Bill Jefferson
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromLouisiana's2nd district
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Lindy Boggs
Succeeded by	Joseph Cao
Member of theLouisiana State Senate from the5th district
In office January 1980 – January 1991
Preceded by	Frederick Eagan
Succeeded by	Diana Bajoie
Personal details
Born	William Jennings Jefferson (1947-03-14)March 14, 1947 (age 78) Lake Providence, Louisiana, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Andrea Jefferson
Children	5, includingJalila
Education	Southern University, Baton Rouge (BA) Harvard University (JD) Georgetown University (LLM)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1969–1975
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Unit	United States Army Reserve
Jefferson's voice Jefferson supporting assistance to families impacted byHurricane Katrina. Recorded September 8, 2005

William Jennings Jefferson (born March 14, 1947) is an American former politician fromLouisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of theDemocratic Party. He representedLouisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of thegreater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end ofReconstruction.^[1]

On November 13, 2009, Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years in federal prison for bribery after acorruption investigation,^[2] the longest sentence ever given to a congressman. He began serving that sentence in May 2012 at aFederal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)facility inBeaumont, Texas.

He appealed his case after aU.S. Supreme Court ruling on similar issues. In light of these findings, on October 5, 2017, Jefferson was ordered released, pending sentencing or other action, after a U.S. District judge threw out seven of ten charges against him.^[3] On December 1, 2017, JudgeT. S. Ellis III accepted his plea deal and sentenced Jefferson totime served.^[4]

Jefferson was born on March 14, 1947, inLake Providence, theparish seat ofEast Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana.^[5] He and his eight brothers and sisters worked alongside their father on their farm, and Jefferson was also a heavy-equipment operator for theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers. The Jeffersons were among the few African-American families in the area who in the mid-20th century owned their land (as opposed tosharecropping). They were regarded with respect, but the family struggled in poverty.^[6]

Jefferson graduated fromG. W. Griffin High School in Lake Providence.^[7] In 1969, Jefferson received abachelor's degree fromSouthern University, ahistorically black college inBaton Rouge, where he had participated in ArmyROTC. In 1969 he led a protest against substandard campus facilities and negotiated a resolution of the complaint with then-GovernorJohn J. McKeithen. On graduation from Southern University, Jefferson was commissioned asecond lieutenant in theUnited States Army; he served in a reserve capacity until 1975.^[8] In 1972, he earned aJuris Doctor fromHarvard Law School. In 1996, he received anLLM intaxation fromGeorgetown University Law Center inWashington, D.C.

In 1972 and 1973 Jefferson began the practice of law, having initially served as a clerk for JudgeAlvin Benjamin Rubin of theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Jefferson is the brother ofBetty Jefferson, who became assessor for New Orleans and a Democratic field operative;Mose Jefferson,^[9] Archie Jefferson, andBrenda Jefferson Foster. He is the uncle ofAngela Coleman.

Jefferson and his wife, Andrea Jefferson, have five daughters: Jamila Jefferson-Jones,Jalila Jefferson-Bullock (a former Louisiana State Representative), Jelani Jefferson Exum (a professor of law at theUniversity of Toledo), Nailah Jefferson (a documentary filmmaker), and Akilah Jefferson. Jamila, Jalila, and Jelani are all graduates ofHarvard College andHarvard Law School. Nailah is a graduate ofBoston University andEmerson College. Akilah, a graduate ofBrown University inProvidence, Rhode Island, attends theTulane University School of Medicine.

From 1973 to 1975, Jefferson was a legislative assistant to DemocraticU.S. SenatorJ. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana. Jefferson moved to New Orleans in 1976 and was elected to theLouisiana Senate in 1979, where he served until 1990. He twice unsuccessfully ran forNew Orleans mayor, having, along withRon Faucheux, first challengedDutch Morial in theelection of 1982. He was defeated bySidney Barthelemy in themayoral runoff of 1986.^[10] During the 1982 mayoral race, Morial attacked Jefferson by calling him "Dollar Bill". Jefferson was considered a rising star in Louisiana politics, with some suggesting he would be his state's second African-Americangovernor.^[6]

In 1990, midway through his third term in the state senate, Jefferson ran in thenonpartisan blanket primary forLouisiana's 2nd congressional district seat after 10-term incumbentLindy Boggs announced her retirement. He finished first in the seven-candidate field with 24 percent of the vote. In the runoff, he defeatedMarc Morial, the son of Dutch Morial, with 52 percent of the vote. He was reelected seven times.

In the House, Jefferson joined theCongressional Black Caucus.^[11] He considered running for governorin 1995 but did not do so.

Jefferson ran for governor of Louisiana in the1999 Louisiana gubernatorial election, and was the de facto "official" Democratic candidate. However, he lost badly to incumbentRepublicanMike Foster, having tallied 29.5 percent of the vote and carrying only New Orleans (coextensive withOrleans Parish) and his nativeEast Carroll Parish, whose seat is Lake Providence.

Jefferson and his family controlled one of the most sophisticated and effective get-out-the-vote organizations in South Louisiana – theProgressive Democrats. Journalist Laura Maggi has described Mose Jefferson, a brother of William, as "the man responsible for running the Progressive Democrats street operation" in New Orleans.^[12]

His opponents,Ken Carter andJim Singleton, founded theBlack Organization for Leadership Development as an alternative group. In 2002, the Progressive Democrats' support helped elect Jefferson's protégéeRenée Gill Pratt to theNew Orleans City Council. Jefferson's daughterJalila was defeated byRosalind Peychaud in aspecial election for Gill Pratt's District 91 seat in theLouisiana State House. She defeated Peychaud in the next regular election. Jefferson's Progressive Democrats organization also contributed to the election of Jefferson's sisterBetty, as a municipal assessor, in 1998, 2002 and 2006.

New Orleans politics substantially changed in the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina in 2005, as many former residents have never returned to the city, changing the demographics of voters. A few days after Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson was reported to have used aLouisiana National Guard detachment to recover personal effects and belongings from his home.^[13] After the truck in which he and the detachment traveled became stuck, the Guard helicopter aided Jefferson's party while rescue operations in the city were still underway.

In the ensuing 2006 election cycle forLouisiana's 2nd congressional district, eightDemocrats, threeRepublicans, and oneLibertarian challengers stood for election against Jefferson.^[14] Jefferson had been named as a subject in a corruption probe.

None of the candidates obtained more than 50% of the vote on the first ballot (November 7, 2006), forcing a runoff. The two candidates who survived the first ballot were both African-American Democrats: Jefferson got 30% of the vote, andState RepresentativeKaren Carter, who enjoyed support from theLouisiana Democratic Party’s establishment, picked up nearly all endorsements from local politicians and the local press; she gathered 22% of the vote.^[15] Carter was Jefferson's first credible challenger since his initial run for Congress.

Political commentators predicted an easy victory for Carter on thesecond ballot (to be held on December 9, 2006).^[16] In the last week of campaign, however,Jefferson ParishSheriffHarry Lee, alaw and order Democrat, urged voters against Carter. She had criticized the conduct ofGretna police officers and Jefferson Parish deputies in the aftermath of Katrina, as they had prevented evacuees from fleeing New Orleans. Lee mailed out 25,000 fliers and made public statements attacking Carter. The campaign generated much controversy, highlighting racial differences between the parishes.^[17]

Voter turnout dwindled from 24.15% to 16.25%. While residents of the city of New Orleans gave Jefferson a slight majority over Carter, (51% to 49%); the Jefferson Parish share of the district voted for Jefferson by a staggering 71% to 29%, clearly swinging the election in his favor.

Following Jefferson's reelection,Speaker-electNancy Pelosi announced that Jefferson would not regain his seat on the Ways and Means Committee as long as he is not "cleared of wrongdoing in an ongoing federal corruption probe".^[18]

In 2008, Jefferson sought re-election while under indictment for bribery. Six Democrats challenged him for the seat in the Democratic primary. The voting was delayed due toHurricane Gustav.^[19][20][21]

In the October 4, 2008 Democratic primary, opposition to Jefferson was split among seven contenders. Some of the challengers made strong showings in their base neighborhoods but failed to garner much support in other parts of the district. Jefferson ran second, third, or even fourth in many precincts, but his 25% total was enough to give him a plurality and to send him into the runoff primary, where he facedHelena Moreno, a former TV newscaster, on November 4. Aided by overwhelming support from African-American voters on the same date as the presidential candidacy ofBarack Obama drew them to the polls in unprecedented numbers, Jefferson won the Democratic nomination in the congressional party primary.^[22][23] Jefferson won the November 4 Democratic runoff.^[24]

The general election round occurred on December 6, 2008. Jefferson faced Republican candidateAnh "Joseph" Cao,Green Party candidateMalik Rahim, andLibertarian Party candidate Gregory Kahn. An earlier candidate, independent Jerry Jacobs, withdrew.^[25]

Jefferson was defeated in the general election on December 6, 2008 in a major upset byRepublican nominee Cao,^[26] who had endorsements from several prominentDemocrats includingMoreno andCity CouncilwomenJackie Clarkson andStacy Head. New Orleans MayorRay Nagin endorsed Jefferson. Cao won by three percentage points. Jefferson was the third Democratic incumbent since the end of Reconstruction to lose to a Republican at the federal level in Louisiana. (But in Louisiana as in other parts of the South, many conservative whites left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party, and alliances have shifted.)

Jefferson's loss evoked a sensation because of the overwhelmingly Democratic nature of the district; with aCook Partisan Voting Index of D+28, it is the third-most Democratic district inthe South. Democrats usually win local and state races in landslides.^{[citation needed]}Barack Obama carried the district with 72 percent of the vote in the 2008 presidential election.

Jefferson became the third African-American incumbent Congressman to be unseated in a general election.^[27]

In mid-2005, an investor in theLouisville, Kentucky-basedIT firm iGate pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commitbribery and the payment of $400,000 in bribes to a public official — a then-unnamed member of the U.S. House of Representatives^[28] later alleged to be Jefferson. In return for these bribes, the public official was alleged to have agreed to persuading theU.S. Army to test iGate'sbroadband two-way technology and other iGate products; influencing high-ranking officials inNigeria,Ghana, andCameroon; and meeting with personnel of theExport-Import Bank of the United States in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.^[28]

Based on these allegations, theFBI raided Jefferson's Congressional offices in May 2006. On June 4, 2007, a federalgrand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen felony charges related tocorruption, includingbribery,racketeering,conspiracy,money laundering,obstruction of justice and other offenses.^[29] Jefferson was defeated byRepublicanJoseph Cao on December 6, 2008,^[26] and became the most seniorDemocrat to lose re-election that year.^[30]

In 2009, he was tried in Virginia on federal corruption charges.^[31] On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of eleven of the sixteen corruption counts.^[32] On November 13, 2009, Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years, the longest sentence given to a congressman for bribery or any other crime.

On March 26, 2012, theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Jefferson's conviction and sentence on ten of the eleven counts on which he was convicted.^[33] The Court of Appeals vacated and remanded the conviction on one count of the indictment, involving allegedwire fraud, holding that venue on that count was improper in the federal court in Virginia.^[33]

On April 20, 2012,U.S. District Court judgeT. S. Ellis III revoked Jefferson's bail and ordered that he report to prison by May 4, 2012 to begin serving his thirteen-year sentence.^[34] He reported as ordered at the BOP facility in Beaumont, Texas.^[35] He was scheduled for release on August 30, 2023 but ultimately left federal prison on December 20, 2017.^[36][37]

Jefferson owed $5 million in legal fees and filed forbankruptcy.^[38] On May 1, 2015, Jefferson was permanentlydisbarred by theSupreme Court of Louisiana.^[39]

In the 2016 US Supreme Court case ofMcDonnell v. United States, the Court remanded the case to the lower court based on issues with the corruption charges against former Virginia GovernorBob McDonnell. The Justice Department has since dropped the case and will not prosecute again. Jefferson appealed and U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia threw out 7 of the most substantive of 10 charges against him on October 5, 2017: dropping convictions for "two counts of soliciting bribes, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts ofmoney laundering."^[3]

The judge ordered him released while the government determined the sentence or plans for a retrial.^[3] On December 1, the government and Jefferson agreed that (1) given Judge Ellis' ruling dismissing some of the counts, one of the three remaining counts also had to be dismissed; and (2) given the time Jefferson already served in prison as well as the expense involved in continued litigation, the parties agreed that if on resentencing Judge Ellis imposed a sentence of time-served, neither party would take any further appeals from Judge Ellis' decision in which he dismissed most, but not all, of the counts against Jefferson. Judge Ellis subsequently sentenced the former congressman to time served, having spent five and a half years of his initial thirteen-year sentence in federal prison.

On May 22, 2009, Betty Jefferson, Mose Jefferson, Angela Coleman, and Mose's longtime companion, former New Orleans City Councilwoman Renée Gill Pratt, were indicted for violating theRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. On June 5, 2009, all the defendants pleaded not guilty. Their sister Brenda Jefferson Foster was serving as a witness in the government's case against them.^[40] Mose Jefferson is also facing a separate trial on charges of bribing Orleans Parish School Board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms.^[41] On July 28, 2009,United States federal judgeIvan L. R. Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to January 25, 2010.

On January 10, 2010, Mose Jefferson was convicted of bribery and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. On February 26, 2010, Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy. They were expected to testify for the government in the fraud and corruption trial against Mose Jefferson and Pratt.

Blanket primary, February 6

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General election, March 1

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General election, November 6

Blanket primary, October 3

Source:^[42]

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General election, December 9

Democratic primary, October 4

Democratic primary runoff, November 4

General election, December 6

• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of federal political scandals in the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWilliam J. Jefferson.

• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Jefferson Indictment, June 4, 2007, U.S. v. Jefferson, District Court for Eastern District of Virginia
• Official U.S. House website at theWayback Machine (archived October 2, 2008)
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1947 births
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• Georgetown University Law Center alumni
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Lawyers from New Orleans
• Louisiana Democrats
• Louisiana politicians convicted of crimes
• Members of the United States Congress stripped of committee assignment
• People from Lake Providence, Louisiana
• Politicians convicted of bribery under 18 U.S.C. § 201
• Politicians convicted of racketeering
• Politicians from New Orleans
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