Former congressman William J. “Freezer Cash” Jefferson sentenced to 13 years

Friday, November 13, 2009 — The longest prison term ever handed down to a member of Congress convicted of corruption charges was slapped on former congressman William J. Jefferson for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Jefferson was unceremoniously sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Jefferson's case was made famous by the $90,000 in what prosecutors said was bribe money that the FBI found stuffed into his freezer and a legal battle over the raid of his Washington office, a battle that reached the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Using a confiscated computer hard drive and office files, prosecutors were able to show a pattern of schemes in which Jefferson received and offered bribes, using his position to direct more than $400,000 in payoffs, relating to business ventures he helped arrange in Africa, to companies he set up in family members' names.

Jefferson engaged in "the most extensive and pervasive pattern of corruption in the history of Congress," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark D. Lytle. "The jury found that the congressman conducted his congressional office as a criminal enterprise." [WAPO]