[lbo-talk] Abramoff pleads guilty

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Tue Jan 3 12:37:08 PST 2006


[By November, this could conceivably substantially improve the odds of Dems gaining control of a house of Congress by substantially increasing the number of seats in play -- and these new seats being mostly Republican seats to lose.]

http://nytimes.com/2006/01/03/politics/03cnd-abramoff.html

The New York Times

January 3, 2006

G.O.P. Lobbyist Pleads Guilty in Deal With Prosecutors

By ANNE E. KORNBLUT

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony

counts in Washington today as part of a settlement with federal

prosecutors, ending an intense, months-long negotiation over whether

the Republican lobbyist would testify against his former colleagues,

people involved with the case said.

Mr. Abramoff, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud, and tax

evasion, setting the stage for prosecutors to begin using him as a

cooperating witness against his former business and political

colleagues. In exchange, Mr. Abramoff faces a maximum of about 10

years in prison in the Washington case. The conspiracy charge included

Mr. Abramoff's effort to influence at least one member of Congress and

a Congressional staff member.

Mr. Abramoff is also scheduled to appear in Florida Wednesday in a

related case, in which he was indicted last year. In that case, he is

expected to plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy in connection with

his purchase of the SunCruz casino boat line, and will face a maximum

of about seven years' prison time.

Mr. Abramoff has been talking to investigators in the corruption case

for many months, said participants in the case, who spoke on the

condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the

investigation. They said he had provided a full picture of what

evidence he could offer against other suspects.

His participation in Washington has taken place mostly below the

radar, as prosecutors made the Miami case the focus of their public

work and as Mr. Abramoff and his associates claimed they were

preparing to stand trial, facing up to as many as 30 years in prison.

Though Mr. Abramoff's pleas in each location are separate, the deal

reached with the Justice Department is all-encompassing, reducing the

severe penalties Mr. Abramoff could have faced in either

investigation, in exchange for his inside knowledge of certain

lobbying work and legislative actions. One element of the deal is that

he can serve prison time in the two cases concurrently, although the

sentencing will not take place until much further along in the

investigation.

Details of the long-sought plea agreement were not made final until

after 9 p.m. on Monday night, following weeks of around-the-clock

communications between numerous prosecutors in several Justice

Department offices and lawyers for Mr. Abramoff. The deal, a so-called

"global" arrangement because it encompasses separate prosecutions in

Florida and Washington, comes less than a week before Mr. Abramoff was

scheduled to stand trial in the Miami case.

Official Washington has been on edge for months awaiting word of Mr.

Abramoff's legal future. Once a masterful Republican lobbyist with

close ties to the former House majority leader, Representative Tom

DeLay, he earned tens of millions of dollars representing Indian

casino interests and farflung entities like the Commonwealth of the

Northern Marianas Islands. Through a complicated web of financial

arrangements, he helped funnel donations to his lawmaker friends' and

their campaigns, and took members of Congress, mainly the Republicans

in power, on lavish trips.

Now, after more than two years of investigations, prosecutors have

developed a list of at least a dozen lawmakers, congressional aides

and lobbyists whose work appears suspect and who are now at the core

of the case. With Mr. Abramoff's cooperation, the Justice Department

will have a potentially critical witness to alleged patterns of

corruption or bribery within the Republican leadership ranks, which in

some cases they believe also took the form of campaign donations and

free meals at Mr. Abramoff's downtown restaurant, Signatures.

Already, prosecutors have a key witness in Michael Scanlon, once press

secretary to Mr. DeLay. Mr. Scanlon reached a plea agreement last

year, putting pressure on Mr. Abramoff to reach his own deal. Now that

Mr. Abramoff has done the same, one person involved in the case said:

"When some people hear about this, they will clamor to cut a deal of

their own."

* Copyright 2006The New York Times Company



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