Appeals court tosses ex-GOP Rep. Fortenberry’s conviction on lying to federal authorities

An appeals court on Tuesday overturned a conviction against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., for lying to federal authorities about an illegal contribution to his campaign, saying he should not have been tried in Los Angeles.

In its decision, The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Fortenberry’s trial “took place in a state where no charged crime was committed,” and noted that he made false statements during interviews with federal agents at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. and in his lawyer’s office. in Washington, D.C.

“Fortenberry’s convictions are reversed so that he may be tried again, in any case, in a suitable venue,” the court said.

Patricia Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, declined to comment on the ruling or whether there were plans to retry Fortenberry.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nebraska did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Fortenberry in March 2022, finding the nine-term congressman guilty of one count of conspiracy to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. He resigned shortly after the conviction and denied any wrongdoing.

In June 2022, Fortenberry was sentenced to two years of probation, a $25,000 fine, and community service for lying to federal authorities.

Fortenberry, who was a member of the House Appropriations Committee, was charged in 2021 with lying to the FBI about a $30,000 contribution to his 2016 re-election campaign from Gilbert Chagoury of Nigeria. It is illegal for foreigners to contribute to federal candidates in US elections.

Prosecutors said Chagoury used “fake donors” to make $30,000 in contributions to Fortenberry’s re-election campaign during a fundraiser in Los Angeles in 2016.

Chagoury entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in 2019 and admitted to providing about $180,000 that was used to make illegal contributions to four candidates in the U.S. elections.

During Fortenberry’s seven-day trial, prosecutors argued that he made false statements to investigators on two occasions when they asked him in interviews what he knew about the illegal donation.

Fortenberry, 62, also did not file an amended report with the Federal Election Commission.

Prosecutors said Fortenberry falsely told investigators that he did not know that one of Chagoury’s ties, Toufic Joseph Baaklini, was involved in illegal campaign contributions when he spoke to investigators in March 2019, after learning of the illicit contribution. . Fortenberry also claimed that all donors at the 2016 fundraiser were publicly disclosed and that she was not aware of any contributions from a foreign national, prosecutors said.

In a second interview two months later, Fortenberry denied being aware of any illicit donations made during the 2016 fundraiser or that he had been told Baaklini provided $30,000 in cash at the fundraiser, prosecutors said.