Jesse Jackson Jr. long public fall from Democratic congressman to soon-to-be prisoner took one more embarassing turn today when the federal government decided to cancel an online auction of a dozen or so items that he had purchased with cash he took from his re-election campaigns. I’ll give the U.S. Marshals Service the honors of explaining why (emphasis mine):
The U.S. Marshals Service today cancelled the auction of forfeited assets from the Jesse Jackson, Jr., case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After receiving legitimate concerns about the authenticity of the guitar purportedly signed by Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen and out of an abundance of caution, the Marshals Service will conduct a secondary review of all the assets. Once the review is complete, a decision will be made whether to repost any assets for sale by auction.
Jackson admitted earlier this year that he defrauded his campaigns of $750,000, which he then used to buy himself and his wife lavish gifts ranging from $15,000 worth of kitchen appliances to a $43,000 Rolex watch. As part of his sentence, the disgraced congressman agreed to repay the money he took from his campaign. The proceeds of the aucton—which also included items like a woman’s mink black jacket with silver fox sleeves—were supposed to go toward paying down that tab. Jackson’s set to begin his two-and-a-half-year sentence later this fall.
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