Ex-Congressman William Jefferson Sentenced To 13 Years In Prison

William Jefferson, the former congressman from Louisiana caught with $90,000 cash stuffed in his freezer, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for using his office to solicit bribes.

Jefferson, 62, was sentenced Friday in Virginia, three months after a federal jury found him guilty on 11 of 16 counts, including bribery and racketeering. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence him to at least 27 years, the Associated Press reported.

Jefferson was convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars, and soliciting millions more, to broker business deals in Africa. Prosecutors claimed Jefferson was involved in 11 separate bribery schemes over a five-year span, and that he and his family stood to gain more than half a billion dollars.

In 2005, Jefferson was videotaped accepting $100,000 in a briefcase at a hotel in Arlington, Va., and putting it in his car. Agents investigating the case later found $90,000 wrapped in foil and hidden in boxes of pie crusts in his freezer.

The Democrat lost his bid for a 10th term in Congress last year.