Former US Congressman Jefferson begins 13-year prison sentence
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Former Democratic Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, left, enters U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 for sentencing in his bribery case accompanied by his wife Andrea Jefferson. (AP)
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A former Louisiana congressman who infamously was caught with $90,000 in cash hidden in his freezer will have to begin serving a 13-year bribery sentence within the next two weeks, a judge ruled Friday.
Democrat William Jefferson, who represented parts of New Orleans for nearly 20 years, was convicted and sentenced back in 2009 for taking roughly $500,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Nigeria.
But he has been free on bond, living in New Orleans while appealing his conviction.
Last month, though, a federal appeals court in Richmond upheld all but one of the 11 counts on which he was convicted, including bribery, money laundering and racketeering. At a status hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Judge T.S. Ellis III ordered Jefferson, 65, to turn himself in to U.S. Marshals by May 4 to serve the sentence.
Jefferson's lawyer, Robert Trout, and prosecutor Mark Lytle had both agreed that, following the appeals court's unanimous ruling, the time had come for Jefferson to begin serving his time.
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