Ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. pleads guilty to misusing about $750,000 in campaign money to buy exotic items
Former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of a civil rights leader and a one-time rising star in Democratic politics, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to misusing about $750,000 in campaign money.
Jackson, 47, of Chicago, wept quietly as he entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Washington, where Judge Robert Wilkins accepted the plea.
“Guilty, your honor. I misled the American people,” Jackson said after the judge asked his plea.
Under an agreement with prosecutors, Jackson faces up to five years – the maximum prison sentence allowed by law.
Wilkins scheduled sentencing for June 28.
Jackson’s father, Jesse Jackson Sr., sat in the front row of a courtroom filled with family, friends and reporters during the hour-long hearing on Wednesday.
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Jesse Jackson Jr the former Democratic representative from Illinois, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his use of $750,000 in campaign funds to buy exotic items like fur capes and celebrity memorabilia.
As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Mr. Jackson receive a sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 28.
When the judge asked for his plea, Mr. Jackson, 47, said “Guilty your honor. I misled the American people.” He was accompanied by his father, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, his mother and several brothers and sisters.
The plea is yet another chapter in the downward spiral of Mr. Jackson’s career.
Elected to Congress in 1995 at age of 30 from a district on the South Side of Chicago, where he had grown up, Mr. Jackson was once one of the prominent young African-American politicians in the country, working on issues related to health care and education for the poor.
But as federal authorities investigated Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois for trying to sell the Senate seat that President Obama vacated in 2008, they uncovered evidence that one of Mr. Jackson’s friends had offered to make a contribution to Mr. Blagojevich’s campaign in exchange for the seat.
Mr. Jackson, who has said he had no knowledge of the offer, was never charged in the case. Nevertheless, his name became synonymous with the case.
A year before the offer for the Senate seat was made, according to documents released by federal prosecutors, Mr. Jackson began to use his campaign funds to buy jewelry. In July 2007, Mr. Jackson was in possession of a $43,350 gold-plated men’s Rolex watch that he bought with campaign funds, according to documents released by prosecutors.
Mr. Jackson also used campaign funds until 2010 to buy exotic items, like fur capes, celebrity memorabilia and expensive furniture.
Among those items were a $5,000 football signed by American presidents and two hats that once belonged to Michael Jackson — including a $4,600 fedora.
Mr. Jackson also bought Bruce Lee memorabilia and items that once belonged to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 2008, Mr. Jackson had $5,150 worth of fur that he had bought with campaign funds sent to him in Washington from a furrier in Beverly Hills, Calif. Among those items was an $800 fur cape and a $1,200 reversible mink parka.
