WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss their case against a former Nebraska congressman charged with lying to authorities about a foreign billionaire’s illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign.
A one-page court filing doesn't explain why the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., is seeking the dismissal of charges against former U.S. Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry, a Republican who resigned after a related conviction in 2022.
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Ed Martin, a conservative activist, has served as the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20. Martin also has overseen the dismissal of nearly 1,600 cases stemming from the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
A spokesperson for Martin's office declined to elaborate on its move to end Fortenberry's case. Attorneys for Fortenberry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A jury trial for Fortenberry in Washington was scheduled to start in July.
In 2022, a Los Angeles jury convicted Fortenberry of lying to the FBI about receiving illicit funds from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent. A person who cooperated with the FBI investigation repeatedly told Fortenberry about the illegal contributions, according to his indictment.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Fortenberry’s conviction, ruling that the case should not have been tried in Los Angeles. Fortenberry was subsequently charged in May with two counts: falsifying and concealing material facts and making false statements.
After his 2022 conviction, Fortenberry announced his resignation from the office that he had held since 2005.
Chagoury, who lived in Paris at the time, made the $30,000 contribution to Fortenberry through middlemen at a 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles, the former congressman's indictment says. Foreign nationals are prohibited from directly contributing money to candidates for federal offices in the U.S.
Fortenberry’s trial was the first for a sitting member of Congress since Rep. Jim Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, was convicted of bribery and other felony charges in 2002.