal investigation of Jefferson, D-La., who has not been charged. But in court papers, prosecutors have alleged that they caught Jefferson on videotape taking a $100,000 cash bribe. Most of that money later turned up in a freezer in Jefferson's home.
Jefferson was never mentioned by name in Friday's hearing, but prosecutors have made it clear in court papers that he received the bribes from Jackson, which were separate from the money found in Jefferson's freezer.
Jackson, chief executive of the telecommunications firm iGate Inc., said he paid the bribes to gain the congressman's help in obtaining business deals in Africa.
The seven-year, three-month sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutor Mark Lytle said Jackson is continuing to cooperate in the investigation, and his sentence could later be reduced based on that cooperation.
Jackson did not speak during the hearing and declined to comment afterward.
It's kinda of interesting... I've noticed most of the stuff put out by USNewswire comes from the RATS. Maybe USNewswire is a front for the DNC or Soros.
In a real universe, yes.
Sounds like it...
But in his guilty plea, Mr. Jackson asserted that iGate’s payments to the family’s consulting firm amounted to bribes for Mr. Jefferson’s help. He also said he believed that if he had stopped paying, Mr. Jefferson would have quit helping him.
Mr. Jackson, a boisterous man as big as a football lineman, has been cooperating with federal authorities. In a recent interview, he declined to talk about details of the case. But he said that while he had lost an earlier company to chicanery by business associates, “I didn’t think it was going to happen to me in dealing with someone in government.”
Details - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/washington/16jefferson.html
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