Jefferson and NASA

Sunday’s Washington Post reports that new allegations have linked Congressman William Jefferson, albeit tenuously, with NASA. Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana, was indicted this summer by a federal grand jury for soliciting bribes and reporting trips to Africa as official business. According to the report, in 2005 “Jefferson allegedly agreed to urge NASA in a letter to consider doing business with a U.S. rocket technology and rocket launch services company. In exchange, the company allegedly agreed to pay Jefferson’s family business and a relative.” The brief article doesn’t have any more details.

The actual filing by federal prosecutors with the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, cited in the article (and available online for those able to jump through a few hoops on the court’s web site) has some more details, although it does not mention the company in question by name, referring to it only by the pseudonym “Company H”. According to the filing:

Company H was pursuing a number of business opportunities, including commercial launch contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) and the development and use of the former NASA Advanced Solid Rocket Motor facility in Mississippi and another facility in Louisiana. Executives with Company H were also interested in developing a separate satellite communications company that would provide global beaming of audio, video, and Internet services, which would potentially have a significant market in Africa.

An unnamed individual, “Businessperson BC”, had a consulting agreement with Company H and arranged a meeting between them and Jefferson and a family member:

At the meeting, Defendant Jefferson agreed to undertake official acts to support Company H by, among other things, writing a letter to NASA. Shortly after that meeting and before sending the letter to NASA, Defendant Jefferson told Businessperson BC that Defendant Jefferson wanted the same consulting agreement for Family Member 4 with Company H as had been done with Company C, namely, that Family Member 4 would receive a commission from Company H for certain sales and transactions in West Africa and Central Africa relating to the satellite aspect of the business ventures. Businessperson BC agreed to suggest to Company H that it hire Family Member 4.

Such an arrangement was apparently reached by June 2005, according to the filing, and Jefferson then acted:

On or about July 14, 2005, Defendant Jefferson wrote a letter on the letterhead of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to NASA’s Administrator on Company H’s behalf. In the July 14 letter, Defendant Jefferson wrote of the challenge “of providing the necessary budget resources to NASA, in an era of tight budgets,” and in the next sentence he wrote “we encourage your close consideration of [Company H].” At the time, Defendant Jefferson was the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and his signature block contained the letters “M.C.” following his name, which is an abbreviation used to refer to a Member of Congress… Defendant Jefferson did not disclose to NASA’s Administrator that a consulting agreement was being pursued to benefit Family Member 4 or a Jefferson family-controlled company.

The filing then notes that 20 days after the date on Jefferson’s letter, searches were executed on Jefferson’s home and other locations, “and this scheme did not develop further.”

Naturally, one wonders who “Company H” is. Whomever they are (or were), they certainly had grandiose plans, seeking not only to develop launch vehicles but also a global satellite communications system. It seems highly unlikely that this was a large aerospace company, since they would (presumably) know better than to make such shady arrangements; moreover, Jefferson would seem to be an unlikely member of Congress to curry favor with. This looks more like the actions of a small operation trying to get their foot in the door.