In Case Against Politician, Friendship, Ambition and Betrayal

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/washington/16jefferson.html?ei=5094&en=804fd92538e8b9bc&hp=&ex=1158379200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
September 16, 2006

In Case Against Politician, Friendship, Ambition and Betrayal

By CHRISTOPHER DREW

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In July 2005, Vernon L. Jackson returned home to Louisville from Washington, where he had just met with Representative William J. Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who had been helping promote his fledgling digital-technology company. David Harper, a lawyer for the company, said he had never seen Mr. Jackson so demoralized.

For nearly five years, the inventor and the congressman had carried the message that Mr. Jackson’s company, iGate, could help close the “digital divide” by delivering high-speed Internet access to poor blacks around the world.
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Unbeknownst to the two men, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been monitoring their dealings. Less than three weeks later, agents raided Mr. Jefferson’s homes, in Washington and in New Orleans, and found stacks of cash stuffed in a freezer.
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In recent months, the outlines of the case have emerged in court filings and news reports. But an examination of court records and dozens of internal iGate documents, as well as interviews with a number of Mr. Jackson’s associates, offers a far clearer picture of the relationship between the two men, and of how Mr. Jefferson went from helping a small company to trying to take it over for his family’s benefit.