WASHINGTON — Consultant Jeff Fortenberry, Republican of Nebraska, introduced on Saturday that he would resign from Congress on the finish of the month, days after he was convicted on costs that he lied to federal authorities about an unlawful marketing campaign donation.
Mr. Fortenberry, in a letter to his colleagues, stated he would step down from his seat on March 31. On Thursday, he was convicted on three felony counts in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, together with two counts of creating false statements and one depend of falsifying and concealing materials information.
He faces a most sentence of 5 years in jail for every depend, in response to the Justice Division, and a sentencing listening to is scheduled for the tip of June. And whereas Mr. Fortenberry has stated he plans to attraction the choice, nationwide and native leaders in each events referred to as for his resignation within the aftermath of the decision, together with Consultant Kevin McCarthy of California, the Home minority chief, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
“It has been my honor to serve with you in the USA Home of Representatives,” Mr. Fortenberry wrote. “As a result of difficulties of my present circumstances, I can now not successfully serve.”
In a publication despatched to his constituents, he added, “It’s my sincerest hope that I’ve made a contribution to the betterment of America and the well-being of our nice state of Nebraska.”
Mr. Fortenberry, who was first elected to Congress in 2004, had already given up his committee positions, together with a seat on the highly effective Home Appropriations Committee, underneath Republican convention guidelines for members dealing with federal indictments.
“He had his day in courtroom — I feel if he desires to attraction, he can go do this as a personal citizen,” Mr. McCarthy stated after the decision was introduced. “When somebody’s convicted, it’s time to resign.”
The costs got here after Mr. Fortenberry denied data that he had obtained $30,000 in donations at a 2016 marketing campaign fund-raiser in Los Angeles from Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire, who had been accused of conspiring to make unlawful donations to American politicians. (International residents can’t donate to American election campaigns, and Mr. Chagoury has since paid a $1.8 million tremendous after a cope with the U.S. authorities.)
Mr. Chagoury had funneled the donation by way of an middleman, in response to the indictment. However prosecutors stated that regardless of being advised by a cooperating witness who helped switch the cash to his marketing campaign that the donations “most likely did come from Gilbert Chagoury,” Mr. Fortenberry denied figuring out that the cash had come from a international citizen.
He was first interviewed by federal investigators in 2019, as a part of an inquiry into Mr. Chagoury’s donations to a number of candidates between 2012 and 2016. Mr. Fortenberry was indicted in October, and he was convicted this week after a weeklong trial.
