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Jack Abramoff

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Jack A. Abramoff (born February 28, 1958) is an American political lobbyist, Republican activist and businessman who is a central figure in a series of high-profile political scandals.

Abramoff pled guilty on January 3, 2006, to three criminal felony counts in a Washington, D.C. federal court related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials. [1] The following day, on January 4th, he pled guilty to two criminal felony counts in a Miami federal court related to fraudulent dealings with SunCruz Casinos. [2] On March 29, 2006, he was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison — the minimum allowed per the plea bargain — and ordered then to pay restitution of more than $21 million.

Abramoff is currently free in order to testify in a related investigation involving the Florida gang-style murder of Suncruz Casinos owner Konstantinos Boulis and to continue cooperation with an extremely extensive federal investigation into various possible criminal misdeeds related to federal lobbying and related activities.

File:Time Cover Abramoff.jpg
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was featured on the TIME magazine cover after pleading guilty on January 9 2006

Abramoff was a top lobbyist for the Preston Gates & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig firms (see Team Abramoff) and a director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, and Toward Tradition, a religious right organization, during his criminal enterprise. He was College Republican National Committee National Chairman from 1981 to 1985. He was a founding member of the International Freedom Foundation, an "anti-communist think tank" which operated from 1986 to 1993.

The monetary influence of Jack Abramoff was substantial. Political enemies allege Abramoff was associated with Tom DeLay's AND Rick Santorum's K Street Project to bring Republican dominance to Washington lobbying. [3] From 2000 to 2006, he personally donated money to campaign funds and Leadership PACs of numerous Republican candidates for Congress. [4] Under his guidance, his Indian tribe clients loosened their traditional ties to the Democratic Party, giving Republicans two-thirds of the $2.9 million they donated to federal candidates since 2001. [5] He raised $100,000 for the reelection of George W. Bush, making him a Bush Pioneer. Abramoff and his wife gave $10,000 to the Bush-Cheney Recount Fund, shortly before Abramoff joined Greenberg Traurig, which forgave over $314,000 in legal fees incurred by the Bush Campaign in the 2000 Florida election recount. [6]

As a result of Abramoff's criminal behavior, prominent Republican politicians with close ties to Abramoff as well as hundreds of Congressional politicians who have received money from his clients (see the monetary influence of Jack Abramoff) have come under media scrutiny, with lobbying reform proposals presented by both parties.

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College years

As an undergraduate at Brandeis University, Abramoff organized Massachusetts campuses for Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. He graduated in 1981 and earned his JD at the Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.

According to Nina J. Easton's book Gang of Five, Abramoff gained much of his credibility in the conservative movement through his father, Franklin Abramoff. As president of Diners Club, Abramoff's father worked closely with Alfred S. Bloomingdale, a personal friend of Ronald Reagan, and Abramoff would use the name in fundraising.

After graduating from Brandeis, Abramoff ran for election as chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC). After a campaign managed by Grover Norquist which cost over $10,000, Abramoff won the election after the chief competitor, Amy Moritz (who later, as Amy Ridenour, became a founding director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, and was involved in several trips funded by Jack Abramoff), was convinced to drop out. Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before," notes the CRNC. "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left," Abramoff was quoted as saying in the group's 1983 annual report, "our job is to remove them from power permanently." [7]

Norquist served as executive director of the committee under Abramoff. Abramoff later recruited Ralph Reed, a former president of the University of Georgia College Republicans chapter, as an unpaid intern. Reed, still a young student, was invited to sleep on Abramoff’s couch. According to Reed's book Active Faith, he also introduced Abramoff to his future wife, Pam Alexander.

At the CRNC, Abramoff developed political alliances with College Republican chapter presidents across the nation, many who would later hold roles in state and national politics and business, and some who would later interact with Abramoff as a lobbyist. At the CRNC, Abramoff, Norquist and Reed formed what was known as the "Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate." After Abramoff's election, the trio purged "dissidents" and re-wrote the CRNC's bylaws to consolidate their control over the organization. According to Gang of Five (p. 142), Reed was the "hatchet man" and "carried out Abramoff-Norquist orders with ruthless efficiency, not bothering to hide his fingerprints."

In 1983 with Abramoff in control, the CRNC passed a resolution condemning "deliberate planted propaganda by the KGB and Soviet proxy forces" against the government of South Africa, at a time when the government of South Africa was under worldwide criticism for the Apartheid regime. [8]

In 1984, Abramoff and other College Republicans formed the "USA Foundation", a non-partisan tax-exempt organization which held two days of rallies on college campuses around the United States celebrating the first anniversary of the invasion of Grenada. In a letter to campus Republican leaders, Abramoff claimed:

"While the Student Liberation Day Coalition is nonpartisan and intended only for educational purposes, I don't need to tell you how important this project is to our efforts as [College Republicans]. I am confident that an impartial study of the contrasts between the Carter/Mondale failure in Iran and the Reagan victory in Grenada will be most enlightening to voters 12 days before the general election."[9]

In 1985, Abramoff joined Citizens for America, a pro-Reagan group that helped Oliver North build support for the Nicaraguan contras. Citizens for America staged an unprecedented meeting of anti-Communist rebel leaders known as the Democratic International or Jamba Jamboree in Jamba, Angola. This conference included leaders of the Mujahedeen from Afghanistan, UNITA from Angola, the Contras from Nicaragua, and opposition groups from Laos. Out of this largely ceremonial conference came the International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff helped to organize, and also attended the conference.

Abramoff's membership ended on a sour note when the Jamba Jamboree's millionaire sponsor, Lewis Lehrman, a former New York gubernatorial candidate, concluded that Abramoff had spent his money carelessly.

In 1986, Abramoff was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. [10]

In Hollywood

Abramoff spent ten years in Hollywood, and produced Red Scorpion, a low-budget action film with anti-communist themes, made in 1988 just after his term with the College Republicans ended. This movie was filmed in South-West Africa (now Namibia) and was funded in part by the apartheid regime in South Africa through the International Freedom Foundation, which Abramoff founded.[11] [12]

On April 27 1998, Abramoff wrote a letter to the editor of The Seattle Times rebutting an article critical of Abramoff. He claimed, "The IFF was a conservative group which I headed. It was vigorously anti-Communist, but it was also actively anti-apartheid. … In 1987, it was one of the first conservative groups to call for the release of Nelson Mandela, a position for which it was roundly criticized by other conservatives at the time. While I headed the IFF, we accepted funding only from private individuals and corporations and would have absolutely rejected any offer of South African military funding, or any other kind of funding from any government—good or evil."

It was during his travels in South Africa that Abramoff first met South African-born rabbi David Lapin, who became his religious advisor, and David's brother and fellow rabbi Daniel Lapin, who allegedly introduced Abramoff to Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX) at a Washington, DC dinner shortly after the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 [13]. Lapin later claimed that he did not recall the introduction.

Lobbying

In December 1994, Abramoff was hired as a lobbyist at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, the lobbying arm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, based in Seattle, WA. According to The Seattle Times in 1995, following the Republican takeover of Congress, partner Emanuel Rouvelas determined that the firm "didn't have a conservative, Christian Coalition Republican with strong ties to the new Republican leadership." For this reason the traditionally Democratic firm extended a job offer to Abramoff, who was described in a press release as having close ties to Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey.

According to The Seattle Times, Abramoff used "Preston Gates as the launching pad for schemes of fraud and influence peddling that would play out on a larger scale" now becoming "one of the biggest lobbying scandals in a generation."

"Jack Abramoff, lobbied for Microsoft in the late 1990s while a member of the Seattle law and lobbying firm Preston Gates Ellis."

In 1995, Abramoff began representing Indian tribes with gambling interests. He became involved with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. One of Abramoff's first acts as a tribal gaming lobbyist was to defeat a Congressional bill to tax Indian casinos, sponsored by Reps. Bill Archer (R-TX) and Ernest Istook (R-OK). According to Washington Business Forward, a lobbying trade magazine, "Tom DeLay was a major factor in those victories, and the fight helped cement the alliance between the two men. [14]

Saipan and Northern Mariana Islands

Abramoff took on the Northern Mariana Island of Saipan as a client in 1995. Abramoff and his law firm were paid at least $6.7 million by the island's government from 1995 to 2001.[15]

The Northern Marianas is a US commonwealth and thus may apply the "Made in the USA" label to goods manufactured there.

Frank Murkowski, then Republican Senator from Alaska and chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, submitted a bill to extend the protection of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S. territory of the Northern Marianas.

In testimony before the Senate, it was described that 91 percent of the workforce were immigrants, and were being paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage. Stories also emerged of workers forced to live behind barbed wire in squalid shacks without plumbing. A Department of the Interior report found that "Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry." [16]The Senate passed the Murkowski worker reform bill unanimously.

Abramoff later arranged an all-expenses paid trip to Saipan for Tom DeLay on New Year's Eve in 1997. Although House ethics rules at the time prohibited House members from accepting such gifts from lobbyists, the trip was funded directly by Saipan and thus was technically allowable. An internal memo from Preston, Gates, and Ellis stated that these sort of trips are "one of the most effective ways to build permanent friends on the Hill." [17] While on the trip, at a benefit dinner for Willie Tan of Tan Holdings Corporation, DeLay was quoted as saying:

"When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made."

An undercover investigation by ABCNews captured Willie Tan speaking on a hidden camera about a conversation with DeLay about labor reform laws. According to Tan, "[DeLay] said, 'Willie, if they elect me majority whip, I make the schedule of the Congress, and I'm not going to put it on the schedule.' So Tom told me, 'Forget it, Willie. No chance.'" [17]

After the trip, Abramoff helped DeLay craft policy that extended exemptions from federal immigration and labor laws to Saipan industries, though the island is part of the U.S. Commonwealth. Brian Ross at ABC News for 20/20 on March 13 1998 pointed out that factories in Saipan have forced their workers to have abortions in order to keep their jobs.

Abramoff also negotiated for a $1.2 million no-bid contract from the Marianas for 'promoting ethics in government' to be awarded to David Lapin, brother of Daniel Lapin. [18]

Abramoff also allegedly paid the expenses for at least two other trips to the Marianas. In both cases, Abramoff was reimbursed by Preston Gates & Ellis, which was then being paid by the Marianas government. [19]

The first trip involved two aides to Tom DeLay, Edwin A. Buckham and Tony Rudy, both who later joined the lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group. Buckham and Rudy traveled with Abramoff from December 4 to December 12, 1996. Abramoff paid at least $3,000 of the costs, according to a memo written by his assistant Jennifer Senft Hamann. [19] The second trip involved James E. Clyburn (D-SC) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In a letter dated December 17, 1996, the National Security Caucus Foundation invited the lawmakers to attend a trip to the island in January 1997, saying that the government would incur no expense. Non-profits are allowed to pay for lawmaker travel, and Clyburn and Thompson said they believed the NSCF was doing so. Greg Hilton, the director of the NSCF at the time, has said that Preston Gates & Ellis sent him the airline tickets and told him the government had paid for them. The cost of the trip was, according to an Abramoff memo, $15,657. The lawmakers said that they never met Abramoff nor knew of his involvement. [19]

Abramoff's lobbying contract with the CNMI was suspended in late 1998 due to a change in administration and financial problems. In December 1999, allegedly at the request of CNMI politician Benigno Fitial, Edwin A. Buckham and Michael Scanlon visited the CNMI intending to convince two legislators to support Fitial for speaker of the CNMI's 18-member House of Representatives. Scanlon was still a member of Tom DeLay's congressional staff, and was on unpaid leave at the time. Buckham and Scanlon extended promises to help deliver federal aid to the legislators' districts, and succeeded in convincing the two Democratic legislators to vote for Fitial, a member of the rival Covenant Party. After Fitial was elected speaker in 2000, he wrote the governor insisting that the islands contract again with Abramoff at Preston Gates & Ellis. [20]

In August 1999, Abramoff's firm, Greenberg Traurig (which, all told received $4.04 million from 1998 to 2002 from the commonwealth), hired Millennium Marketing (a division of the Ralph Reed-founded Century Strategies) to "sen[d] out a mailer to Alabama conservative Christians asking them to call then-Rep. Bob Riley (R-Ala.) and tell him to vote against legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws. "The radical left, the Big Labor Union Bosses, and Bill Clinton want to pass a law preventing Chinese from coming to work on the Marianas Islands," the mailer from Reed's firm said. The Chinese workers, it added, "are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ" while on the islands, and many "are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand." [21]

In January 2006, CNMI Governor Benigno Fitial demanded that Preston Gates & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig return much of the money originally paid for lobbying services, claiming that "the positive benefits of those services have been undone by the wide scandal brought on by the criminal charges against Abramoff."[22]

Naftasib

Executives of Naftasib, a Russian energy company, funneled almost $3.4 million to Abramoff and DeLay advisor Ed Buckham between 1997 and 2005. About $60,000 was spent on a trip to Russia in 1997 for Tom DeLay, Buckham, and Abramoff. $1 million in 1998 was sent to Buckham via his organization U.S. Family Network to "influence DeLay's vote in 1998 on legislation that helped make it possible for the IMF to bail out the faltering Russian economy." DeLay voted for the legislation. The money was funneled through the Dutch company Voor Huisen, the Bahamas company Chelsea Enterprises, and the London law firm James & Sarch Co. [23]

The executives involved, who met DeLay during the 1997 trip, were Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky. Nevskaya was also involved in Abramoff's support of an Israeli sniper school, as indicated by an email sent to Abramoff by an assistant to Marina Nevskaya detailing prices of thermal vision devices.[24]

eLottery, Inc.

Main article: Internet Gambling Prohibition Act

In 1999, eLottery hired Abramoff to block the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which he did by enlisting the help of Ralph Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist, and Tom DeLay's former chief of staff, Tony Rudy.[25]

Emails from 2000 show that Susan Ralston helped Jack Abramoff pass checks from eLottery to Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) and also to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), in route to Reed's company, Century Strategies.[26][27]

Abramoff joins Greenberg Traurig

Main article: Team Abramoff

On January 8 2001, Abramoff left Preston Gates to join the Government Relations division of the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, which once described him as "directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures" and "one of the leading fund raisers for the party and its congressional candidates." With the move to Greenberg Traurig Abramoff took as much as $6 million dollars worth of client "work" from his old firm, including the Marianas Islands account. When asked in an interview why he moved to Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff replied "they have a dominant presence … This move is an excellent opportunity for me and my clients with the new Administration." [28] At Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff recruited a team of lobbyists known familiarly as "Team Abramoff". The team included many of his former employees from Preston Gates and former senior staffers of members of Congress.

Tribal lobbying

Main article: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal
Abramoff's Tribal Clients
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana

Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

Pueblo of Sandia

Pueblo of Santa Clara

Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe

Tigua Indian Reservation

Around the time he joined Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff's choice of lobbying clients changed to focus much more on Native American tribes. While Abramoff was a registered lobbyist for 51 clients while working at Preston Gates, with only 4 being tribes, Abramoff would eventually represent 24 clients for whom he was registered lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig, of which 7 were tribes.

Tyco Inc.

Former White House Deputy Counsel Timothy Flanigan left his job in December 2002 to work as General Counsel for Corporate and International Law at Tyco International. He immediately hired Abramoff to lobby Congress and the White House on matters relating to Tyco's Bermuda tax-exempt status. [29] Flanigan stated to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff bragged that he could help Tyco avoid tax liability aimed at offshore companies because he "had good relationships with members of Congress." [30]

Tyco Inc. claimed in August 2005 that Abramoff had been paid $1.7 million for an 'astroturf campaign' to create a 'grassroots' campaign to oppose proposals to penalize US corporations registered abroad for tax reasons. The work allegedly was never performed, and most of the fee Tyco paid Abramoff to lobby against the legislation was "diverted to entities controlled by Mr. Abramoff". [31]

Government of Malaysia

Abramoff's team also represented the government of Malaysia, and worked toward improving Malaysian relations with the United States, particularly with trade relations. Abramoff also reportedly wanted to spread his influence deep into the Muslim world through a front group called the Lexington Group. [32]

Government of Sudan

According to the Los Angeles Times, Abramoff also met with the government of Sudan, offering a plan to deflect criticism from American Christian groups over the regime's alleged role in the Darfur conflict. Abramoff promised to enlist Ralph E. Reed, Jr., to assist, as well as starting a grass-roots campaign to better the image of Sudan in America. [2]

Channel One News

Abramoff has been a lobbyist for the school TV news service Channel One News. From 1999 to 2003, Channel One retained him to ensure Congress did not block funds to their service. Not only did Channel One face frequent campaigns by political groups to persuade Congress to limit its presence in schools, but it also derived much of its advertising revenue from U.S. government sources, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy and military recruitment. Since Abramoff and Channel One parted ways, Channel One's advertising revenues have dropped substantially, but a cause-and-effect relationship would be difficult to establish. [33]

Telecommunications Firm

On October 18, 2005, The Washington Post reported that Ney, as chair of the House Administration Committee, approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications company to install antennas for the House. The company, then Foxcom Wireless, an Israeli start-up telecommunications firm, (which has since moved headquarters from Jerusalem to Vienna, Va., and been renamed MobileAccess Networks) later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to the Capitol Athletic Foundation charity that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying activities. [34]. In Abramoff's plea agreement, Abramoff pled only to misrepresentation [35], in Scanlon's plea agreement, the above was described as public corruption. [36]

Access to the Bush Administration

Jack Abramoff was a member of the Bush Administration's 2001 Transition Advisory Team assigned to the Department of the Interior. [37] Abramoff befriended the incoming Deputy Secretary of the Interior, J. Steven Griles.

In the first 10 months of 2001, the Abramoff lobbying team logged almost 200 contacts with the new Administration. [38] He may have used these senior level contacts to assist in his lobbying for Indian tribes concerning tribal gaming. The Department of the Interior has Federal regulatory authority over tribal affairs such as tribal recognition and gaming. From 2000 to 2003, six Indian tribes paid Abramoff over $80 million in lobbying fees. [39]

The Department of the Interior Office of Insular Affairs has authority over policy and grants to US Territories such as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). [40] This may have assisted him in lobbying for textile interests in the islands. U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) and U.S. Rep and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay also heavily lobbied the CNMI for opposing the minimum wage. [41] [42]

According to an article published in the New York Times on November 10, 2005, Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of the African nation of Gabon, Omar Bongo to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to an Abramoff-controlled lobbying firm, GrassRoots Interactive. Bongo did meet with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004. There has been no evidence in the public record that Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon.

White House and State Department officials described Mr. Bush's meeting with President Bongo, whose government is regularly accused by the United States of human rights abuses, as routine. The officials said they knew of no involvement by Mr. Abramoff in the arrangements. Officials at Gabon's embassy in Washington did not respond to written questions. [43]

Susan Ralston, Special Assistant to the President and Assistant to the Senior Advisor Karl Rove since 2001, previously worked as an administrative assistant for both Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed. [44][45] Sometime before December 2005, she moved to the United States Department of Commerce but remained on the White House Roster. [46]

According to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to arrange a meeting between Mahathir and president George W. Bush, allegedly at the direction of the Heritage Foundation. Mahathir insisted that someone unknown to him had paid for the meeting.[47]

On May 9, 2001, Chief Raul Garza of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas met with President Bush, with Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist in attendance. Abramoff was identified in the background of a photo taken at the meeting.[48] Days before the meeting, the tribe paid $25,000 to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform at Abramoff's direction. According to the organization's communications director, John Kartch, the meeting was one of several gatherings with President Bush sponsored by ATR. On the same day, the chief of the Louisiana Coushattas also attended an ATR-sponsored gathering with President Bush. The Coushattas also gave $25,000 to ATR soon before the event.

The details of the Kickapoo meeting and a letter dated May 10, 2001 from ATR thanking the Kickapoos for their contribution were revealed to the New York Times in 2006 by former council elder Isidro Garza, who with Raul Garza (no relation), is under indictment in Texas for embezzling tribal money. According to Isidro Garza, Abramoff did not say the donation was required to meet the president; the White House denied any knowledge of the transaction.[49]

Other photos have surfaced of Jack Abramoff and President Bush meeting at the White House and Oval Office on either December 22 or 23, 2002. The photos were found on a site that published many pictures of governmental events, ReflectionsOrders.com. The owner of the site removed the photos almost immediately when the presence of Abramoff and Bush together was discovered. Some internet users located the photos and preserved copies of some of them.[50] The owner of the site gave thousands of dollars to the Bush campaign and Republican National Committee, according to public FEC contribution records.[51]

Signatures, skyboxes, and Scotland

Signatures restaurant, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., once owned by Jack Abramoff, is under new ownership and will be renamed.

In addition to offering many Republican members of Congress expensive free meals at his restaurant, Signatures, Abramoff maintained four skyboxes at major sports arenas for political entertaining at a cost of over $1 million a year. Abramoff hosted many fundraisers at these skyboxes including events for politicians publicly opposed to gambling, such as John Doolittle. [3]

DeLay, Ney and Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney have each gone on golf trips to Scotland that were apparently arranged or funded by Abramoff. These trips took place in 2000, 2002, and 2003. Ney and Feeney each claimed that their trips were paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research, but the group denied this. Spokespeople for Ney and Feeney blamed others for filing errors.

File:Abramoff scotland small.jpg
From left to right, Neil Volz (former Ney aide, then Team Abramoff member), Ralph Reed, Paul Vinovich (Ney aide), Rep. Bob Ney, William Heaton (Ney aide), David Safavian (convicted), Michael Williams (member of Team Abramoff), Alex Abramoff and Jack Abramoff. They're standing in front of the chartered plane that Abramoff booked to Scotland.

A former top procurement official in the Bush administration, David H. Safavian, has been convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in connection with the Abramoff investigation. Safavian, who traveled to Scotland with Reed and Ney on a golf outing arranged by Abramoff, was accused of concealing from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with the General Services Administration at the time of the golf trip--in particular, seeking help finding property for his private religious school Eshkol Academy and for one of his tribal clients. Safavian was then GSA chief of staff.[4]

Overview of criminal and political investigations

Indian tribes grand jury investigations

Main article: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal
Jack Abramoff testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on September 29 2004, where he repeatedly refused to answer Senators' questions by "taking the fifth".

Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon are accused of conspiring with Ralph E. Reed, Jr., and Grover Norquist to bilk Indian casino gambling interests out of an estimated $85 million in fees. The lobbyists are accused of orchestrating lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services. These practices were the subject both of long-running criminal prosecution and hearings by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pled guilty to three felony counts, conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion, involving charges stemming principally from his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. In addition, Abramoff and other defendants must make restitution of at least $25 million that was defrauded from clients, mostly notably the Native American tribes. Further, Abramoff owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.7 million as a result of his guilty plea to the tax evasion charge. In the agreement, Abramoff admits to bribing public officials, including Bob Ney, a Republican congressman from Ohio.[5] Also included: the hiring of congressional staffers and conspiring with them to lobby their former employers—including members of Congress—in violation of a one-year federal ban on such lobbying. [6]

SunCruz Casinos fraud indictment

Main article: SunCruz Casinos

On August 11, 2005, Abramoff and his partner, Adam Kidan, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy SunCruz Casinos from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Abramoff and Kidan are accused of using a fake wire transfer to make lenders believe that they had made a $23 million down payment, in order to qualify for a $60 million loan.[7] Congressman Bob Ney was implicated in helping to consummate the deal.

After the partners purchased SunCruz in September 2000, the business relationship with Boulis deteriorated, culminating in a fistfight between Kidan and Boulis in December 2000. In February 2001 Boulis was murdered in his car in a mob style attack.

The murder investigation, which presently includes three mobsters who had received payments from Kidan, is ongoing. Two of the suspects face the death penalty. SunCruz is now owned and operated by Oceans Casinos Cruises.

Sentencing

On March 29, 2006, Abramoff and co-defendant Kidan were both sentenced in the SunCruz case to the minimum amount, 70 months, and to pay US$21.7 million in restitution. According to the "memorandum in aid of sentencing", the sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck, received a total of 262 pleas for leniency from prominent rabbis and business associates of Abramoff [52]. The defendants are still cooperating with federal investigators and will be sentenced later in the Indian lobbying case.

Guam grand jury investigation

Main article: Jack Abramoff Guam investigation

In 2002, Abramoff was retained under a secret contract by the Guam Superior Court to lobby against a bill proposing to put the Superior Court under the authority of the Guam Supreme Court. On Nov. 18, 2002, a grand jury issued a subpoena demanding that the administrator of the Guam Superior Court release all records relating to the contract. On Nov. 19, 2002, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black, the chief prosecutor for Guam and the instigator of the indictment, was unexpectedly demoted and removed from the office he had held since 1991. The federal grand jury investigation was quickly wound down and took no further action. In 2005, Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks initiated a new investigation of the Abramoff contract which is continuing.

Abramoff organizations

Main article: List of Jack Abramoff-related organizations

Abramoff has founded or run several non-profit organizations, including Capital Athletic Foundation and Eshkol Academy; as well as lobbying firms and political think tanks such as American International Center, GrassRoots Interactive, and the National Center for Public Policy Research. While these organizations had varying degrees of legitimate activities, it has come to light that Abramoff used these organizations to channel millions of dollars to recipients not related to the organizations.

Capital Athletic Foundation and Eshkol Academy

Main article: [[:Capital Athletic Foundation, Eshkol Academy]]

Although Federal tax records show that various Indian tribes donated more than $6 million to the Capital Athletic Foundation, less than 1% of the money went to athletic programs, the stated purpose of the foundation. The majority of the funds went to the Eshkol Academy in Maryland, an Orthodox Jewish school founded by Abramoff in 2002. Hundreds of thousands of dollars from CAF were also spent on golf trips to Scotland for Abramoff, Bob Ney, Ralph Reed, and David Safavian, as well as purchases of paramilitary equipment sent to a high school friend, who received a monthly stipend from the foundation. Abramoff solicited Safavian's help in looking for property deals for Eshkol Academy and tribal clients, leading to Safavian's conviction.[8] [9]

GrassRoots Interactive and Kay Gold

Main article: GrassRoots Interactive

GrassRoots Interactive, now defunct, was a small Silver Spring, Maryland, lobbying firm controlled by Jack Abramoff. Millions of dollars flowed into GrassRoots Interactive in 2003, the year it was created, and then flowed out again to unusual places. At least $2.3 million went to a California consulting firm that used the same address as the law office of Abramoff's brother, Robert. A separate check for $400,000, from GrassRoots, was made out to Kay Gold LLC, another Abramoff family company.[10]

See also

Footnotes

Some of this article was originally derived from material at SourceWatch ([11]), available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Cited notes and references
  1. ^ Abramoff Pleads Guilty, Will Help in Corruption Probe, Bloomberg News Service, January 3 2006.
  2. ^ "Abramoff Pleads Guilty, Will Help in Corruption Probe", CBS News, January 4 2006.
  3. ^ Balz, Dan and Bimbaum, Jeffrey H. (Staff Writers) Case Bringing New Scrutiny To a System and a Profession, The Washington Post, January 4 2006.
  4. ^ "Jack Abramoff Lobbying and Political Contributions, 1999 - 2006", Capital Eye, Accessed on March 15 2006.
  5. ^ "One More Look at the Washington Post Clown Show..." TPM Cafe, Accessed on March 15 2006.
  6. ^ "Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $314k", therawstory, Accessed on March 15 2006.
  7. ^ Chait, Jonathan (December 18, 2005). "Big on money, short on memory (commentary)". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ "Part III: DeLay's Godfather". AlterNet. May 14, 2002.
  9. ^ Kurtz, Howard and Babcock, Charles R. (October 4, 1984). "Two 'Nonpolitical' Foundations Push Grenada Rallies". The Washington Post.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Appointment of Eight Members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and Designation of the Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Executive Director". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. May 3, 1986. Retrieved May 31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Carlson, Peter (November 30, 2005). "Bitten by the Red Scorpion". The Standard (Hong Kong).
  12. ^ "Council for National Policy (CNP) -A- Member Biographies". Retrieved May 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Anderson, Rick (May 11, 2005). "Meet the Lapin Brothers". Seattle Weekly.
  14. ^ http://www.bizforward.com/wdc/issues/2002-11/government/abramoff/
  15. ^ http://www.opacnmi.com/archives/m0105.html
  16. ^ Edsall, Thomas (May 29, 2006). "Another Stumble for Ralph Reed's Beleaguered Campaign". Washington Post. pp. A5.
  17. ^ a b Ross, Brian (April 6, 2005). "DeLay's Lavish Island Getaway". ABC News.
  18. ^ Zernike, Kate (April 29 2005). "Associate of Lobbyist Tied to DeLay Is Questioned on Island Contracts". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b c Smith, R. Jeffrey (May 4, 2005). "Democrats' Travel Costs Linked to Lobbyist". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ Roche, Walter F. and Neubauer, Chuck (May 6, 2005). "A Question of Influence". Los Angeles Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Edsall, Thomas (May 29, 2006). "Another Stumble for Ralph Reed's Beleaguered Campaign". Washington Post. pp. A5.
  22. ^ Ravelo, John (January 31, 2006). "'Return Abramoff money'". Saipan Tribune.
  23. ^ http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007739.php
  24. ^ http://www.forward.com/campaignconfidential/archives/2005_06.php
  25. ^ "Elottery, Inc". SourceWatch. Retrieved May 31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ "Century Strategies". SourceWatch. Retrieved May 31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Schmidt, Susan and Grimaldi, James V. (October 16 2005). "How a Lobbyist Stacked the Deck". Washington Post. p. 3. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:lLhVNtKvTfwJ:www.hillzoo.com/news032801.htm+%22Amy+Berger%22,+Preston+Gates&hl=en
  29. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/politics/24justice.html
  30. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html
  31. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html
  32. ^ Edsall, Thomas B. (April 17, 2005). "Think Tank's Ideas Shifted as Malaysia Ties Grew". The Washington Post.
  33. ^ http://www.commercialalert.org/issues-article.php?article_id=887&subcategory_id=32&category=2
  34. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701918_pf.html
  35. ^ http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/060104-01.AbramoffPleaAgreement.pdf
  36. ^ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1121052scanlon1.html
  37. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm
  38. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htmof
  39. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588.html
  40. ^ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cq.html
  41. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=647725
  42. ^ http://www.thinkprogress.org/abramoff
  43. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/politics/10lobby.html?ex=1289278800&en=3564c89497493794&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
  44. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588_pf.html
  45. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/nataffdaily/story/9130607
  46. ^ http://www.philippinenews.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=3e0c4851a55bc3720463f093929c619d
  47. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185482,00.html
  48. ^ Philip Shenon and Lowell Bergman (February 2, 2006). "Photograph Shows Lobbyist at Bush Meeting With Legislators". New York Times.
  49. ^ Philip Shenon (March 10, 2006). "$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush". New York Times.
  50. ^ http://www.thedoubles.com/gwbja.html
  51. ^ http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/2006/01/photograph-company-president-that.html
  52. ^ [1]
Uncited references
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