Appeals court tosses former Rep. Fortenberry’s conviction on lying to federal authorities

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

In its ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Fortenberry’s trial “took place in a state where no charged crime was committed,” noting 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 retried, if at all, in a proper venue,” the court said.

Patricia Hartman, a spokesperson 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 scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. He resigned shortly after the conviction and has denied 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 unlawful for foreign nationals to contribute to federal candidates in U.S. elections.

Prosecutors said Chagoury used “straw donors” to make contributions equaling $30,000 to Fortenberry’s re-election campaign during a Los Angeles fundraiser 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 U.S. elections.

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

Fortenberry, 62, also failed to file an amended report with the Federal Election Commission.

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

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