President Barack Obama's controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright's daughter has been indicted on fraud and money-laundering charges. Jeri L. Wright, 47, of Hazel Crest, Ill. was charged with money laundering and lying to federal investigators.
Jeri Wright allegedly received $28,000 in checks from a $1.25 million state grant for an education related non-profit, We Are Our Brother's Keeper. The group is owned by the former police chief of nearby Country Club Hills, Ill., Regina Evans, a friend of Wright's. Jeri Wright's indictment said she was supposed to deposit the $28,000 into the charity's coffers, but instead allegedly directed most of it to personal bank accounts owned by Evans and her husband, Ronald Evans, Jr.
Jeri Wright claimed to authorities that the missing money went toward her personal expenses, including a mortgage. In court, a prosecutor asked Wright why she had not reported such income on her tax return. Wright replied that she was waiting for a 1099 Tax Form on which she would report the income. However, she was then informed that income like that did not need the auxiliary form to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
In addition to Jeri Wright's charges, Evans and her husband were subsequently charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering charges. The affidavit from the Evans' 2009 indictment also alleged that Regina Evans' brother, Rickey McCoy, had tampered with witnesses in the case.
Attempts by other press outlets to reach Jeri Wright for comment were hindered by a disconnected phone number. Wright's father, Jeremiah Wright, has gained much notoriety nationwide for his anti-American speeches and his closeness with President Obama in light of his words and actions.
In 2007, Jeremiah Wright gave controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan a 'Trumpeter Award' for "epitomizing greatness". As Hot Air pointed out, many Americans see Farrakhan and his group as anti-Semitic and somewhat racist.
Jeremiah Wright himself has had some run-ins with controversial sermons caught on tape. Journalist Sean Hannity, on a 2008 airing of "Hannity & Colmes", that he would "continue to expose [Wright] until someone in the mainstream media has the courage to take [Wright's controversial actions] on".
In a sermon, Jeremiah Wright controversially spoke ill of the United States, purporting his view that America is a "country of rich white men", likening racial issues in America to Biblical times: "Jesus was a poor black man living in a country...controlled by rich white people: the Romans..." On Barack Obama, Wright continued, saying then-candidate Obama did not fit "the mold" of leadership like former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani or Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom were competing for the 2008 Presidential nomination in their parties, saying Clinton had never been referred to by a derogatory racial term.
In another related sermon, Wright denounced the early imperialism of European countries, saying many "failed", including the British, German and Russians because they allegedly mistreated their citizens. He then referred to America in kind, noting the treatment of Native Americans and African-Americans. He denounced the three-strikes-law and the extension of the American prison system, among other examples, culminating with a now infamous exclamation: "No, no, no-not God Bless America, God D*** America-that's in the Bible. For killing innocent people, God d*** America!" Wright also blamed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America's past actions worldwide, saying "America's chickens are coming home to roost."
At a speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa., President Obama officially distanced himself from Wright in his "More Perfect Union" speech: "[Jeremiah Wright] use[d] incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but...denigrate the goodness of our nation that rightly offend white and black alike...[He] expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country...and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right."
Some saw Obama's words as simply throwing Wright "under the bus" for political gain while many others saw Obama's speech as a heartfelt separation from his controversial former pastor.
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