Mississippi Democrat Espy Received Additional Unreported $350K from Group Controlled by African Despot

Breitbart: The lobbying firm managed by Mississippi Democrat Senate candidate Mike Espy received a second payment of $350,000 from a trade organization controlled by African despot Lauren Gbagbo on March 1, 2011, eleven days before Espy told The Hill he had suspended his firm’s contract with the organization and had only received a first payment of $400,000, a Department of Justice document discovered by Fox News reveals.

That document, signed by Espy on penalty of perjury, confirms that his lobby firm was paid $750,000 by the trade organization, Comite de Gestion de la Filliere Cafe-Cacao (Cocoa and Coffee Board) of Ivory Coast, and not just the $400,000 he told the Hill he was paid.

Gbagbo, the former president of Ivory Coast, is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Espy, a former Democrat member of the House of Representatives and Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton administration, faces incumbent Sen. Cyndi Hyde-Smith (R-MS) in a runoff election on November 27 to determine who will serve the remaining two years of former Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) term. Neither candidate received the 50 percent needed to win the seat outright in the November 6 election. Hyde-Smith received 41 percent of the vote and Espy received 40 percent of the vote to qualify for the runoff.

Fox News broke the story Thursday afternoon, reporting “that Espy was paid $750,000 in 2011 by then Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo’s government. The payment appears to contradict Espy’s previous statements that he accepted just a portion of it.”

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