A federal appeals court panel threw out the conviction Tuesday of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) for lying to the FBI about illegal campaign contributions.
The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Fortenberry was wrongly tried in Los Angeles, rather than in Nebraska or Washington, DC.
Fortenberry, 62, resigned his House seat following his conviction in March 2022 on counts of concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities.
The former lawmaker was sentenced that June to two years of probation, 320 hours of community service, and a $25,000 fine.
“The Constitution plainly requires that a criminal defendant be tried in the place where the criminal conduct occurred,” US District Judge James Donato wrote for the panel.
“Fortenberry’s trial took place in a state where no charged crime was committed, and before a jury drawn from the vicinage of the federal agencies that investigated the defendant,” he added. “The Constitution does not permit this. Fortenberry’s convictions are reversed so that he may be retried, if at all, in a proper venue.”
“We are gratified by the Ninth Circuit’s decision,” Fortenberry said in a statement posted by his lawyers.
“Celeste and I would like to thank everyone who has stood by us and supported us with their kindness and friendship.”
Fortenberry was accused of hiding illegal contributions made to his 2016 House campaign by Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, who prosecutors said wired around $30,000 via straw donors who attended a Los Angeles fundraiser.
Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from donating to political campaigns.
A fundraiser co-host, Chagoury, and an associate of his who supplied the $30,000 to the straw donors all cooperated with authorities.
In March 2019, Fortenberry allegedly told FBI investigators at his home in Lincoln, Neb. that he was not aware of any contributions to his campaign from foreign nationals, despite being told the previous June by the fundraiser co-host that the $30,000 in question “probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.”
Fortenberry repeated in July 2019, during a second FBI interview held in Washington, that he was not aware of any illegal contribution to his campaign.
“[T]here certainly are crimes that may be prosecuted where their effects are felt,” Donato wrote in the panel’s ruling. “But those situations are markedly different from a [false statements] offense, for which no statute nor universal recognition permits a prosecution where the effects of a statement are felt”.
Judges on the appeals panel included Donato, an Obama appointee, as well as Salvador Mendoza Jr. and Gabriel Sanchez, both Biden appointees.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.