Jim Cooper says he?s not Jerry Cooper
Michael Shawn Brown
Michael Shawn Brown
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Both are Democrats, but only one is under indictment.
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Chattanooga on Tuesday said Jerry Cooper engaged a borrowing scheme ?to pay off some of his debt and avoid bankruptcy.?
Cooper, 58, had been earlier identified as an unindicted coconspirator in a borrowing scheme involving the 1999 sale of his lumber mill in Warren County.
Jim Cooper, 52, says people are confusing him with the state senator.
?I?ve been in public life since 1982, and there hasn?t been a whiff of scandal,? Jim Cooper said.
His office started receiving e-mails and phone calls, saying they had heard the congressman was in trouble. ?These are educated people,? said Jim Cooper.