A Newly Revealed Guide to the Jefferson Investigation

By Ken Silverstein

I posted several stories (linked below) about the political connections of Congressman William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson and the FBI investigation that centers on the bribes that he allegedly took from the owner of iGate, Inc. in exchange for arranging deals for that company in Nigeria and other African countries. Today, the Nigerian newspaper This Day published details of the request that the U.S. Justice Department sent to Nigerian authorities asking for “documents and information on some government officials/institutions, private companies and individuals in relation to the official acts of the congressman.” For those following the Jefferson affair, the list is an invaluable guide to where the feds are heading in their investigation.

A number of previously mentioned companies and people turned up on the Justice Department list. That includes Providence International, a firm whose registered agent was Jack Swetland, Jefferson's accountant, and whose manager was Stephanie Edwards Butler. The list also names Life Energy Technology Holdings (now known as GEEC), a firm that was trolling for business in Africa and elsewhere on the basis of remarkable claims about its revolutionary Biosphere Process™, which the company says can turn solid waste into electricity. Along with iGate, Life Energy helped pick up the tab for Congressman Jefferson's February 2004 trip to Nigeria, São Tomé, and two other African countries in his capacity as co-chair of the Africa Trade and Investment Caucus.

A number of names on the Justice Department's list were new to me. One was a company with the suggestive name of Jefferson Interest, Inc. Also new to me was Atonte Diete-Spiff, a former senior policy advisor to Jefferson. As a staffer to Jefferson, Diete-Spiff made at least two fact-finding trips to Nigeria, both in 2000. Someone with that same name, and with the title “V. P., Providence International LLC, New Orleans, LA,” spoke at a July 2004 panel entitled “Redeeming Nigeria's Future: Strategic Initiatives for Growth and Development,” held in the capital of Abuja and sponsored by the International Association of Nigerian Studies and Development

Another unfamiliar name was Louisiana-based Arkel International, which in 2002 received a grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency to perform a “project feasibility study regarding the possible construction of a new sugar refinery” in Nigeria. The company's website says it does business in Nigeria and a number of other a number of African countries. (The firm also does business in Iraq and received Hurricane Katrina-related contracts.) At a glance, the only ties between Jefferson and Arkel appear to be the $3,000 the company's CEO, George Knost, donated to Jefferson between 2001 and 2005.

I called Arkel and asked about why the company might have been on the list. The official I spoke with said she had no idea, and that she would forward the request to higher-ups. I'll update this story if I hear back from the firm.

For more on Jefferson, see: , , , , and .

[More Washington Babylon]

[Contact Ken Silverstein]

[About Washington Babylon]