Betty Jefferson

Betty Jefferson(born 1938) is the elected assessor of New Orleans' Fourth Municipal District; she was first elected on 1998 February 7 and was reelected in 2002 and 2006.^[1] Before her political career in New Orleans she lived for a number of years in Chicago. She is an older sister of convicted felon former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson.

In 2009 Betty Jefferson was a defendant in racketeering charges also involving her brother Mose Jefferson, her daughter Angela Coleman, and Renée Gill Pratt. On 2009 June 5 all the defendants pleaded not guilty.^[2]

At a hearing before U. S. District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle on 2009 June 17, lawyers for Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman requested a delay from the 2009 August 3 start date for the racketeering trial; at the same hearing, however, lawyers for Gill Pratt and Mose Jefferson requested that the racketeering trial begin as scheduled on August 3.^[3] On 2009 July 28, Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to 2010 January 25.^[4]

If proved, the charges—raised under provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—can result in up to 20 years' imprisonment, $250,000 in fines, and stiff penalties of forfeiture. Some of the charges involved fraudulent use of e-mail.^[5]

In an article starting on the front page and extending for almost the entirety of another page, Laura Maggi analyzed Betty Jefferson's imputed connection with William J. Jefferson's conviction.^[6]

She died in 2013^[7]