Testimony resumed on Monday for the federal corruption trial of Nebraska Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry. One main witness in the trial was a Los Angeles doctor who gave personal accounts of his role in funneling money to the official.
The Omaha World-Herald quoted Dr. Eli Ayoub, who confessed that he funneled money from Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury in a brown paper bag to the Fortenberry campaign.
"A go-between handed the money to Ayoub. Ayoub set the bag of cash in the back seat of his car. After arriving for lunch following a funeral, Ayoub handed his keys to a valet and went inside the restaurant," said the report.
The bag of cash was still sitting on the seat when he got the car back, however.
Prosecutor Mack Jenkins asked to confirm if he really left $30,000 in cash on the back seat of his car.
"Yes, I remembered I forgot it in the car during lunch, and I was very nervous about it," Ayoub told the court.
Fundraiser Alexandra Kendrick also testified about a Los Angeles event for Fortenberry she helped organize where she saw "some red flags."
"I had many concerns. For one, we weren’t given an RSVP list before the event. ... That’s not normal. I was apprehensive," she said.
She remembered a fundraiser she ran for former Republican Rep. Jack Kingston (GA). After the event was over, the host revealed that the cash raised for Kingstone was "dirty, siphoned to the campaign through a foreigner. Different nationalities had been at the fundraiser. The FBI was involved."
The event for Fortenberry brought back a lot of those fears, she explained. The LA event was a result of Fortenberry's advocacy for the Yazidis, Christians often persecuted by ISIS. About 3,000 Yazidis refugees have moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.
“He was excited because he finally had a group of people who were willing to financially support him to thank him for the work that he had done,” Kendrick said.
A big part of the trial has been about whether Fortenberry should have known if the money was dirty. Kendrick said that it was clear to her. Fortenberry's attorney asked if she was just a racist because many of the people on the event list weren't white.
“It was more than that,” Kendrick said. “Any time you can’t get a list of names and know where the money is coming from … it’s concerning for a multitude of reasons."
Fortenberry asked the go-between of the Nigerian billionaire if everything was above board, and was assured it was, even if it wasn't.
"Eventually, Ayoub doled out more of Chagoury’s money to other politicians’ campaigns: $50,000 to former presidential candidate Mitt Romney; $30,000 to California Rep. Darrell Issa; and $20,000 to former Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry," said the Herald. In those cases, the candidates returned the money.
Fortenberry is charged with three felonies. The first charge is that he tried to conceal illegal foreign donations and lied twice to the FBI.
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