The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in a box in his freezer.
The indictment in federal court in Alexandria, Va., lists 16 alleged violations with prison terms totaling as much as 235 years. Jefferson is charged with racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
He is the first sitting congressman to face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corporate bribery overseas. Jefferson is to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes from 11 different companies for himself and his family, and also of bribing a Nigerian official. The scheme was complicated and Jefferson set up a front company to hide the money, prosecutors said.
"But the essence of the charges are really very simple: Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress," said Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. attorney for eastern Virginia.
Yorkshire at Common Sense Political Thought asks when Jefferson will resign from Congress, since Tom DeLay resigned after indictment.
My guess is about two years from never. Contrary to this laughable assertion at the Carpetbagger Report, Democrats never resign, no matter what sort of charges they face.
I mean, do I really need to link to this site again to show the depth and variety of corruption within the Democratic Party? I wrote quite a while ago about the corruption of the Democratic Party. Is it really asking too much to expect a Democrat mouthpiece on the internet to be honest?
UPDATE: House Minority Leader John Boehner is trying to get Jefferson expelled from the House, following ethics rules.
The Republican leader will ask members of the House to vote on a resolution requiring the ethics committee to review the indictment filed against him in order to seek his expulsion from the House, according to his office.
Boehner will offer a privileged resolution on the House floor as early as Tuesday calling for the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to review the 94-page indictment filed against Jefferson Monday. The House will then vote on his resolution calling for the ethics panel to act.
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