Birmingham Mayor Convicted In Bribery Scheme

A jury has convicted Birmingham Mayor
Larry Langford on federal charges of accepting bribes,
automatically removing him from office.
He was convicted Wednesday of all the counts he faced for
accepting cash and luxury items worth about $236,000 while serving
as president of the Jefferson County Commission. In exchange, he
funneled $7.1 million in bond business to a prominent investment
banker.
Langford showed no emotion when the verdict was read.
With the felony conviction, he was automatically removed from
the office that he won in a landslide in 2007.
Some of the bond deals made during Langford's term went sour in
the credit crunch last year, and Jefferson County is now trying to
avoid filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history over
$3.9 billion in sewer bond debt.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)