LINCOLN, Neb. – A spokesperson for former Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry said that they expect a new indictment on previously leveled charges of lying to the FBI to be issued on Thursday.
The original conviction of Fortenberry was handed down in the Central District of California, in Los Angeles in 2022. However, an appellate court ruled in December 2023 that the trial should not have been conducted in California.
Chad Kolton, Fortenberry’s spokesperson, said the Department of Justice is now pursuing the case in Washington D.C.
“The Biden/Garland Justice Department appears determined to haul Jeff Fortenberry across the country for repeated trials until they obtain a sustainable conviction,” Kolton stated. “This case should never have been initiated, and it was wrong to pursue it again after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals so clearly ruled in Fortenberry’s favor.”
Fortenberry was charged with misleading federal agents about a $30,000 illegal campaign donation from a foreign billionaire during a 2015 fundraiser in Los Angeles. The Appeals Court stated that holding the trial in L.A. was incorrect, as Fortenberry was accused of falsifying statements during interviews at his home in Nebraska and in a lawyer’s office in Washington.
“The convictions of Fortenberry are reversed, allowing him to be retried, if necessary, in a suitable location,” the court’s decision read.
Kolton continues to assert Fortenberry’s innocence, claiming that the FBI was aware that Fortenberry was uninformed about the illegal contributions and had orchestrated an informant to mention the illicit donations during discussions that investigators would later question him about.
“This case exemplifies excessive prosecution from the start of the investigation, and its reiteration in D.C. merely emphasizes the prosecutors’ relentless drive to ruin a decent individual’s life,” Kolton remarked. “Federal prosecutors should prioritize more important matters rather than forcing a respected former lawmaker to face substantial new legal expenses, especially after he has resigned from his position and served his sentence for a conviction that was ultimately reversed.”
Fortenberry stepped down shortly after his conviction in 2022.
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