United States v. Jefferson, 1:07–cr–209

• Decision Date: 04 October 2017
• Docket Number: No. 1:07–cr–209,1:07–cr–209
• Citation: 289 F.Supp.3d 717
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. William J. JEFFERSON
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

289 F.Supp.3d 717

UNITED STATES of America
v.
William J. JEFFERSON

No. 1:07–cr–209

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division.

Filed October 4, 2017

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Mark Lytle, Karen Ledbetter Taylor, Rebeca H. Bellows, United States Attorney's Office, Alexandria, VA, Charles E. Duross, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for United States of America.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

T.S. Ellis, III, United States District Judge

In 2007, William Jennings Jefferson, a nine-term Congressman from Louisiana, was indicted, tried, and convicted by a jury of bribery, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit those crimes. Jefferson unsuccessfully appealed his sentence to the Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court; his convictions and sentences were affirmed by both. Then, in 2016, the Supreme Court in United States v. McDonnell , ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 2355, 195 L.Ed.2d 639 (2016), altered the legal landscape with respect to the principal element of bribery—the "official act."¹ Jefferson, seizing upon this decision, filed a petition under § 2255, challenging his convictions on the basis that the Supreme Court's new definition of official acts meant that the activities for which he was convicted were not criminal. Specifically, Jefferson argues that he never engaged in or agreed to engage in official acts as defined by McDonnell . The government disagrees, arguing that the evidence at Jefferson's trial supports a finding that he traded official acts for bribe payments, even after McDonnell . The matter is now ripe for disposition, and Jefferson's motion must be granted in part and denied in part.

I.

William Jefferson served nine terms in Congress representing the Second District of Louisiana, which includes much of the City of New Orleans. He was first elected in 1991 and maintained congressional offices in the District of Columbia and New Orleans. In his role as a congressman, Jefferson served on several House committees and subcommittees, including the Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittee on trade, and the Budget Committee. During his service in Congress, Jefferson also served as co-chair of the Africa Trade and Investment Caucus and the Congressional Caucus on Nigeria.

The government's charges against Jefferson involved payments Jefferson solicited for assistance with business promotion and development. In essence, the indictment charged Jefferson with soliciting and receiving payments from various entities in exchange for promoting their business activities. Indeed, the government adduced evidence at trial that from 2000 to 2005, Jefferson sought hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies involved in communications, oil, and sugar, often for projects in West Africa. Because the parties' arguments

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focus in part on whether Jefferson's activities involved performance of "official acts" in return for receiving that money, it is important to describe in detail the evidence adduced at trial.

A.

In the longest running scheme, the iGate scheme, Jefferson solicited money from Vernon Jackson, the President of iGate, a Louisville, Kentucky telecommunications company, in exchange for Jefferson's promotion of iGate's technology to the Army and to various West African countries. In return for money, and delivery of iGate shares to ANJ, a company controlled by Jefferson's wife, Jefferson agreed to promote and did promote iGate technology to foreign and domestic officials over a span of several years, including in the course of trade promotion trips Jefferson took to Africa.

The iGate scheme began when Jefferson befriended Jackson in early–2000. Jackson was then the President of iGate, a company whose goal was to market and sell its high speed broadband technology to the military, African companies, and historically Black Institutions in the United States. In mid to late 2000, Jackson attempted to secure a number of military contracts for iGate and reached out to Jefferson for assistance in this regard. To assist Jackson, Jefferson arranged meetings with army officials to promote iGate technology. In 2000, Jefferson met with General Hylton and discussed the possibility of testing iGate technology at Fort Huachuca. A few months later, in 2001, Jefferson discussed the use of iGate technology with Colonel Brown, believing that Colonel Brown was the pertinent requisition officer for the Army.

Jackson was impressed by Jefferson's efforts on his behalf, and asked for Jefferson's help with promoting other ventures. Jefferson agreed to help, but for a price, asking Jackson to hire his family consulting firm, ANJ, to assist with marketing iGate products. Jefferson told Jackson that his wife and daughter owned and operated ANJ. Jackson and iGate agreed to hire ANJ, and Jefferson provided Jackson with a contract outlining the arrangement, under which iGate would pay ANJ with iGate shares, and $90,000 a year in twelve $7,500 monthly payments, with bonuses paid based on a percentage of iGate's profits. Jefferson and his wife, Andrea Jackson, executed the contract on January 15, 2001. In accordance with the contract, 100,000 shares of iGate stock were transferred to ANJ on January 22, 2002. By September 2002, a total of 550,000 shares of iGate stock had been transferred to ANJ. Jackson stated at trial that he understood that this arrangement really meant that he was paying Jefferson to promote iGate technology to customers, including the Army.

Following the execution of the contract between ANJ and iGate, Jefferson upheld his bargain by promoting iGate technology in West Africa. In 2003, Jefferson met with a number of high ranking West African government officials and businesspeople. In one of those meetings in Nigeria, Jefferson discussed iGate technology with Dumebi Kachikwu and Ahmed Vanderpuije, the founders of Netlink Digital Television ("NDTV"), a satellite television provider. Jefferson negotiated an agreement between NDTV and iGate to provide satellite television service in Nigeria. As part of his pitch to NDTV officers, Jefferson agreed to arrange meetings with the United States Export–Import Bank (the "Ex–Im Bank"). Jefferson eventually followed through on his Ex–Im Bank promise, bringing representatives of iGate and NDTV to the Ex–Im Bank, and expressing his support for the joint venture at that meeting.

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Without informing iGate, Jefferson solicited a payment from NDTV, granting Jefferson a portion of revenue from the joint venture and shares in NDTV. NDTV also agreed to pay iGate $44,000,000 with a $6,500,000 down payment for the right to use iGate technology. After successfully negotiating the deal with NDTV, Jefferson convinced iGate to increase its payments to ANJ from five to thirty-five percent of iGate's profits.

Throughout 2003 and 2004, Jefferson continued to make trips to Africa to meet with foreign officials and support the iGate-NDTV venture. Jefferson arranged a meeting in 2003 with Jackson, Vanderpuije, another NDTV representative, and Nigerian Vice President Abubakar to discuss Nigeria's support for iGate-NDTV's Ex–Im Bank application. In February 2004, Jefferson met with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to discuss improvement of Nigeria's telecommunications infrastructure, and recommended use of iGate technology as a possible solution. During these visits, Jefferson presented himself as a member of the United States Congress. He also used his congressional passport and the assistance of his staff to travel to Africa.

In 2004, the iGate-NDTV joint venture failed, and iGate agreed to refund $3,500,000 of the NDTV's down payment. Not willing to allow the flow of payments from iGate to stop, Jefferson secured a replacement for NDTV's role in the iGate scheme, Lori Mody and her company W2 Limited. Brett Pfeffer, Jefferson's former legislative aide, introduced Jefferson to Mody, and after a lengthy meeting Mody agreed to enter an investment agreement with iGate, based largely on Jefferson's assurances that he would be able to secure financing from the Ex–Im Bank and cooperation from Nigerian officials. The investment agreement provided compensation to Jefferson including payments to ANJ consulting, ownership interests in Mody's businesses, and payments to other businesses owned by Jefferson's family. In July 2004, Mody and W2 paid iGate $1,500,000, and Vernon Jackson remitted $50,000 to ANJ. In September 2004, Mody made a second payment to iGate in the sum of $2,000,000. Here again, $50,000 was remitted to ANJ, Jefferson's family business, despite the fact ANJ had not performed any work for iGate.

In late 2004 and early 2005, the iGate-W2 venture began to falter, and Mody grew concerned that Jefferson was engaged in criminal activity. Accordingly, Mody contacted the FBI and Justice Department and began working as a government informant in March 2005. Now working with the FBI, Mody renewed her efforts to promote the iGate-W2 venture with Jefferson. Jefferson traveled to Africa to meet with officials in Ghana and Nigeria to promote the W2-iGate venture. While in Nigeria, Jefferson determined that it would be necessary to secure the support of Nigeria Telecommunications Limited...