Jefferson pays back a witness

As his legal troubles mounted last year, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) began to pay off a loan to an executive of a Maryland-based global satellite company who is now cooperating with prosecutors and could testify against Jefferson.

Noah Samara, CEO of Worldspace Inc., made a personal loan of between $50,000 and $100,000 to Jefferson in 2001.

{mosads}A spokeswoman for Worldspace verified that the company provided documents to the Virginia grand jury investigating Jefferson and that Samara testified and turned over records. She also said that the original term of the loan was for three years, with a one-year extension, and that it was personal between Samara and Jefferson and did not involve Worldspace as a corporation.

“Both Mr. Samara and Worldspace [have] cooperated and will continue to cooperate until this is over,” said Judith Pryor, who previously described the company and its top executive as “victims” of Jefferson’s corruption schemes.

Pryor said that cooperation would include testifying during the trial if needed.

A call to a spokeswoman for Jefferson’s legal matters was not returned.

Jefferson did not list the debt on his annual financial disclosure forms until the middle of 2006, after Samara included it in a company report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and reporters asked Jefferson about it. At the time, the embattled Louisianan said he didn’t know lawmakers were required to disclose personal loans on their forms.

After the initial oversight, Jefferson listed the loan as a liability worth between $50,000 and $100,000 on his annual disclosure forms for 2006. This year, Jefferson estimated its value between $15,000 and $50,000, according to his most recent financial disclosure forms, which became available Monday.

The ranges are vague, so it is impossible to know exactly how much Jefferson has paid Samara or why.  Jefferson may not want to further aggravate a witness by failing to pay money owed to Samara. Ethics experts say his decision to repay that particular loan certainly stands out.

“It would be wise to repay loans no matter who the individual is,” said ethics lawyer Jan Baran. “Repaying this loan is not inherently odd — only he’s repaying a loan to somebody who could testify in his case, so that represents an awkward appearance.”

Jefferson faces trial on a complicated array of corruption charges related to the promotion of a variety of business ventures in West Africa. Prosecutors accuse Jefferson of accepting nearly $450,000 in bribes as part of the schemes. Jefferson has insisted he is innocent and will clear his name. The trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 2, but that date will likely get delayed until next year, the judge in the case said last week.

Court documents filed early this year provided details about Samara’s interactions with Jefferson. That relationship and details Samara told investigators could play a crucial role in prosecutors’ case against him.

Samara signed a contract with Jefferson’s wife, Andrea, on behalf of her ANJ Group in 2002 for help getting satellite transmission services in three African nations. Samara, according to the Justice Department, told investigators that Jefferson had pressured him to sign the contract with Andrea Jefferson and that he believed it was a bribe solicitation. Andrea Jefferson, along with her children, is listed as an owner of ANJ. {mospagebreak}

Samara also told investigators that Jefferson offered to seek oil concessions from the government of Equatorial Guinea on Samara’s behalf in return for favors from him, including stock in International Petroleum and agreeing to use one of Jefferson’s daughters’ legal services.

Unlike in previous years, Andrea Jefferson is no longer listed as receiving compensation from The ANJ Group on Jefferson’s most recent financial disclosure filing.

{mosads}The Samara loan is the only debt Jefferson seems to have paid down last year, as his legal bills have piled up and contributions to his legal defense fund have slowed to a trickle. In 2006, Jefferson received $56,250 in legal expense contributions from supporters compared to just $20,300 last year.

Jefferson has between $130,000 and $400,000 in loans from Samara, two New Orleans-based banks and Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson.  Johnson’s loan is valued at between $100,000 and $250,000, the same amount as last year.

Jefferson also owes between $15,001 and $50,000 on an MBNA revolving charge account, the latest records show.

Vernon Jackson, the Kentucky businessman now in prison for bribing Jefferson, still owes Jefferson between $1,000 and $15,000, the records show. Jefferson waited nearly two years before notifying the House ethics committee of that loan he made to Jackson even though Jackson told the FBI about the loan in August 2005.

In a May 15, 2007, letter to Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the ethics panel, Jefferson said the $10,000 “was extended on a personal basis to cover personal and family expenses” between April and June of 2005.

The loan, which remains outstanding, may play a key role in the government’s case against Jefferson. The $90,000 found in his freezer came out of the $100,000 offered him by government informant Lori Mody in July 2005, but little is known of the remaining $10,000 — other than its FBI status as accounted-for.