Jury Convicts Former Congressman Jefferson of Bribery

President George W. Bush sealed the documents, and the dispute caused a delay in the case. Jefferson sued the Justice Department, and an appeals court ruled that he could review the documents before investigators did, to highlight those connected to legislative activity.

Jefferson was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2007, the first time a U.S. official had been charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribery of foreign officials. He was acquitted of that charge Wednesday. Prosecutors, who presented more than 40 witnesses at the seven-week trial, told jurors the money in his freezer was meant to bribe the then-vice president of Nigeria to secure his help with a telecommunications venture. They said it was part of a pattern of illicit acts in which Jefferson used his position to direct about $400,000 in bribes, relating to business ventures he helped arrange in Africa, to companies he set up in family members' names.

Prosecutors played videotapes showing Jefferson meeting with a business associate-turned-FBI informant, who gave him the money in marked bills. It was never delivered to Nigeria, prosecutors said, only because Jefferson couldn't do so before the FBI found it.

Defense attorneys said that Jefferson had been "stupid" and shown "awful judgment" in agreeing to make the payoff to the Nigerian official but that he had not committed a crime.

The defense, which presented two witnesses, said the business dealings might have been unethical but were not criminal because they were not part of Jefferson's official congressional duties. They said the government had tried to stretch what amounted to congressional ethics violations into criminal acts.

The jury's verdict came after five days of deliberation.

Jefferson, who did not testify, is the third person convicted in the investigation. His former business associates Vernon L. Jackson and Brett Pfeffer, a former congressional aide, pleaded guilty in 2006 to bribery and are serving time in prison.

Staff writer Allison Klein contributed to this report.