Update at 12:47 p.m. ET

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., either knew of efforts or directed someone to raise campaign money for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for Jackson's appointment to the U.S. Senate, an investigative report released today alleges.

Investigators said they learned Jackson used his congressional offices to mount a "public campaign" for the Senate, a possible violation of federal law and House rules that bar the use of official resources for political activities.

With the release of that report, the House ethics committee said today it will continue its review into Jackson, a nine-term lawmaker once considered a natural fit for the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he won the presidency.

Jackson, the son of the prominent civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, has said he has done nothing wrong and will be vindicated. In a Nov. 15 letter to the committee, his lawyers said Jackson "did not direct or know of any offer" to provide campaign money to Blagojevich.

Jackson did make a "public effort to gain the appointment on the merits," his lawyers wrote, because Jackson had a "frosty relationship" with Blagojevich and needed to apply public pressure in his effort to secure the appointment.

Jackson, 46, was not appointed to the seat.

Blagojevich is scheduled to be sentenced next week on multiple corruption convictions related to his efforts to sell or trade the Senate post.