Black crime: The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former minister, has been convicted by a federal jury of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job-training program

Jeri Wright, 48, has been found guilty of 11 counts that included money laundering, lying to federal agents and lying to a grand jury. Her attorney described Wright as a victim of a web spun by longtime friend Regina Evans, the black Country Club Hills police chief who has pleaded guilty to corruption in the case. Evans had secured the state loan for the job-training program but allegedly diverted the money rather than use it for the purpose she proposed. Prosecutor Timothy Bass contended that Wright took as much as $11,000 in cash from more than $30,000 in checks in a scheme where she also sent money back to Evans. Evans tapped the funds for what Bass had called a "spending spree," including a trip to Las Vegas, a basement remodeling and the purchase of vehicles for a security business with her husband.