The Nebraska congressman was charged after denying to the FBI that he was aware he had received illicit funds from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire ...
"You build up that much of a reputation, you have a lot to lose," he said. If Fortenberry had not heard as few as three crucial words, he may have missed what Ayoub was trying to tell him about where the money came from, Littrell said. Fortenberry took a big political hit when prosecutors announced the charges, and his indictment already divided Nebraska Republicans who backed him for years in the conservative district. "Do you think he would put his reputation on the line for $30,000 when he had $1.5 million?" He said jurors should believe what most witnesses said about Fortenberry: he was an honest man of integrity. She said he loathed making fundraising calls and was often on "autopilot" when he conducted them. "That's not possible." Outside the courthouse, Fortenberry said the process had been unfair and he would appeal immediately. Fortenberry showed no emotion as the verdict was read but his youngest daughter began sobbing uncontrollably in the front of the gallery as her mother tried to console her. A federal jury in LA deliberated about two hours before finding the nine-term Republican guilty of concealing information and two counts of making false statements to authorities. And like I said, he lost his way." "Our view is that it was a simple story," Jenkins said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called on Rep. Jeff Fortenberry to resign on Friday, one day after the Nebraska Republican was found guilty ...
On Thursday, Fortenberry was found guilty by a federal jury in California of one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and two counts of making false statements. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also called on Fortenberry to resign on Friday, saying, “No one is above the law.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called on Rep. Jeff Fortenberry to resign on Friday, one day after the Nebraska Republican was found guilty on multiple charges of lying to the FBI.
Representative Jeff Fortenberry was accused of lying to F.B.I. agents investigating illegal foreign donations.
Mr. Fortenberry was one of those four. Foreign citizens are prohibited from donating to U.S. election campaigns. He could be expelled, if two-thirds of House members vote to approve, but such a measure is exceedingly rare. “I didn’t know anything about this.” The charges came after prosecutors said Mr. Fortenberry denied knowing that the donation, which had been funneled through an intermediary, was from Mr. Chagoury — even after the congressman had been told by a cooperating witness, a fund-raiser referred to in court filings as Individual H, that the donation “probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.” Representative Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican, was convicted in federal court in Los Angeles on three felony counts, including one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and two counts of making false statements. “This appeal starts immediately.” “Five and a half years ago, a person from overseas illegally moved money to my campaign,” Mr. Fortenberry said in a video he posted online at the time. Many House members who are convicted of crimes resign well before reaching that point. He added that he planned to speak with Mr. Fortenberry later in the day. “I hope Jeff Fortenberry will do the right thing and resign so his constituents have that certainty while he focuses on his family and other affairs,” Mr. Ricketts, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday. Each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the Justice Department. A sentencing hearing was set for June 28, and Mr. Fortenberry has vowed to appeal the decision.
A day after a federal jury found Rep. Jeff Fortenberry guilty of lying to the FBI, state and congressional leaders urged him to resign.
“I take no joy whatsoever in the findings of the California jury in this matter,” she said in the statement. “I find no joy in the environment of dark money and influence peddling or the pressure put on public officials. We made our case and always had concerns about the fairness of the process.” “I think he had his day in court,” McCarthy said. Each felony charge comes with a maximum penalty of five years. No one is above the law.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is facing growing pressure to resign from congressional leaders and Nebraska's GOP governor after a California jury ...
“A politician caught up in the cycle of money and power. Outside the courthouse, Fortenberry said the process had been unfair and that he would appeal immediately. Fortenberry was charged after denying to the FBI that he was aware he had received illicit funds from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent who lives in Paris. “Our view is that it was a simple story,” Jenkins said. “The people of Nebraska deserve active, certain representation,” Ricketts said. The three men who funneled money to Fortenberry from Chagoury were all of Lebanese descent and had ties to In Defense of Christians, a nonprofit Fortenberry supported that was devoted to fighting religious persecution in the Middle East.
Jeff Fortenberry has not commented publicly since speaking outside the courthouse after the verdict. His spokesperson says he needs some time with his ...
The verdict is in. A federal jury in Los Angeles finds Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry guilty of three felony counts for lying to the FBI about a 2016 ...
A federal jury found the Republican guilty on three counts of lying to federal investigators about illegal campaign contributions from a foreign ...
At a second interview in July 2019, Fortenberry again denied being aware of any illegal donations to the 2016 fundraiser. "We always felt like it was going to be hard to have a fair process here," Fortenberry said. The congressman also falsely claimed that he was not aware of any contributions to his campaign coming from a foreign national. "The guilty verdict today shows that no one is above the law, and IRS-CI and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold our public servants accountable." Prosecutors said Fortenberry, 61, who represents Nebraska's 1st Congressional District, had "lied to and misled authorities" when he was being interviewed about Chagoury's $30,000 donation. Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry faces up to 15 years in jail after he was found guilty of lying to federal investigators with regards to illegal donations to his 2016 re-election campaign.
concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities who were investigating illegal contributions made by a foreign national to the ...
Instead, after learning this information, Fortenberry made false and misleading statements during a March 23, 2019, interview with investigators who specifically told him it was a crime to lie to the federal government. The co-host of the Fortenberry 2016 fundraiser, who is referred to in court papers as “Individual H,” began cooperating with federal authorities in September 2016 and informed special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation about the illegal contributions. Individual H told Fortenberry that the money – which was distributed to other individuals at the fundraiser so the donations could be made under their names and avoid individual donor limits – “probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.” In the spring of 2018, Fortenberry contacted Individual H about hosting another fundraiser. It also is illegal for the true source of campaign contributions to be disguised by funneling the money through third-party conduits. Gilbert Chagoury, a foreign national prohibited by federal law from contributing to any U.S. elections, donated $30,000 of his money through “straw donors” who attended a Fortenberry campaign fundraiser held in Los Angeles.
Under House Republican rules, lawmakers who have been indicted must resign from their committee assignments while the charges are pending.
Each of the counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. In 2019, the congressman was interviewed twice by investigators about the contributions. An unnamed person who hosted the fundraiser began cooperating with law enforcement in September 2016.
A federal jury deliberated for two hours on Thursday before finding Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry guilty of three charges stemming from a campaign ...
The DOJ said in its news release that Fortenberry made false and misleading statements to investigators during two interviews. The DOJ said that Chagoury donated $30,000 of his money through "straw donors" who attended the 2016 Fortenberry campaign fundraiser held in Los Angeles. Each of the three felony charges carry a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison, the attorney's office said.
Nebraska congressman Jeff Fortenberry is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28, with each of the three charges carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
“I think when someone is convicted it’s time to resign.” … Hopefully this all ends happily, for the sake of justice, for the sake of my integrity, and for the sake of the American system. The nine-term Nebraska representative was indicted in October. “To be accused of this is extremely painful and we are suffering greatly,” he said in a video uploaded to YouTube shortly afterward. During two meetings with the FBI in March and July of 2019, Fortenberry denied knowing about the foreign money, prosecutors said. Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury illegally donated $30,000 through “straw donors” at a Fortenberry campaign fundraiser in California in 2016, according to the attorney’s office. Elias Ayoub, the co-host of that Feb. 2016 fundraiser, later cooperated with federal authorities.
Prosecutors alleged lawmaker lied to federal agents to conceal illegal campaign contributions he received during 2016 California fundraiser.
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Fortenberry, a Republican congressman from Nebraska, was convicted Thursday of lying to investigators about donations to his 2016 reelection campaign.
Over the course of several 2019 interviews with investigators, Fortenberry said that he was unaware of any money coming from foreign nationals. "The lies in this case threatened the integrity of the American electoral system and were designed to prevent investigators from learning the true source of campaign funds." The investigation into Fortenberry's campaign centered around donations from Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury made in connection to a 2016 fundraiser, violating laws about campaign contributions from foreign nationals. The jury heard evidence in the trial indicating that Fortenberry contacted an unnamed individual who was the co-host of the 2016 fundraiser about setting up an event for his 2018 campaign as well. "I think when someone's convicted, it's time to resign," McCarthy said at a Friday morning event alongside several other Republican lawmakers. The day after U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican, was found guilty of several charges related to donations made to his campaign in 2016, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy called on Fortenberry to resign.
Fortenberry, 61, also failed to file an amended report with the Federal Election Commission. “After learning of illegal contributions to his campaign, the ...
They also said Fortenberry claimed that all donors at the 2016 fundraiser were publicly disclosed and that he was not aware of any contributions from a foreign national. In 2020, he defeated his Democratic opponent with 59 percent of the vote. Flood has cited Fortenberry's legal woes in his congressional bid. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as fines. Fortenberry falsely told investigators he was not aware that one of Chagoury’s ties — Toufic Joseph Baaklini — was involved in illegal campaign contributions when he spoke with investigators in March 2019, after having learned about the illicit contribution, prosecutors said. Fortenberry, a member of the Appropriations Committee, was charged in October with lying to the FBI about a $30,000 contribution to his 2016 re-election campaign from Gilbert Chagoury of Nigeria. Foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to federal candidates in U.S. elections.
The jury took less than two hours deliberating in the federal case of Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry: guilty.
The Republican congressman was convicted of lying to federal authorities about illegal contributions to his campaign from a foreign billionaire in 2016.
The legal woes have come with a political cost to the congressman, who was first elected in 2004. Throughout the trial, the congressman’s attorneys accused federal agents of setting him up — asking the unnamed fundraiser host to feed Fortenberry information about the donation during their 10-minute call in 2018. Twice in 2019, investigators interviewed the congressman about the contributions while secretly recording him — the recordings of which, according to reports by multiple outlets, were played during the trial. As he talked, his phone pinged several times with “so many beautiful messages from people literally all around the world, praying for us and pulling for us,” he said. The charges brought against him came as a shock, he said. Instead, investigators said, he asked the individual to host another fundraiser for him. Each of the counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. An unnamed person who hosted the fundraiser for Fortenberry began cooperating with law enforcement in September 2016. One of them, Toufic Joseph Baaklini, gave $30,000 of Chagoury’s cash to “an individual at a restaurant in Los Angeles who, along with others, later made campaign contributions” to Fortenberry’s reelection bid, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The week-long trial in Los Angeles concluded with a guilty verdict that was announced after two hours of deliberations, the Associated Press reported. “I think he had his day in court. His defense team argued that authorities had used deceptive investigative tactics to indict the congressman.