Rep. Jackson tied to Blagojevich case

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CHICAGO, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was willing to raise $6 million for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for a Senate seat, a fundraiser says.

Raghuveer Nayak, a businessman in Oak Brook, Ill., told federal investigators that at a meeting with Jackson in Washington on Oct. 8, 2008, the two discussed the Senate seat then held by Barack Obama, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. Nayak said Jackson gave him a message for Blagojevich: That Indian-Americans in the Chicago area would contribute a total of $6 million to his campaign funds if Jackson was appointed to the seat, $1 million before and the rest afterward.

Jackson, the son of the civil rights leader, said last week that an ongoing federal investigation would turn up nothing, urging FBI agents to "bring it on." He is also alleged to have failed to report that Nayak paid for airfare when a friend, Giovana Huidobro, a Washington restaurant hostess, flew to Chicago.

The Sun-Times said Huidobro told the FBI she did not sit in on political meetings when she was interviewed a year ago.