On Tuesday, Jeffrey Fortenberry, a former U.S. Representative from Nebraska, won an appeal to overturn his criminal conviction.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Mr. Fortenberry should not have been tried in Los Angeles, where the Republican’s campaign allegedly received $30,000 from Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, just because federal agents who later interviewed him about the money worked there.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge James Donato said the U.S. Department of Justice could seek a new trial in Nebraska or the District of Columbia, where Mr. Fortenberry denied knowing about illegal contributions.
Judge Donato was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
Mr. Fortenberry applauded the ruling.
“We are gratified by the Ninth Circuit’s decision. Celeste and I would like to thank everyone who has stood by us and supported us with their kindness and friendship,” he said in a statement obtained by The Epoch Times.
The U.S. attorney’s office didn’t exclude the possibility of retrying this case.
“The ruling does not preclude a retrial on the charges that then-Congressman Fortenberry made multiple false statements to federal agents. We are evaluating potential next steps before deciding how best to move forward,” Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, told The Epoch Times.
Conviction and Resignation
Mr. Fortenberry was first elected to represent Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District in 2004 and served nine terms from 2005 to 2022.He was investigated in a case connected to alleged illegal contributions to his 2016 re-election campaign made by a foreign national through conduit donors. Prosecutors said Mr. Chagoury donated the $30,000 through “straw donors” who attended a campaign fundraiser for Fortenberry in Los Angeles. Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns for federal, state, and local offices.
The FBI and several other federal agencies started the case in 2015. Federal agents from the above agencies interviewed Mr. Fortenberry at his home in Lincoln, Neb., and his lawyer’s office in the District of Columbia.
However, he was not charged with violating federal election laws.
Instead, he was charged with making false statements violating Section 1001 of the federal criminal code.
At trial, prosecutors presented recorded phone conversations in which Mr. Fortenberry was repeatedly warned that the contributions came from Mr. Chagoury. The donations were funneled through three strawmen at the 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles.
The case stemmed from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions to four campaigns from Mr. Chagoury, who lived in Paris at the time.
Mr. Chagoury admitted to the crime in 2019 and agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine.
It was the first trial of a sitting congressman since Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) was convicted of bribery and other felony charges in 2002.
Section 1001 of the Federal Criminal Code
Section 1001 of Title 18 imposes criminal liability on anyone who “falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme or device a material fact,” “makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations,” or “makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry.”It has been frequently used against high-profile politicians, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s first national security advisor.
In many Section 1001 cases, high-profile public figures were usually not charged with the initially alleged violations but still were charged because they allegedly made false statements to federal agents during the fruitless investigation.
