Raymond Francis Lederer

Raymond Francis Lederer (May 19, 1938 – December 1, 2008) was an American politician who served as a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 1977 to 1981. He was convicted of taking bribes in the 1980 Abscam scandal.

Early life Lederer was born in Philadelphia on May 19, 1938, where he attended the local Catholic schools, graduating from Roman Catholic High School for Boys in 1956. He attended Saint Joseph's College of Philadelphia (now Saint Joseph's University) from 1960 to 1965, the Community College of Philadelphia from 1967 to 1969 and Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, in 1972. Lederer worked as an assistant engineer for the Pennsylvania Department of Highways in 1957. He was a probation officer and later served as director of the Philadelphia Probation Department from 1967 to 1974. He was a board member of the Pennsylvania Committee on Probation.

Politics Lederer was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served from 1974 to 1977.

Congress Lederer was elected to Congress in 1976 to represent ; he won with 73% of the vote, defeating Republican Party candidate Terence J. Schade. He took office on January 3, 1977.

Lederer was re-elected in 1978 with almost 72% of the vote over Republican candidate Raymond S. Kauffman.

Abscam Lederer was videotaped at a motel in New York on September 11, 1979, at a meeting with two undercover agents who presented themselves as representatives of a supposed Arab sheik. Accepting $50,000 in cash, he told the agents "I can give you me" in exchange for the money. Despite his indictment in the scandal, Lederer was re-elected, unlike the other members of the House implicated in the Abscam scandal. In the 1980 race, Lederer won with 54.5% of the vote, defeating Republican William J. Phillips, who had 32.8%, Consumer Party candidate Max Weiner with 9.5% and Independent John Morris with 3.2%.

The United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct voted to expel him on April 28, 1981.

Lederer served ten months in Allenwood Federal Prison. He later worked as a roofer. He died on December 1, 2008, of lung cancer, aged 70, and is interred at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.