Congressman's brother charged with bribing school board president
Apr 3, 2008 12:30 PM
Mose Jefferson, the eldest brother and chief political strategist of
Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, has been indicted by a federal
grand jury on charges that he bribed the former president of the Orleans
Parish School Board to ensure her support for an algebra curriculum he was
selling. Ellenese Brooks-Simms, the former board president, has pleaded guilty
to accepting bribes; she is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
Jefferson's indictment brings to 37 the number of people charged with crimes
related to defrauding the Orleans Parish School Board since federal investigator
began a five-year probe.
Click here to read The New Orleans Times-Picayune article.
FROM JUNE 2007: In a clear sign that federal prosecutors are digging deeper into a bribery
scandal at the Orleans Parish (La.) School Board, Mose Jefferson -- the
eldest brother of indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and the congressman's
chief political strategist -- was summoned, along with two School Board members,
to a grand jury Wednesday.
Click
here to read The New Orleans Times-Picayune article.
EARLIER:
Former Orleans Parish (La.) School Board President Ellenese
Brooks-Simms secretly recorded several conversations she had recently with Mose
Jefferson--the man who investigators suspect paid her bribes--as part of her
agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Brooks-Simms has pleaded guilty
to federal fraud and kickback charges in connection with a scheme to win board
support for the purchase of the "I CAN Learn" computer-based algebra
tutorial.
Click
here to read The New Orleans Times-Picayune article.
Former Orleans Parish (La.) School Board president Ellenese
Brooks-Simms is expected to plead guilty in federal court to charges that she
accepted more than $100,000 in bribes from Mose Jefferson--brother of indicted
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson--in exchange for supporting a multimillion-dollar
math curriculum contract.
Click
here to read The New Orleans Times-Picayune article.
