Trial of Former Representative William Jefferson Focuses on His Wife
Checking in on the trial of former Representative William Jefferson, now in its third week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, WBRZ in Louisiana reports that yesterday, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis stated that Jefferson’s wife, Andrea Jefferson, could be considered part of the bribery conspiracy charged against Jefferson, even though she has not been indicted. Mrs. Jefferson is an Assistant Vice President of Southern University, and owns a consulting company called The ANJ Group along with her five daughters. The Government has alleged that Jefferson steered payments to The ANJ Group in return for promoting a project in Africa for Kentucky telecommunications company iGate. iGate’s President, Vernon Jackson, testified earlier in the trial that he paid The ANJ Group $330,000, although the company did no work for iGate. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle argued that Mrs. Jefferson “knew her husband was using her company to further iGate’s ambitions.”
Jefferson’s lead counsel, Robert Trout, argued that there was no connection between Mrs. Jefferson and the alleged scheme. Jefferson is charged with 16 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering, and is alleged to have demanded bribes for himself and his family members in exchange for pushing certain projects in Africa. Jefferson’s attorneys have defended that Jefferson was acting as a private businessman in the alleged dealings, and did not commit official legislative acts such as voting, introducing legislation or appropriating government money.
The prosecution spent most of the day yesterday attempting to prove that Jefferson benefitted from his wife’s company, putting Jefferson’s former campaign and personal treasurer, Jack Swetland, who was also the accountant for The ANJ Group, on the stand. Swetland testified that the company was created in 2001, and by the end of 2005, William Jefferson was sending out the majority of its personal checks.
