The Five Percent Override

A congressman who was also a partner in a law firm spent years urging federal officials to award small-business set-aside contracts and development loans to a small manufacturer. Prosecutors said he demanded a five percent override on every contract he could bring the company and remarked that he could also destroy it. In return, they said, his law firm received an annual retainer that grew to $150,000, a block of the company's stock was held in his son's name, and he was paid $50,000 billed as legal fees for negotiating a property lease. He was charged with extortion, bribery, racketeering and related crimes. He argued that the $50,000 was an ordinary fee for real legal work, not a payment for his influence as a congressman.