The Jack Abramoff controversies were a series of investigations into

Jack Abramoff Jack Allan Abramoff (; born February 28, 1959) is an American lobbyist, businessman, film producer, writer, and convicted criminal. He was at the center of an extensive federal corruption investigation, which resulted in his conviction and 21 ...

, a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

-based lobbyist, which culminated in several plea agreements by those involved, including U.S. Representative

Bob Ney Robert William Ney (born July 5, 1954) is an American former politician who represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until his resignation on November 3, 2006, after he pleaded guilty to charges ...

(R-OH). Abramoff pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, including tax fraud and bribing public officials. Abramoff's activities also became an issue that many Democratic candidates raised in the November 2006 U.S. House and

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

elections, as challengers painted the incumbent Republican Congress as tarnished and corrupted by Abramoff and his powerful allies. On March 29, 2006, Abramoff was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $21 million. As a result of Abramoff's criminal behavior, prominent politicians with close ties to Abramoff and hundreds of Congressional politicians who received contributions from his clients as part of the monetary influence of Jack Abramoff came under media scrutiny, and some donated their contributions to charity. In 2006, responding to the Abramoff controversies, lobbying reform proposals were presented in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

by both parties. In September 2006, both the

and

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

passed legislation and rules changes related to federal earmarks and other substantive lobbying reforms.

Controversies

Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal

Abramoff was under investigation by federal

grand juries A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

for his involvement in the multimillion-dollar defrauding of Native American tribes who were his lobbying clients, and related bribery of public officials. On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pled guilty to three felony counts: conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion (Abramoff owes the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

$1.7 million for that charge). In addition, Abramoff and other defendants must make restitution of at least $25 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

that was defrauded from clients, most notably the Native American tribes. Abramoff's guilty plea was part of a

plea deal A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include ...

that requires him to cooperate in the ongoing investigation of his role in congressional corruption. The agreement alleges that Abramoff bribed public officials, including a person identified as "Representative #1," confirmed to be

, a Republican congressman from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. 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. Ney has established a legal defense fund for himself to defend against possible charges related to Abramoff. On January 15, 2006, Ney relinquished his post as Chairman of the House Administration Committee. On May 8, 2006, Ney's former Chief of Staff, Neil Volz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, including wire fraud and violating House rules. On June 20, 2006, White House procurement official

David Safavian David Safavian is an American former lawyer who worked as a congressional aide, lobbyist, and later as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration. A Republican, he served as Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Adm ...

, a long-time colleague of Abramoff and

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and anti-tax advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary pro ...

, was convicted of lying and obstruction for concealing his efforts at the GSA to aid Abramoff.

Jack Abramoff Guam investigation

: Abramoff was under investigation by a grand jury in

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

over an alleged plot to control the functions of the courts in that territory, until the prosecutor was removed from office by the Bush administration.

SunCruz Casinos investigation

Abramoff was indicted on August 11, 2005, by a grand jury in

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

, Florida, for

bank fraud Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many ins ...

arising from the purchase of

SunCruz Casinos SunCruz Casinos was one of many cruise lines that offered "cruises to nowhere," legally transporting passengers into international waters beyond the reach of federal and state gambling laws. Four ships operated out of four ports including Jackso ...

. On January 4, 2006, Abramoff pled guilty to conspiring to commit

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

, and of a separate charge of wire fraud.

Team Abramoff

Abramoff's influence circle.

Other scandals

Abramoff made multiple payments to

Doug Bandow Douglas Bandow (born April 15, 1957) is an American political writer working as a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Bandow regularly writes on military non-interventionism, and is a critic of NATO enlargement. Background Bandow obtained h ...

, former Senior Fellow at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, and at least one other think tank expert, Peter Ferrara, to write opinion pieces favorable to his clients. Abramoff was involved in a scandal to influence the

U.S. Department of Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating ...

to prevent the Jena Band of

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

Indians from building a Casino that would take away money from one of Abramoff's tribal clients. Abramoff paid the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), in exchange for help from CREA president

Italia Federici Italia Federici (born August 12, 1969), the former president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), a greenscam organization. Federici was also a political aide to Secretary of the Interior and CREA co-founder Gale Norto ...

in persuading Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Interior J. Steven Griles to block the Jena Band's casino application. In 2002, Abramoff was a

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

lobbyist for the General Council for Islamic Banks, for which he was paid $20,000.

Saleh Abdullah Kamel Saleh Abdullah Kamel (1941 – 18 May 2020) ( ''Ṣaleḥ 'Abdullāh Kamel'') was a Saudi billionaire businessman. He had a net worth estimated at US$2.3 billion, as of March 2017. He was the chairman and founder of the Dallah al Baraka Group ( ...

, chairman of the council, was investigated for allegedly funding terrorism and terrorists, including

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

, the architect of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Notes and references

External links

Plea Agreement of January 3
defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials, US District Court of District of Columbia.
Plea Agreement of January 4
conspiracy and wire fraud, US Southern District Court of Florida. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abramoff scandals, Jack Jack Abramoff