by Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
Friday August 21, 2009, 2:50 PM
Mose Jefferson, the older brother of the former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson who was convicted two weeks ago of abusing his congressional office to enrich himself and his family, has been, convicted by a federal jury on four charges that he bribed an Orleans Parish School Board member.
The jury considered a seven-count indictment against Jefferson: one count that he conspired to bribe Ellenese Brooks-Simms, three counts of bribery, two obstruction of justice counts and a count of conspiring to commit money laundering.
Jefferson was found guilty on two of the three counts of bribery, and both counts of obstruction of justice.
The obstruction of justice counts carry the stiffest penalties: a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison on each count.
The two counts of bribery involved payments made to Brooks-Simms while she was a member of the Orleans Parish School Board. The jury acquitted Jefferson of the third bribery count, which involved a payment made after Brooks-Simms was off the School Board.
Jefferson will be sentenced Dec. 6, and until then, he is free on the current bond.
Jefferson and several family members in the courtroom reacted stoically to the news.
The eight-day trial centered on whether the $140,000 that Jefferson funneled to former Orleans Parish School Board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms was a gift or a bribe.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, a hearing began where the jury will determine whether Jefferson should forfeit assets he obtained improperly.
Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office said the payments were a bribe in exchange for Brooks-Simms' vote and support for a math tutorial program that Jefferson was peddling.
But Jefferson, who took the witness stand in his own defense, testified that Brooks-Simms pressured him for the money. He said he decided to give it to her as a gift after hearing from her ailing husband about her desperate financial troubles.
Jefferson also testified he had an affair with Brooks-Simms in the 1980s, which would bolster his claim they were longtime friends. Prosecutors called the assertion a fabrication, but did not put Brooks-Simms back on the stand to dispute it.
The verdict came two weeks after a federal jury in Virginia convicted William Jefferson on 11 of 16 counts of public corruption.
At the outset of the Mose Jefferson trial, his defense attorney, Michael Fawer, argued that the cascade of pretrial publicity would taint the jury pool. But after the jury was picked, Fawer said he thought the jurors had indicated in interviews that they could be fair.
Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty in the case and began cooperating with the FBI more than two years ago, agreeing to wear a wire during two May 2007 conversations with Mose Jefferson.
The bribery counts stemmed from three checks that Jefferson wrote to Brooks-Simms from bank accounts associated with companies he controlled. Each time, he made the payments shortly after he was paid by JRL Enterprises, the company that made the I CAN Learn algebra tutorial program. After the passage of almost $14 million worth of contracts in 2003 and 2004, Jefferson received commissions totaling more than $900,000.
The first two checks, each worth $50,000, were given to Brooks-Simms with no person listed on the payee line. After receiving the check from Jefferson, Brooks-Simms wrote the name of her daughter, Stacy Simms, as the recipient, later instructing her to open a bank account in her name and deposit the check. Brooks-Simms deposited the next check in the account, which she acknowledged she controlled.
Stacy Simms, who was given some of the money by her mother to pay off bills, last year pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, essentially failing to notify federal officials about her knowledge of a crime. She testified her mother told her the checks were related to school board business she had with Jefferson.
The third payment was made to Brooks-Simms in January 2005, after she had actually left the board following a resounding defeat in the fall of 2004. An often formidable presence on the board, where she served for two years as president, Brooks-Simms came to alienate many of her fellow board members during her last year.
One of her last actions on the board, however, was to vote for the second of two almost $7 million contracts for I CAN Learn. It was this action, she said, that prompted Jefferson to give her the final $40,000 check. Jefferson, however, countered he gave Brooks-Simms money again because she was so in debt from her failed school board bid -- a plight he sympathized with after the many campaigns he ran for his brother William.
For the third payment, Brooks-Simms testified that Mose Jefferson told her not to use her daughter's name, saying it was too close a connection and could be traced back to them. But Jefferson testified it was Brooks-Simms who didn't want to use Stacy Simms as the conduit for the money, saying he believed they'd had a falling out of some kind.
Brooks-Simms ended up giving Jefferson the name of a friend from church, Rosa Dickerson, as the alleged recipient of the third check, this time for $40,000, as Jefferson's commission had been cut.
The Times-Picayune archive William Jefferson, center, with brother Mose Jefferson, right, in 1982.
To cash the check, which she never told Dickerson about, Brooks-Simms sought the assistance of a mutual friend of hers and Jefferson: businessman Burnell Moliere, a longtime Jefferson family ally.
Moliere testified that before he was contacted by Brooks-Simms he received a call from Jefferson, who indicated the "school board lady" was coming by to see him. Fawer questioned this assertion - noting that Moliere neglected to mention this key fact when testifying last year before a federal grand jury - but prosecutors were able to produce Jefferson's phone records from that day that show he placed a call to Moliere just minutes before calling Brooks-Simms.
Brooks-Simms testified she asked Moliere to cash the check for her, first forging her friend's signature on the back. Moliere, who has pleaded guilty to the federal crime of illegally structuring a financial transaction, deposited the money and through a series of straw payees and cash withdrawals, took the money out in less than $10,000 increments in order to avoid the bank reporting his actions.
Before depositing the check, Moliere testified that he called Jefferson to find out if the check was good. Jefferson said that is the only conversation with Moliere from that day he recalls, adding that they talked all the time about a myriad of issues. Moliere said he discussed his moves to gather the cash for Brooks-Simms with Jefferson, particularly her impatience to obtain the money.
The conspiracy to commit money laundering charge stems from Moliere's efforts to cash the $40,000 check, which prosecutors asserted Jefferson set into action with his initial phone call to him.
Before they began deliberating, Lemmon told jurors that if they found Jefferson innocent on the bribery counts, they also needed to acquit him of the money laundering charge, because that law relates only to ill-gotten proceeds from illegal activity.
The obstruction of justice charges are directly related to two May 2007 conversations Brooks-Simms taped between her and Jefferson, one at The Home Depot in Gretna and the other at West Jefferson Medical Center.
At that point, Jefferson knew that federal investigators were looking into the payments made to Brooks-Simms, although he did not know she was cooperating with federal authorities.
On the tapes, transcripts of which were repeatedly shown to the jurors, he can be heard exhorting Brooks-Simms to get on board with potential cover stories, mostly centering on telling federal investigators that Stacy Simms and Dickerson, the purported recipients of the payments, had worked for him on various projects. To make these plans work, Brooks-Simms needed to talk to her daughter and Dickerson to ensure they were on board, he said.
During closing arguments, Fawer acknowledged these conversations were "stupid," but said Jefferson was just trying to help a friend he believed was in legal trouble. Jefferson also testified he thought it was Brooks-Simms, not necessarily himself, who was the target of the federal probe.
MOSE JEFFERSON CHARGES AND VERDICTS
Count Charge Verdict
1 Conspiracy to corruptly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Ellenese Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with business of the Orleans Parish school board involving something of value of more than $5,000. NOT GUILTY: Max. 5 years
2 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $50,000 on Dec. 3, 2003. GUILTY: Max. 10 years
3 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $50,000 on January 26, 2004. GUILTY: Max. 10 years
4 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $40,000 on January 7, 2005. NOT GUILTY: Max. 10 years
5 To knowingly and willfully conspire to engage and attempt to engage in a monetary transaction by, through and to a financial institution, affecting interstate commerce, in a criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 when such property derived from unlawful activity. NOT GUILTY: Max. 10 years
6 To knowingly and corruptly attempt to persuade Brooks-Simms to lie to a federal law enforcement authorities engaged in a federal investigation with the intent to hinder, delay and prevent a communication to a law enforcement officer of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense. This count relates to a May 21, 2007 conversation between Brooks-Simms and Mose Jefferson. GUILTY: Max. 20 years
7 To knowingly and corruptly attempt to persuade Brooks-Simms to lie to federal law enforcement authorities engaged in a federal investigation with the intent to hinder, delay and prevent a communication to a law enforcement officer of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense. This count relates to a May 25, 2007 conversation between Brooks-Simms and Jefferson. GUILTY: Max. 20 years
Friday August 21, 2009, 2:50 PM
Mose Jefferson, the older brother of the former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson who was convicted two weeks ago of abusing his congressional office to enrich himself and his family, has been, convicted by a federal jury on four charges that he bribed an Orleans Parish School Board member.
The jury considered a seven-count indictment against Jefferson: one count that he conspired to bribe Ellenese Brooks-Simms, three counts of bribery, two obstruction of justice counts and a count of conspiring to commit money laundering.
Jefferson was found guilty on two of the three counts of bribery, and both counts of obstruction of justice.
The obstruction of justice counts carry the stiffest penalties: a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison on each count.
The two counts of bribery involved payments made to Brooks-Simms while she was a member of the Orleans Parish School Board. The jury acquitted Jefferson of the third bribery count, which involved a payment made after Brooks-Simms was off the School Board.
Jefferson will be sentenced Dec. 6, and until then, he is free on the current bond.
Jefferson and several family members in the courtroom reacted stoically to the news.
The eight-day trial centered on whether the $140,000 that Jefferson funneled to former Orleans Parish School Board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms was a gift or a bribe.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, a hearing began where the jury will determine whether Jefferson should forfeit assets he obtained improperly.
Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office said the payments were a bribe in exchange for Brooks-Simms' vote and support for a math tutorial program that Jefferson was peddling.
But Jefferson, who took the witness stand in his own defense, testified that Brooks-Simms pressured him for the money. He said he decided to give it to her as a gift after hearing from her ailing husband about her desperate financial troubles.
Jefferson also testified he had an affair with Brooks-Simms in the 1980s, which would bolster his claim they were longtime friends. Prosecutors called the assertion a fabrication, but did not put Brooks-Simms back on the stand to dispute it.
The verdict came two weeks after a federal jury in Virginia convicted William Jefferson on 11 of 16 counts of public corruption.
At the outset of the Mose Jefferson trial, his defense attorney, Michael Fawer, argued that the cascade of pretrial publicity would taint the jury pool. But after the jury was picked, Fawer said he thought the jurors had indicated in interviews that they could be fair.
Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty in the case and began cooperating with the FBI more than two years ago, agreeing to wear a wire during two May 2007 conversations with Mose Jefferson.
The bribery counts stemmed from three checks that Jefferson wrote to Brooks-Simms from bank accounts associated with companies he controlled. Each time, he made the payments shortly after he was paid by JRL Enterprises, the company that made the I CAN Learn algebra tutorial program. After the passage of almost $14 million worth of contracts in 2003 and 2004, Jefferson received commissions totaling more than $900,000.
The first two checks, each worth $50,000, were given to Brooks-Simms with no person listed on the payee line. After receiving the check from Jefferson, Brooks-Simms wrote the name of her daughter, Stacy Simms, as the recipient, later instructing her to open a bank account in her name and deposit the check. Brooks-Simms deposited the next check in the account, which she acknowledged she controlled.
Stacy Simms, who was given some of the money by her mother to pay off bills, last year pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, essentially failing to notify federal officials about her knowledge of a crime. She testified her mother told her the checks were related to school board business she had with Jefferson.
The third payment was made to Brooks-Simms in January 2005, after she had actually left the board following a resounding defeat in the fall of 2004. An often formidable presence on the board, where she served for two years as president, Brooks-Simms came to alienate many of her fellow board members during her last year.
One of her last actions on the board, however, was to vote for the second of two almost $7 million contracts for I CAN Learn. It was this action, she said, that prompted Jefferson to give her the final $40,000 check. Jefferson, however, countered he gave Brooks-Simms money again because she was so in debt from her failed school board bid -- a plight he sympathized with after the many campaigns he ran for his brother William.
For the third payment, Brooks-Simms testified that Mose Jefferson told her not to use her daughter's name, saying it was too close a connection and could be traced back to them. But Jefferson testified it was Brooks-Simms who didn't want to use Stacy Simms as the conduit for the money, saying he believed they'd had a falling out of some kind.
Brooks-Simms ended up giving Jefferson the name of a friend from church, Rosa Dickerson, as the alleged recipient of the third check, this time for $40,000, as Jefferson's commission had been cut.
The Times-Picayune archive William Jefferson, center, with brother Mose Jefferson, right, in 1982.
To cash the check, which she never told Dickerson about, Brooks-Simms sought the assistance of a mutual friend of hers and Jefferson: businessman Burnell Moliere, a longtime Jefferson family ally.
Moliere testified that before he was contacted by Brooks-Simms he received a call from Jefferson, who indicated the "school board lady" was coming by to see him. Fawer questioned this assertion - noting that Moliere neglected to mention this key fact when testifying last year before a federal grand jury - but prosecutors were able to produce Jefferson's phone records from that day that show he placed a call to Moliere just minutes before calling Brooks-Simms.
Brooks-Simms testified she asked Moliere to cash the check for her, first forging her friend's signature on the back. Moliere, who has pleaded guilty to the federal crime of illegally structuring a financial transaction, deposited the money and through a series of straw payees and cash withdrawals, took the money out in less than $10,000 increments in order to avoid the bank reporting his actions.
Before depositing the check, Moliere testified that he called Jefferson to find out if the check was good. Jefferson said that is the only conversation with Moliere from that day he recalls, adding that they talked all the time about a myriad of issues. Moliere said he discussed his moves to gather the cash for Brooks-Simms with Jefferson, particularly her impatience to obtain the money.
The conspiracy to commit money laundering charge stems from Moliere's efforts to cash the $40,000 check, which prosecutors asserted Jefferson set into action with his initial phone call to him.
Before they began deliberating, Lemmon told jurors that if they found Jefferson innocent on the bribery counts, they also needed to acquit him of the money laundering charge, because that law relates only to ill-gotten proceeds from illegal activity.
The obstruction of justice charges are directly related to two May 2007 conversations Brooks-Simms taped between her and Jefferson, one at The Home Depot in Gretna and the other at West Jefferson Medical Center.
At that point, Jefferson knew that federal investigators were looking into the payments made to Brooks-Simms, although he did not know she was cooperating with federal authorities.
On the tapes, transcripts of which were repeatedly shown to the jurors, he can be heard exhorting Brooks-Simms to get on board with potential cover stories, mostly centering on telling federal investigators that Stacy Simms and Dickerson, the purported recipients of the payments, had worked for him on various projects. To make these plans work, Brooks-Simms needed to talk to her daughter and Dickerson to ensure they were on board, he said.
During closing arguments, Fawer acknowledged these conversations were "stupid," but said Jefferson was just trying to help a friend he believed was in legal trouble. Jefferson also testified he thought it was Brooks-Simms, not necessarily himself, who was the target of the federal probe.
MOSE JEFFERSON CHARGES AND VERDICTS
Count Charge Verdict
1 Conspiracy to corruptly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Ellenese Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with business of the Orleans Parish school board involving something of value of more than $5,000. NOT GUILTY: Max. 5 years
2 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $50,000 on Dec. 3, 2003. GUILTY: Max. 10 years
3 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $50,000 on January 26, 2004. GUILTY: Max. 10 years
4 To knowingly give, offer and agree to give something of value to Brooks-Simms with the intent to influence and/or reward her in connection with the business of the Orleans Parish school board. For the payment of $40,000 on January 7, 2005. NOT GUILTY: Max. 10 years
5 To knowingly and willfully conspire to engage and attempt to engage in a monetary transaction by, through and to a financial institution, affecting interstate commerce, in a criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 when such property derived from unlawful activity. NOT GUILTY: Max. 10 years
6 To knowingly and corruptly attempt to persuade Brooks-Simms to lie to a federal law enforcement authorities engaged in a federal investigation with the intent to hinder, delay and prevent a communication to a law enforcement officer of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense. This count relates to a May 21, 2007 conversation between Brooks-Simms and Mose Jefferson. GUILTY: Max. 20 years
7 To knowingly and corruptly attempt to persuade Brooks-Simms to lie to federal law enforcement authorities engaged in a federal investigation with the intent to hinder, delay and prevent a communication to a law enforcement officer of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense. This count relates to a May 25, 2007 conversation between Brooks-Simms and Jefferson. GUILTY: Max. 20 years