Rep. Jeff Fortenberry resigns after being found guilty of lying to FBI
Source: Washington Post
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) arrives at his trial in Los Angeles on March 16. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) said Saturday he will resign from Congress after he was convicted Thursday on three felony counts for lying to federal investigators about illegal campaign contributions from a foreign billionaire. In a letter to his House colleagues, Fortenberry said his last day in Congress will be March 31.
It has been my honor to serve with you in the United States House of Representatives, Fortenberry wrote. It has been my pleasure to call many of you friends. May God bless you as you labor for the good of our country, help those in need, and strive for what is right and just. Fortenberrys charges stem from a 2016 fundraiser held in Glendale, Calif., for the congressmans reelection. There, Fortenberry received donations totaling $30,200 from Gilbert Chagoury, a wealthy Nigerian business executive of Lebanese descent who used other people as conduits to make the contributions, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California announced in October.
Foreign nationals are prohibited from donating to candidates running for federal office in the United States. It is also illegal to disguise a donors identity through third-party contributions. Fortenberry was convicted of one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. Each of the counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
Fortenberrys week-long trial in Los Angeles concluded with a guilty verdict announced after two hours of deliberations on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The congressman who has maintained his innocence since being charged in October said he planned to appeal the verdict. His defense team argued that authorities had used deceptive investigative tactics to indict the congressman.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/26/fortenberry-resigns-lying-fbi/
PortTack
(32,491 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)considering IOKIYAR to be convicted and soon-to-be-sentenced yet be permitted to remain in office anyway.
dchill
(38,234 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)bucolic_frolic
(42,482 posts)vow to fight with fundraising letters. What's the matter with him? True Republicans don't accept guilt. They just make more noise.
lkinwi
(1,477 posts)Im surprised that he didnt wear his misdeeds as a badge of honor!
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)I think he not only supported his own "little lies" about greazy money to the FBI, but also THE BIG REPUBLICAN LIE.
So Republican liars are unfit to serve in Congress. Off to Siberia with them.
The Roux Comes First
(1,271 posts)Just the sort of juicy patriot they seem to savor.
Lonestarblue
(9,813 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 26, 2022, 07:07 PM - Edit history (1)
I think NE-2 (which includes Omaha) would have to be the one to need to flip as a R+1.
(edit to correct party of the 2 Senators! rsdsharp)
rsdsharp
(9,005 posts)Both are Republicans.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)(I actually was just looking at that elsewhere)
Zambero
(8,953 posts)Honesty, Integrity, Decency, Character, to name a few.
cstanleytech
(26,027 posts)asking questions and expecting him not to lie?
Zambero
(8,953 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)unblock
(51,921 posts)Mike Nelson
(9,881 posts)... is he okay? The man is not following the routine... lie, conceal, lie, appeal, lie, delay, lie, scream "Hoax!" and "Witch Hunt!" - and stay in office like you're a dictator.
mcar
(42,179 posts)Goodbye!
Botany
(70,219 posts)"May God bless you as you labor for the good of our country, help those in need, and strive for what is right and just.
ananda
(28,759 posts)Now you have to find someone else just as bad.
gab13by13
(20,786 posts)he should have let the NRA launder the money first.
agincourt
(1,996 posts)I sit and wonder why Fartenbuckles didn't get the free pass that a lot of other GOP reps get.
Rabrrrrrr
(58,346 posts)appointment, you fucking fuck.
Or perhaps Pelosi will refuse to let him vote since he is now a felon. Rule of law, right? Isn't that what fucking charlatans are always saying they love most of all?
Assturds.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)Rabrrrrrr
(58,346 posts)He still shouldn't be allowed to vote on anything, though.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)(and then go find Nunes and lock him up too with the rest of them)
jmowreader
(50,419 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)onenote
(42,298 posts)Rabrrrrrr
(58,346 posts)What an asshole.
Where in the current Republican playbook is the section on helping those in need? Where is the section on doing what is right and just?
FUCK YOU!
Omaha Steve
(98,876 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)Wasn't sure which district you were in!
CaptainTruth
(6,540 posts)I swear I read that somewhere...
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)By Aaron Katersky
March 25, 2022, 2:49 PM
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani who was previously convicted on campaign finance charges, pleaded guilty Friday to a wire fraud conspiracy charge that resulted from his work at a startup insurance company he co-founded.Federal prosecutors accused 50-year-old Parnas of duping investors in Fraud Guarantee, a company he established in Florida with a co-defendant, David Correia, who previously pleaded guilty.
Parnas appeared by video in front of U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan and said "between approximately 2012 and 2019 I agreed with another person to give false information" to potential investors."I'm extremely sorry for my actions, your honor," Parnas said. Parnas and Correia tried to lure potential investors to Fraud Guarantee by hiring Giuliani as a pitchman, according to federal prosecutors. Giuliani has said he was paid $500,000.
Parnas briefly became a figure in the first congressional impeachment inquiry against former President Donald Trump in connection with his role in assisting Giuliani in his effort in Ukraine to find disparaging information about President Joe Biden and his family, as well to call for the ouster of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. At least seven victims invested a total of more than $2 million in Fraud Guarantee because Parnas and Correia misled them about the financial arrangements.
The majority of investor funds were withdrawn as cash and were spent on personal expenditures such as Parnas' rent, prosecutors said. "Various representations he made to investors were material to obtaining funds," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos said. Parnas was previously convicted of six other counts. On the wire fraud conspiracy, he faces at least five years in prison when he's sentenced June 29.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lev-parnas-associate-rudy-giuliani-pleads-guilty-wire/story?id=83673598
And the DeSantis connection -
By Gray Rohrer and Steven Lemongello
Orlando Sentinel |
Nov 15, 2019 at 1:50 PM
Ron DeSantis as Florida governor-elect, thanks Ukrainian-born businessman Lev Parnas of Boca Raton while Parnas' partner Igor Fruman takes a photo, on election night in November.
Lev Parnas, the Ukrainian-American tied to Rudy Giuliani and under indictment for campaign finance fraud, met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at least six times and had other encounters beyond that, the governors office confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel.
The number of interactions is more than previously reported by Florida news outlets asking questions for weeks about the governors ties to the Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman. The duo also has been tied to the Ukraine scandal that has led to House impeachment hearings of President Trump.
DeSantis has refused to talk about his encounters with the two South Florida businessmen beyond an initial brief description of them, even though Parnas repeatedly contacted his campaign and sought meetings with DeSantis. Now Parnas and Fruman face charges of illegally funneling foreign money into U.S. campaigns.
DeSantis office stressed that the governor had no knowledge of their alleged crimes and immediately gave the $50,000 they had contributed to DeSantis campaign to the U.S. Treasury after news broke of their arrests.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-desantis-parnas-fruman-20191115-ex5bvk6ezfavxgksokpnjoldty-story.html
TexasTowelie
(110,972 posts)that he was caught.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)were like Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Owl
(3,627 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,901 posts)in a company with a name like that?
MissMillie
(38,419 posts)From the article:
Foreign nationals are prohibited from donating to candidates running for federal office in the United States.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)and during the latter part of that time, was planning to run for Rubio's seat for Senate when Rubio ran for President (but dropped out of that race when Rubio fell out of the clown car and decided to run for his old Senate seat again).
He only became governor of FL starting in 2019.
Jakes Progress
(11,121 posts)Hulk
(6,699 posts)Will never happen....probably not a day behind bars even....but considering the delusional, lying sack of shit refuses to admit ANY wrong doing at all....he needs a lesson and a good ass kicking behind bars.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,901 posts)I wonder how long they will be able to stall and delay to keep him out of jail.
AmBlue
(3,058 posts)Can we please move this waste of oxygen out of Congress already?
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)since Issa got campaign finance $$$ from the same guy as Fortenberry.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)considering that they like to flaunt their criminality.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,780 posts)I think the logic is that if he survived the primary, the seat could become vulnerable.
BumRushDaShow
(126,632 posts)although I suppose they were trying to clear the field for the special election to get the seat filled quickly with whoever they have as a designated loon.
Mr. Evil
(2,715 posts)March 31. My birthday. What a great gift!
Why am I thinking about Freddie Mercury right now? Everyone knows the song!
Jose Garcia
(2,547 posts)frogmarch
(12,143 posts)sent me this message:
"I called Beth to get more scoop. She told me that back when he got a heads up that the FBI were coming to his home, he called the Lincoln police to come to protect him. 🙄 They didnt, of course. Kind of like Cruz at the Bozeman Airport when he missed his flight saying DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? Jerks."
OldBaldy1701E
(4,915 posts)The idea that he would call the local police in the hopes that they were as insane as he is and that they would come and protect him from the FBI is so hysterically funny that I cannot handle it. I also love how he uses the term, "It has been my honor..." I would suggest that, based on why you are resigning, you don't even know the definition of the word 'honor'.
TomWilm
(1,832 posts)https://www.npr.org/2022/03/26/1089034831/nebraska-fortenberry-resigns
efhmc
(14,706 posts)TomWilm
(1,832 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,901 posts)No doubt though that another another Republican lawbreaker will be ready to take his place.
FakeNoose
(32,202 posts)Fortenberry served in Congress for another 3 terms, and God knows how much Repuke evil he continued to create during that time. There has to be a way to "catch & kill" these guys sooner. Like for example: Gotcha: you can no longer run for Congress and you're gone baby! The results need to be instantaneous or they will never pay attention.
OK they caught him, NOW lock him up.