KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Mose Jefferson testifies during his bribery trial
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Associated Press - August 18, 2009 4:44 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A former Louisiana congressman's brother charged with bribing a former elected official says he made those payments to help a friend with whom he once had a romantic relationship.
Federal prosecutors claim political operative Mose Jefferson paid $140,000 to former New Orleans school board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms as a reward for her support in awarding school contracts to a computer-based teaching system he helped sell.
But the brother of former Rep. William Jefferson testified Tuesday that Brooks-Simms asked him for money because she was more than $100,000 in debt. Mose Jefferson said he and Brooks-Simms had a romantic relationship during the 1980s but remained friends for years.
Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge. She was a government witness for Mose Jefferson's trial, which is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com
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