Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month corruption probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released Sunday.
A few days later, on Aug. 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in northeast Washington and found $90,000 in the freezer in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen food containers, the document said.
The 83-page affidavit, used to raid Jefferson's Capitol Hill office Saturday night, portrays him as a money-hungry man who freely solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, discussed payoffs to African officials, had a history of involvement in bribery schemes and used his family to hide his interest in high-tech business ventures he promoted in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.
