The corruption case against then Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson in the United States started on a suspicion of bribery. The FBI raided his Congressional offices in May 2006. He was re-elected to his seat in the fall. On June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen charges related to corruption. Jefferson was defeated by Republican Joseph Cao on December 6, 2008, and was the most senior Democratic incumbent to lose re-election that year.See NNDB.com, Jefferson article in NNDB Beta, which includes a list of his family members. See also New York Times articles on Jefferson. In 2009 he was tried in the US District Court in Virginia on corruption charges."Trial of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson begins today in Virginia", in Times-Picayune, 9 June 2009 On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts."William Jefferson verdict: Guilty on 11 of 16 counts" in Times-Picayune, August 5, 2009 Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years on November 13, 2009 - the longest sentence ever given to a representative for bribery or any charge.NPR.org

After a related bribery case was heard by the United States Supreme Court (McDonnell v. United States (2016), Jefferson's lawyers appealed his case. In view of the findings by the Supreme Court, District Judge T.S. Ellis III dropped seven of the ten charges on which Jefferson had been convicted and ordered his release from prison on October 5, 2017. On December 1, 2017, a federal judge reduced his sentence to time served: five years and five months, based on a joint recommendation by the prosecutors and defense attorneys.AP, "No more prison time for William Jefferson, judge rules", Times-Picayune, 1 December 2017

Corruption investigation The investigation began in mid-2005, after an investor alleged $400,000 in bribes were paid through a company maintained in the name of Jefferson's spouse and children. The money was traced to a tech company named iGate, Inc., of Louisville, Kentucky. In return for the payment, it is alleged, Jefferson would help iGate's business. Jefferson was to persuade the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products; use his efforts to influence high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon; and meet with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.

On 30 July 2005, Jefferson was videotaped by the FBI receiving $100,000 worth of $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Jefferson told an investor, Lori Mody, who was wearing a wire, that he would need to give Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar $500,000 "as a motivating factor" to make sure they obtained contracts for iGate and Mody's company in Nigeria.

A few days later, on 3 August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington and, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, "found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers". Serial numbers found on the currency in the freezer matched serial numbers of funds given by the FBI to their informant.

Late on the night of May 20, 2006, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Jefferson's office in the Rayburn House Office Building.Affidavit and search warrant (1.25MB PDF) After the raid, one of Democrat Jefferson's staunchest defenders in the turf battles between the FBI and Congress became Dennis Hastert, who was the Republican Speaker of the House.

The affidavit used to support these raids alleged: The FBI videotaped Jefferson receiving a stock certificate from Mody for a company set up in Nigeria to promote iGate's technology. Jefferson predicted the deal would generate $200 million annually after five years. Jefferson told Mody that he wanted a similar financial stake in the business in Ghana. Jefferson sought $10 million in financing from Mody to take over iGate and install "confidants" on the new board. In two payments, Mody wired $89,225 to the ANJ Group LLC, a company controlled by Jefferson's family. Jefferson lent $4,800 of the money Mody gave him to an unnamed congressional aide. Another $4,900 was given back to the FBI by one of Jefferson's attorneys. The FBI claims it has uncovered "at least seven other schemes in which Jefferson sought things of value in return for his official acts".

In 2009 Amy Berman Jackson represented Jefferson, the nine-term Louisiana representative, in his corruption trial.

Former aides' guilty pleas

In January 2006, Brett M. Pfeffer, a former aide to Jefferson, implicated him in a corruption scheme involving an Internet company being set up in Nigeria. Pfeffer was an assistant and listed himself as president of an obscure investment company in McLean, Virginia. In return for political support for the deal, Jefferson had legal work directed toward the Jefferson family's operations. It was also said that a daughter of Jefferson was put on retainer of the Virginia investment company to the tune of $5,000 a month. Pfeffer secured Mody’s involvement by leveraging his longstanding friendship with her ex-husband and presenting himself as a credible family associate, despite engaging in calculated deception as a con man. Jefferson is said to have arranged for his family to have a 5-percent to 7-percent ownership stake in the Nigerian internet company. On January 11, 2006, in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Pfeffer pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting bribery of a public official.Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service, "Former congressional aide pleads guilty to bribery", USA Today, 11 January 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2006. On May 26, Pfeffer was sentenced to eight years.

On May 3, 2006, during a plea hearing in U.S. District Court, Vernon Jackson, 53, CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based iGate Inc., pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official and conspiracy to bribe a public official. According to the Associated Press, "court documents make clear that Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) is the accused congressman, without naming him". Jackson's plea bargain requires his cooperation in the ongoing investigation against the congressman he admits bribing. The total amount of the bribes is between $400,000 and $1 million, according to court documents of the Jackson proceeding.FBI, "Businessman Pleads Guilty to Paying Bribes to U.S. Congressman" , FBI, May 3, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2006. On September 8, Jackson was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months in jail.

Congressional office raid

The raid of Jefferson's office set off a series of political events: Jefferson immediately challenged the action in federal court. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued "a rare joint statement demanding that the FBI return the documents and saying that Jefferson then should cooperate more fully with the investigation"."Bush orders documents seized in Capitol Hill search sealed", CNN "Many Republicans and Democrats contend that the unprecedented raid on a congressional office was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government that are meant to shelter lawmakers from administrative intimidation."Shailagh Murray and Allan Lengel, Washington Post, May 25, 2006 Tensions escalated to the point where – according to AP – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his deputy Paul McNulty, and possibly FBI Director Robert Mueller "were said to be ready to quit if the Justice Department was asked to return the Jefferson documents ... [while the] House was threatening to go after the Justice Department's budget".

On May 25, President Bush stepped in, taking the extraordinary step of "directing the Department of Justice to seal all the materials recovered from Congressman Jefferson's office for the next 45 days and not to allow access to anyone involved in the investigation". Representative James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, began to hold hearings – called "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?" – on the "profoundly disturbing" questions that Sensenbrenner said were raised by the Justice Department's actions.

The FBI, in answering Jefferson's complaint of the raid, attached an FBI agent's affidavit claiming that the raid was necessary because, while the FBI was searching Jefferson's home in August, Jefferson tried to "surreptitiously remove" documents. An ABC News poll released 1 June 2006 found 86% of Americans supported the FBI's right to search congressional offices when they obtain a warrant.

On July 10, 2006, Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that the FBI raid on Jefferson's office was legal,Judge rules FBI raid on Hill office legal — Jerry Seper and Christina Bellantoni, Washington Times, July 11, 2006 rejecting the claim of both Jefferson and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives that the search violated the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause, separation of powers principle, and the Fourth Amendment. Chief Judge Hogan, in a 28-page ruling, acknowledged that the "facts and questions of law presented here are indeed unprecedented", but wrote that it is "well-established" that a Congressman is "generally bound to the operation of the criminal laws as are ordinary persons", and that the Speech or Debate Clause does not "make Members of Congress super-citizens, immune from criminal responsibility.'", citing United States v. Brewster, 408 U.S. 501, 516.

Hogan, in his conclusion, wrote:

The existing broad protections of the Speech or Debate Clause – absolute immunity from prosecution or suit for legislative acts and freedom from being 'questioned' about those acts (including privilege from the testimonial act of producing documents in response to a subpoena) – satisfy the fundamental purpose of the Clause to protect the independence of the legislature. The Court declines to extend those protections further, holding that the Speech or Debate Clause does not shield Members of Congress from the execution of valid search warrants. Congressman Jefferson's interpretation of the Speech or Debate privilege would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime. Such a result is not supported by the Constitution or judicial precedent and will not be adopted here. See Williamson v. United States, 28 S. Ct. at 167 ('[T]he laws of this country allow no place or employment as a sanctuary for crime.') (quotation omitted).

Later in that same month, however, a three-judge appellate panel unanimously overruled Hogan's decision and affirmed that the Department of Justice could not review Jefferson's files until Jefferson had seen what files were taken and which of those pertained to his work as a legislator. The appellate court directed that Hogan, the judge who originally authorized the controversial search and seizure, should ascertain whether Jefferson's claims of legislative privilege extended to specific seized files that the lawmaker might cite. On March 31, 2008, the United States Supreme Court denied further review.

Removal of committee membership