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Prospect of prison looms for ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

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Prospect of prison looms for ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges in an alleged scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

By Michael Tarm, Pete Yost, Associated Press / February 16, 2013

Then-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. speaks at a Democratic primary election night party in Chicago last March. The former congressman and his wife Sandra were charged Friday with spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.

CHICAGO

The prospect of prison looms over former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife after they agreed to plead guilty to charges in an alleged scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items — including furs, a gold watch, a football signed by U.S. presidents and even a hat once owned by Michael Jackson.

It wasn't immediately clear how much time either Jackson could end up doing when the legal drama inevitably reaches its climax before a federal sentencing judge within a few months. But judges frown on brazen breaches of public trust, said one former federal prosecutor, and that may mean the former Chicago congressman will likely to have to serve at least a few years behind bars.

"It shows hubris and arrogance that a politician sees his campaign coffers as his to spend as he likes," said Jeff Cramer, who as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago worked on multiple corruption cases. "With these kinds of charges, I cannot imagine him not going to prison ... for 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 years."

He thought Mrs. Jackson, at most, would spend several months in prison.

Prosecutors are reluctant to ask judges to send couples with school-age children, like the Jacksons, to prison for long terms simultaneously — so it's possible, Cramer said, that the government will seek to stagger their sentences in such a way that the Jacksons aren't behind bars at the same time.

Federal prosecutors on Friday filed one charge of conspiracy against the former congressman and charged his ex-alderman wife, Sandra, with one count of filing false joint federal income tax returns for the years 2006 through 2011 that knowingly understated the income the couple received. Both agreed to plead guilty in deals with federal prosecutors.

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Both face maximum penalties of several years in prison; he also faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and forfeitures. But the government did not immediately release the text of its plea agreements. Such agreements almost invariably call for prosecutors to recommend sentences below the maximum.

The son of a famed civil rights leader, Jackson, a Democrat, entered Congress in 1995 and resigned last November. Sandi, as she's known, was a Chicago alderman, but resigned last month amid the federal investigation.

Jackson used campaign money to buy a $43,350 gold-plated, men's Rolex watch and $9,587.64 on children's furniture, according to court papers filed in the case. His wife spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas, the document said.

"I offer no excuses for my conduct, and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made," the ex-congressman said in a written statement released by his lawyers. "I want to offer my sincerest apologies ... it is my hope that I am remembered for things that I did right."

Several messages left with Jackson's father, the voluble civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, were not returned Friday. The elder Jackson has often declined to comment about his son's health and legal woes over the past several months.

The government said, "Defendant Jesse L. Jackson Jr., willingly and knowingly, used approximately $750,000 from the campaign's accounts for personal expenses" that benefited him and his co-conspirator, who was not named in the one-count criminal information filed in the case. The filing of a criminal information means a defendant has waived the right to have a grand jury consider the case; it is used by federal prosecutors when they have reached a deal for a guilty plea.

The prosecutors' court filing said that upon conviction, Jackson must forfeit $750,000, plus tens of thousands of dollars' worth of memorabilia items and furs. The memorabilia includes a football signed by U.S. presidents, a Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen guitar, a Michael Jackson fedora, Martin Luther King Jr. memorabilia, Malcolm X memorabilia, Jimi Hendrix memorabilia and Bruce Lee memorabilia — all from a company called Antiquities of Nevada.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and other penalties. U.S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins is assigned to the case.

Tom Kirsch, an attorney for Jackson's wife said she has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and would plead guilty to one tax count.

Kirsch said his client and her husband have supported each other. He said the ordeal has been stressful for Sandi Jackson, but she "expected to be held responsible ... and wants to put it behind her and her family."

The charge against Sandi Jackson carries a maximum of three-year prison sentence. But Kirsch says the agreement "does not contemplate a sentence of that length."

The court papers said that Jackson filed false financial reports with the U.S. House of Representatives in an attempt to conceal his and his wife's conversion of campaign funds for their personal benefit.

Jackson's resignation ended a once-promising political career tarnished by unproven allegations that he was involved in discussions to raise campaign funds for imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for appointment — which never came — to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat. The House Ethics Committee, which no longer has any power over Jackson, may choose to issue a report on the matter.

Jackson denied any wrongdoing in the Blagojevich matter. But the suspicions, along with revelations that he had had an extramarital affair, derailed any aspirations for higher political office. It wasn't clear from the court papers whether the woman with whom he had the affair was among the half dozen people identified the documents by letters of the alphabet rather than by their names.

Since last June, Jackson has been hospitalized twice at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for treatment of bipolar disorder and other issues, and he stayed out of the public eye for months, even during the November elections.

Will Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. get a slap on the wrist???

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Ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. may lose federal pension

By Katherine Skiba, Chicago Tribune reporter

7:09 a.m. CST, February 19, 2013 WASHINGTON—

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who plans to plead guilty to using campaign dollars to buy more than $750,000 worth of luxury items, memorabilia and other goods, is at risk of losing his freedom and a federal pension estimated at $45,000, observers said.

Jackson, 47, who could be in court as early as this week, faces up to five years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

His wife, Sandi, a former Chicago alderman facing a separate felony charge of filing false tax returns for six years, faces up to three years in prison, they said. Like her husband, she has agreed to plead guilty, according to announcements by their separate legal teams Friday.

Jackson Jr. has been ordered to pay a judgment of $750,000 and surrender some of the goods he bought. He and his wife each could be fined up to $250,000 as well. Sentencing is likely weeks away.

Ohio State University law professor Douglas Berman, an expert on federal sentencing, said Jackson Jr.'s high-dollar crimes, mental condition and duties as a public servant will be considered at sentencing.

"His exposure — the most he could properly get if the judge decides to throw the book at him — clearly is at least five years," Berman said, "and it may be significantly more."

He said some factors help the Jacksons, including their stated remorse, their lack of criminal records and their willingness to plead guilty, saving the government from the burden and costs of a trial.

What hurts Jackson Jr. is the duration of the offenses set out in the federal charges, Berman said. And he noted that it's unclear whether prosecutors will bring up Jackson's dealings with now-imprisoned Gov. Rod Blagojevich or the ex-congressman's former relationship with a woman whose plane fare to Chicago was picked up by a Jackson friend.

Berman said his best early guess was that Jackson Jr. would be sentenced to "a year and a little bit more," and added: "But how hard the prosecutor pushes and what additional, aggravating information they put forward is definitely going to shape the sentencing outcome considerably."

Sandi Jackson's punishment is likely to be less harsh, he said, explaining that because of the couple's two young children, she might be given probation.

Since the two are unique defendants who held public office, the court of public opinion will sway what prosecutors and judges do, he said. Berman cited the public corruption nature of the charges against Jackson Jr., predicting that the government will want to make an example of him "so no one is fooled into believing that once you're a prominent politician, you can cut corners and get away with this."

Jackson Jr. suffers from bipolar disorder, but even if prosecutors are sympathetic to his illness, they will want to make clear that having mental problems does not mean you can commit crimes with impunity, Berman said.

The job of defense lawyers is to minimize their clients' exposure to prison, which may have been done in negotiations over the criminal counts, and "to tell a story as sympathetic as possible," Berman said.

Jackson Jr., 47, resigned Nov. 21 from the seat he had held in Congress for almost 17 years. Pete Sepp, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, calculated then that Jackson Jr. — who was under investigation — might be eligible to collect a pension of $45,000 a year when he reached 62.

Washington attorney Ken Gross said Monday that if Jackson Jr. pleads guilty, that pension is in jeopardy because of a law that strips pensions from lawmakers convicted of an array of public corruption crimes.

Jackson is the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who issued a statement Monday asking for prayers for his son, his daughter-in-law and their children. In the statement, he said his son is "struggling with the highs and lows of his bipolar disorder" and under "tight medical supervision."

The father, speaking in an interview, said his son was in Washington — but not in a medical facility — and was seeing doctors and taking medicine. He said his son faced medical and legal challenges and "the additional pressure of press knocking at his door."

Tribune reporter Kim Geiger in Chicago contributed.

kskiba@tribune.com