Brenda Jefferson Foster was a witness for the prosecution in the 2008-2009 trials of her older siblings Betty Jefferson

Betty Jefferson

Barbara "Betty" Jefferson Jackson is the elected assessor of New Orleans' Fourth Municipal District; she was first elected on 1998 February 7 and was reelected in 2002 and 2006. Before her political career in New Orleans she lived for a number of years in Chicago. She is an older sister of...

 and Mose Jefferson

Mose Jefferson

Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, convicted felon and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson...

, Betty Jefferson's daughter Angela Coleman

Angela Coleman

Angela Coleman , daughter of New Orleans Fourth Municipal District Assessor Betty Jefferson, was one of four individuals indicted in 2009 by federal grand jury for the U.S. Justice Department's Eastern District of Louisiana...

, and Mose Jefferson's companion former City Council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

woman Renée Gill Pratt

Renée Gill Pratt

Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...

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Brenda Jefferson Foster had originally been charged with some of the same offenses but accepted a plea bargain

Plea bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...

. In exchange for pleading guilty to a minor charge, she averted being prosecuted for the major offenses but agreed to serve as a witness for the office of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten

Jim Letten

-U.S. Attorney in New Orleans:After finishing his law degree at the Tulane University School of Law, Letten worked for Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick, Sr. for four years and then began his career as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice...

. All the remaining defendants pleaded not guilty in U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on 2009 June 5. At the 2009 June 5 arraignment U.S. Magistrate Joseph Wilkinson Jr. instructed the four defendants to refrain from contact with Brenda Jefferson Foster.

In a 2009 May 28 editorial the New Orleans Times-Picayune acknowledged Brenda Jefferson Foster's admission of her part in the alleged fraudulent activities.

At a hearing before U. S. District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle

Ivan L. R. Lemelle

Ivan L. R. Lemelle is a United States federal judge.Born in Opelousas, Louisiana, Lemelle received a B.S. from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1971 and a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1974. He was a law clerk for Robert Collins of the Orleans Parish Criminal District...

on 2009 June 17, lawyers for Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman requested a delay from the 2009 August 3 start date for the racketeering trial; at the same hearing, however, lawyers for Renée Gill Pratt and Mose Jefferson requested that the racketeering trial begin as scheduled on August 3. On 2009 July 28, Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to 2010 January 25.