Rep. Jefferson Named As Unindicted Conspirator In Another Louisiana Corruption ProbeRep. William Jefferson is is already facing his own federal corruption case.
And one of his little sisters has one, too.
Now we’ve learned that the two of them are unindicted conspirators in a completely separate federal investigation down in New Orleans.
The target of that case is one of Jefferson’s political rivals and a challenger from his 2006 reelection bid, Louisiana state Sen. Derrick Shepherd.
Shepard is accused of fabricating records at his law firm to receive illegal payments that helped him pay off his campaign debt. He faces five criminal charges, including mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
When that indictment was handed up in April, it made reference to “Public Official A” and “Public Official B,” which the Times-Picayune now says are Jefferson and his sister, Orleans Parish Assessor Betty Jefferson.
After Shepard dropped out of the race in 2006, Jefferson steered him toward a bond broker and convicted felon named Gwen Moyo, who arranged to give Shepard about $65,000 out of her account that was frozen by state officials, the indictment says.
Shepard allegedly used some of the money to pay off his campaign debt.
Shepard claims the payments were just bills for legitimate legal services he provided for Moyo.
Jefferson’s sister was also accused of accepting wire payments totaling about $320,000 from Moyo.