Former Consultant Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska has been charged with mendacity to federal government all through a marketing campaign finance investigation, renewing a case that an appeals courtroom had overturned.
A lavish jury in Washington indicted Mr. Fortenberry, a Republican, on two counts of mendacity to the F.B.I., in step with the indictment, which was once filed on Wednesday.
Mr. Fortenberry was once convicted in 2022, however past due utmost hour a three-judge appeals courtroom panel reversed that call, pronouncing he have been attempted within the unsuitable venue.
A spokesman for Mr. Fortenberry, Chad Kolton, denounced the brandnew fees, pronouncing he was once the sufferer of a weaponized Justice Section. In truth, federal prosecutors in fresh months have introduced fees in opposition to two alternative lawmakers, each Democrats: Consultant Henry Cuellar of Texas and Senator Robert Menendez of Unutilized Jersey.
“This case has defined overzealous prosecution from the earliest days of the investigation, and retrying it in D.C. just highlights the prosecutors’ vindictive obsession with destroying a good man’s life,” Mr. Kolton stated.
At factor are donations Mr. Fortenberry gained from Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, who next admitted to his phase in a scheme to form unlawful marketing campaign donations to applicants for president and Congress. International electorate don’t seem to be allowed to form political donations to an American candidate.
In January 2016, Mr. Chagoury contributed $30,000 to Mr. Fortenberry’s re-election marketing campaign, routing the cash thru alternative community. The host of the fund-raiser, who isn’t named within the indictment, began to cooperate with the F.B.I. in September of that hour.
In June 2018, the fund-raiser host spoke with Mr. Fortenberry over the telephone and informed him the 2016 donation was once from Mr. Chagoury. In keeping with the indictment, Mr. Fortenberry didn’t shoot steps to amend his marketing campaign finance document or go back the donation. He did, on the other hand, ask about the opportunity of website hosting every other marketing campaign tournament.
Federal investigators first interviewed Mr. Fortenberry in 2019. The Justice Section charged him with mendacity to federal brokers in October 2021.
Going through political power, Mr. Fortenberry, who was once first elected to Congress in 2004, resigned in March 2022 a couple of days later his conviction. He was once sentenced to 2 years of probation, and was once informed to pay $25,000 and carry out 320 hours of nation carrier.
