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Old 05-02-2005, 11:59 AM   #1 (permalink)
Banned
 
Is the Republican "Ruling Elite" Actually Organized Crime, Like the Mob?

Examining this, and researching the backgrounds of Abramoff, Norquist, Delay, Reed, et al, (which I will provide more of in my next post here,,,,,), how could an informed and cynical citizen reach any other conclusion than that we are witnessing the tip of an organized crime syndicate that is posing as a political organization that has financed itself into achieving high office where it can operate not just above the law, but as the "law"?
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<a href="http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:hchwTe-Vz7cJ:www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/03/17/tom_delay/index1.html+%2250+jack+abramoffs%22&hl=en">http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/03/17/tom_delay/index_np.html</a>
By 2003, Abramoff's clients -- including the Business Roundtable, Atofina Chemicals, Humana, Primedia Inc. and tribal clients -- paid his law firm $11.57 million in fees, one of the highest such sums in Washington."<b> Norquist and DeLay were among Abramoff's biggest promoters. "What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs," Norquist said in 1995. "Then this becomes a different town." </b>
Quote:
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043001147_pf.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043001147_pf.html</a>
Untangling a Lobbyist's Stake in a Casino Fleet
With Millions of Dollars Unaccounted for, Another Federal Investigation Targets Abramoff

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 1, 2005; A01

It was a gangland-style hit straight out of "Goodfellas."

A man in a BMW was driving down a quiet side street after an evening meeting at his Fort Lauderdale office when a car slowed to a stop in front of him. A second car boxed the BMW in from behind, then a dark Mustang appeared from the opposite direction. The Mustang's driver pulled alongside and pumped three hollow-point bullets into the BMW driver's chest.

The dead man was Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, a volatile 51-year-old self-made millionaire, a Greek immigrant who had started as a dishwasher in Canada and ended up in Florida, where he built an empire of restaurants, hotels and cruise ships used for offshore casino gambling. Boulis's slaying, still unsolved four years later, reverberated all the way to Washington. Months earlier he had sold his fleet of casino ships to a partnership that included Republican superlobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff is best known as a target of a federal investigation in Washington into the tens of millions in fees he and a partner collected from casino-owning Indian tribes. But the wreckage from his brief and tumultuous time as owner of the gambling fleet threatens to overtake his Washington legal troubles.

Not long after Abramoff and his partners bought SunCruz Casinos in September 2000, the venture ran aground after a fistfight between two of the owners, allegations of mob influence, dueling lawsuits and, finally, Boulis's death on Feb. 6, 2001. Now, Abramoff is the target of a federal investigation into whether the casino ship deal involved bank fraud. According to court records, the SunCruz purchase hinged on a fake wire transfer for $23 million intended to persuade lenders to provide financing to Abramoff's group.

Although the outlines of the tale have become part of South Florida lore, what has not been disclosed are the full details of the alleged fraud at the heart of the transaction and the extent of Abramoff's role -- including his use of contacts with Republican Reps. Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Robert W. Ney (Ohio) and members of their staffs as he worked to land the deal.

The SunCruz story combines the South Florida of novelist Carl Hiaasen with the Washington of influence-peddling K Street: Thousands of pages of bankruptcy and other court records, along with dozens of interviews in Florida and Washington, reveal secret deals; a forged document; double-crossing partners; and socializing with government officials on a private jet, at the U.S. Open golf tournament at Pebble Beach, at a Monday night football game in a private box at FedEx Field, and at an exclusive party on Inauguration Day in Washington.

Gus Boulis never really wanted to sell SunCruz. He bought his first cruise boat in 1994 and swiftly added 10 more, building an enormously profitable business that took in as much as $30 million in yearly profits.

Boulis, a larger-than-life character, had always been a scrapper and something of a business genius. As a teenager, he jumped ship from a Greek freighter in Canada, where he made his first fortune with Mr. Submarine sandwich shops. After retiring to the Florida Keys, at the age of 30, he built another fortune with the popular Miami Subs chain. Then he launched SunCruz, known as a "cruise to nowhere" casino business. His midsize cruise ships left on day trips from nine ports around Florida, taking tourists, high-rollers and elderly players into international waters, beyond the reach of the state's anti-gambling laws.

Based outside Fort Lauderdale, the business was the bane of Florida officials, who thought Boulis flouted the law, and SunCruz's port city neighbors, who complained that drunken gamblers were urinating on their lawns. For years, Boulis beat back efforts by federal and state lawyers determined to shut him down.

In 1999, federal prosecutors charged Boulis with violating the Shipping Act by purchasing his vessels without being a U.S. citizen. Boulis agreed to pay a $1 million fine and sell his cruise line. The government gave him 36 months to do it and agreed to keep the settlement secret so Boulis would not lose money in a fire sale.

To sell his business, Boulis turned to his lawyers in the D.C. office of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP. Art Dimopoulos, a maritime lawyer, looked for buyers. Jack Abramoff, one of Dimopoulos's partners at Preston Gates, said he could find one.

Abramoff, 40, was a study in contradictions. A smooth-talking political power player who was an Orthodox Jew, the former high school weightlifter produced movies in Hollywood before becoming one of the top lobbyists in town.

He had built a lucrative practice by showing then-Democrat-dominated K Street and its corporate clients how to make friends in the new Republican Congress. He was especially close to Tom DeLay, then House majority whip. Abramoff had also convinced casino-rich Indian tribes that they should begin switching their copious campaign contributions to the GOP.

The buyer Abramoff found for Boulis was Adam Kidan, a 36-year-old New York City businessman who had owned the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in Washington. Abramoff had known Kidan since the 1980s when Abramoff was at Georgetown Law Center and Kidan was an undergraduate at George Washington University. Both were active in the national office of the College Republicans.

Abramoff and Kidan were already in business with a third partner, former Reagan White House aide Ben Waldman, who also had been a College Republican. The three men had gotten together in a fledgling venture that sought to sell advertising on water taxis that would travel the Potomac River.

Dimopoulos took Kidan to Florida to meet Boulis. What was not disclosed to Preston Gates for at least eight months, according to a statement by the firm on Friday, was that Abramoff then joined Kidan in the SunCruz venture as a 50-50 partner. Such an arrangement would constitute a potential conflict of interest, because partners in the Preston Gates firm would be on both sides of the deal. The Preston Gates statement said that when the firm learned of the situation, it notified Boulis, who was already aware of it and did not object.

Abramoff's plan was to have Kidan put up most of the money and Abramoff "would use his lobbying expertise and network to help expand the new company's markets both in the U.S. and abroad," Abramoff's lawyers later asserted. Abramoff would say later that Kidan told him he was looking to invest an "eight-figure" payoff he had made from the sale of his Dial-a-Mattress franchise.

But even a cursory background check would have raised serious questions about whether Kidan had that kind of money. Kidan's business was in bankruptcy proceedings, and Kidan had declared personal bankruptcy in 1996.

Nonetheless, in January 2000, Boulis agreed in a letter of intent to sell SunCruz for $145 million. A few weeks later, though, Boulis demanded a host of unwelcome additional terms, including a consulting deal.

Suddenly, Boulis was being denounced in Congress.

Michael Scanlon, a former DeLay spokesman Abramoff had just hired at Preston Gates, asked Ohio congressman Bob Ney to insert remarks into the Congressional Record that would put pressure on Boulis.

"Mr. Speaker, how SunCruz Casinos and Gus Boulis conduct themselves with regard to Florida laws is very unnerving," Ney said in the March 30 Congressional Record. "I don't want to see the actions of one bad apple in Florida, or anywhere else . . . affect the business aspect of this industry or hurt any innocent casino patron in our country."

Ney said later he was "furious" at Scanlon for not fully informing him about SunCruz. Scanlon, for his part, said he had been given bad information about SunCruz and regretted his request to Ney.

As the SunCruz negotiations warmed up again that spring, Boulis found out that Abramoff and Kidan had another friend on Capitol Hill.

On June 9, DeLay's office sent Boulis a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol, according to records kept by the architect of the Capitol's office. The gift from DeLay's office was issued six days after DeLay and his deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, returned from a golf trip to Scotland with Abramoff.

DeLay spokesman Dan Allen said the congressman did not remember Boulis. A DeLay aide said the office handles many requests for flags.
A Trip to Pebble Beach

Rudy, a George Mason Law School graduate who had spent five years on DeLay's staff in a variety of jobs, joined Abramoff and Kidan at another sumptuous sporting event on June 15. The three flew on SunCruz's jet out to the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, Calif., along with Joan Wagner, Boulis's chief financial officer, and her husband, said a former SunCruz insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Rudy did not report the trip in his House travel records. When contacted by The Washington Post recently, Rudy declined to be interviewed for this article. Wagner and her lawyers did not respond to calls for comment.

A week after the Pebble Beach trip, on June 22, 2000, Boulis entered into a formal agreement to sell SunCruz to Kidan and Abramoff.

Now the partners had to find financing for the deal. They turned to a specialty lender, Foothill Capital, a unit of Wells Fargo & Co.

On the plus side for the would-be borrowers were Abramoff's glowing press clippings, including a July 3 story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal that described the millions he was bringing in to his lobbying firm. The article, which Kidan faxed to lenders, called Abramoff Washington's "GOP stalwart" because of his pull with Republican leaders such as DeLay, who praised Abramoff for getting Indians to donate to Republicans.

Abramoff provided Foothill Capital a financial statement stating his net worth as $13 million. He valued his lobbying practice at $7.5 million and family business interests at nearly $3 million, including a $1.4 million investment with his father in a company that owns parking lots in Atlantic City. The lobbyist also sent Foothill Capital a list of loan references that included Rudy and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).

"I don't remember it, but I would certainly have been happy to give him a good recommendation," Rohrabacher said. "He's a very honest man."

Kidan also provided Foothill Capital a one-page financial statement in which he claimed to be worth $26 million, all but $874,000 of it in unspecified "closely held corporations." But a background report on Kidan done for Foothill Capital revealed a string of lawsuits, judgments, liens, bankruptcies and failed businesses.

Kidan grew up in New York and graduated in 1989 from Brooklyn Law School. He ran two bagel businesses and had a law practice. In 1993, his mother was killed during a botched robbery at her Staten Island home. The slaying was linked to organized crime figures trying to steal several hundred thousand dollars they thought Kidan's stepfather kept in a safe.

The stepfather had also sued him, alleging that Kidan misappropriated $250,000 being held in escrow, a dispute that would eventually lead Kidan to relinquish his license to practice law. Among the funds at issue: $15,000 posted as a reward in his mother's slaying.

Nevertheless, Foothill Capital and a second specialty lender, Citadel Equity Fund, agreed to lend Abramoff and Kidan $60 million to buy Boulis's business, requiring the two men to personally guarantee the loans and to put $23 million of their own money into the deal.

Foothill Capital's representative in the deal was Greg C. Walker, then a vice president at the firm. Asked last week why Foothill Capital would take a chance on someone such as Kidan, Walker said, "You'd have to be there at the time."

He declined to elaborate.
A Sealed Envelope

The lenders, buyers and sellers gathered to begin closing the deal on the morning of Sept. 18, 2000, in the midtown Manhattan offices of Foothill Capital's lawyers. Tensions were running high; Kidan and Abramoff were annoyed that Walker was requiring them to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they had expected in closing fees.

That night, though, they smoothed things over during a Monday night football game, between the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. Kidan and Walker traveled to Washington from New York to join Abramoff in the lobbyist's leased skybox at FedEx Field. Abramoff was spending about $1 million a year on skyboxes at FedEx Field, MCI Center and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and often allowed politicians and their staffers to use them for fundraising. A copy of a roster maintained by Abramoff and obtained by The Post shows he provided the box for DeLay's use that night.

Walker said he was introduced to DeLay in the skybox and was later told that DeLay was the majority whip. Walker said he was unfamiliar with the position, which is the third in rank in the House.

"It sounds to me like it is a powerful position," Walker said in a recent interview. Asked whether the introduction with DeLay helped establish Abramoff's bona fides, Walker said, "The credit has to stand on its own."

DeLay spokesman Allen said last week that DeLay does not recall meeting Walker.

Nine days after the Redskins game, the last of the closing documents were signed in New York: Under the final terms, Kidan and Abramoff were to put in $23 million in cash, Foothill Capital and Citadel would lend the partners $60 million, and Boulis would agree to accept IOUs from Kidan and Abramoff totaling $67.5 million.

Boulis would stay as a consultant with a 10 percent stake in the company. As one of the four owners -- Kidan and Abramoff each had 40 percent, and Waldman had 10 percent -- Boulis thought he would also still have a say in how business was done.

The closing documents did not tell the whole story, however. What really happened that week is the subject of the federal bank fraud investigation.

Kidan later acknowledged that he and Abramoff never made the $23 million cash payment to Boulis. Kidan testified in a court deposition that Boulis secretly agreed instead to accept two promissory notes totaling $20 million just before the closing when Kidan had threatened to walk away from the deal because he thought the price was too high.

"I told Mr. Boulis we would not be closing the deal," Kidan later said in a deposition. "He said under what terms would I do it? And I told him I would do it if the price was adjusted accordingly."

Kidan later testified in a deposition there was nothing in writing about the change, but he said that he, Abramoff and Boulis orally agreed to do it. "There was a discussion between myself and Mr. Boulis and Mr. Abramoff, and then Mr. Boulis went off to Greece" to attend his father's funeral, Kidan testified. Boulis left his subordinates to handle the closing.

In effect, Kidan and Abramoff were allowed to buy Gus Boulis's gambling company without putting in a cent of equity.

When Foothill Capital eventually sued to recover its loans, one of its lawyers said it would never have lent the $60 million if it had known about the secret promissory notes. The loan agreements with the banks required that Abramoff and Kidan have a cash stake in SunCruz, just as a bank usually requires a cash down payment before issuing a home mortgage. Foothill Capital has said it relied on the financial statements provided by Abramoff and Kidan in which they represented that they had the necessary means to put up $23 million in cash.

Foothill Capital also said that the buyers and sellers knew that the secret arrangement was fraudulent and tried to conceal it. Foothill Capital cited a fax to Kidan at his hotel from Joan Wagner, Boulis's chief financial officer and his representative at the closing. The fax included copies of the two promissory notes and the hand-scrawled instruction: "Please review and if 'ok' sign and give to Jimmy in a sealed envelope."

"Jimmy" was another Boulis lawyer, according to Foothill Capital. The lender said in a court filing "the clear implication of this directive was to hide the very existence of the substituted notes from the lenders."

Foothill Capital also said it has even stronger evidence of fraud.

The lender had asked for proof that the Kidan group had paid the $23 million to Boulis. In response, Kidan and Waldman each faxed copies of a purported wire-transfer document to Greg Walker on Sept. 27, the final day of closing. The document was a Sept. 22 notice of a wire transfer of $23 million "by order of Adam Kidan" from Chevy Chase Bank to Boulis's account at Ocean Bank. However, Kidan's account at Chevy Chase had been closed weeks earlier, according to court documents. Even when the account was active, there was never a transaction larger than $107,000, Chevy Chase told Foothill Capital.

Waldman did not respond to repeated requests seeking comment.

Kidan's lawyer has argued that Foothill Capital may not be an innocent victim. "Everyone needs to look at what knowledge the lender had," said Martin Jaffe of Hollywood, Fla., adding that he could not comment on the details of the case. "You can't be defrauded if you know what's going on and are a party to it."

Court records show that Foothill Capital did have a confidential side agreement with Kidan. Under the agreement, prepared just before the closing, Kidan promised to resolve the liabilities in his personal bankruptcy within 45 days.

At the top of a draft of the letter is a puzzled note from Citadel's lawyer: "Looks fine, but who are we hiding these items from & why?"

Lawyers for Foothill Capital did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Boulis Was Incensed

When the deal was done, Kidan moved to Florida to run SunCruz. Abramoff stayed in D.C.

Abramoff and Kidan started paying themselves $500,000-a-year salaries. Among the first checks Kidan wrote were payments totaling $310,000 that he sent to Abramoff to help pay for the sports skyboxes at FedEx Field, MCI Center and Camden Yards.

Operating out of SunCruz's offices near Fort Lauderdale, Kidan moved into a $4,300-a-month luxury condo paid for by SunCruz and bought a 34-foot powerboat. He quickly put his mark on the business, firing SunCruz employees including several of Boulis's friends and relatives.

"We fired his friends, we fired his family and he wasn't happy with it," Kidan later told the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.

Kidan said that he found the ships were in disrepair and that there were overdue bills. He refused to make his loan payments to Boulis.

Boulis was incensed. In October 2000, he wrote letters to Kidan demanding payment, threatening to tell the lenders and Abramoff that Kidan was reneging.

Two former SunCruz insiders say that Boulis's truculence sent Abramoff and Kidan back to their friends on Capitol Hill. Scanlon, at the time a public relations consultant employed by SunCruz, once again asked Ney to place comments in the Congressional Record. Two days after Boulis's last letter, Ney did so. "I have come to learn that SunCruz Casino now finds itself under new ownership," Ney stated in the record. Kidan's "track record as a businessman and a citizen lead me to believe that he will easily transform SunCruz from a questionable enterprise to an upstanding establishment."

In the midst of the infighting with Boulis, Kidan decided to hire an old New York friend, Anthony Moscatiello, who was running a catering hall. Kidan made him a food-and-beverage consultant. Moscatiello has been described by law enforcement as an unofficial bookkeeper for New York City's Gambino crime family.

He and Kidan first met about 1990 when Kidan was running a bagel business in the Hamptons. Moscatiello had been indicted on federal heroin-trafficking charges in 1983 along with Gene Gotti, brother of John Gotti, the boss of the Gambinos. Moscatiello was accused of trying to dissuade witnesses from testifying in the case. After Gotti and several others were convicted and sentenced to prison, charges against Moscatiello were dropped.

In Florida, Moscatiello began visiting Kidan's condominium and golfing with Kidan and Waldman, according to depositions of Kidan and Waldman. Kidan later testified he was unaware of Moscatiello's legal troubles or the alleged Gambino affiliations.
'This Guy Is Violent'

In early November 2000, Abramoff flew to Miami to meet with Boulis and Kidan "to try to mediate their differences for the good of the business," Abramoff's attorney said later. "Abramoff met alone with Boulis and his representatives. Boulis recounted Kidan's bad acts and at one point stated 'Kidan stole my company.' " Abramoff said later in court documents he learned for the first time at this meeting with Boulis that Kidan had not given Boulis the $23 million. "Abramoff was flabbergasted by this news," his attorney wrote. "He could not believe that it could be true, given Kidan's representations to Abramoff."

But Abramoff, along with Kidan, had signed sworn documents faxed to the closing in which he and Kidan attested that they had paid Boulis the $23 million. And in e-mails exchanged with Kidan and Wagner, Abramoff continued to support Kidan.

By late November, threats were flying. Boulis's allies began to stir trouble, including a business associate who accused Kidan of having mafia connections at a community meeting in Mayport, Fla., where SunCruz docked one of its gambling boats. Kidan threatened to sue.

The conflict exploded on Dec. 5. Joan Wagner, Boulis's chief financial officer, had called a meeting of the SunCruz principals except for Abramoff, who was traveling abroad. They met at the company's offices in Dania Beach, Fla., to try to resolve the increasing acrimony. What happened there is in dispute.

Kidan later filed a police report stating that Boulis assaulted him with a pen, drawing blood. He claimed in court papers that Boulis "attacked [Kidan] in the face and neck and kicked his body," before being pulled off by a SunCruz employee.

Police said that at least one other witness stated that Kidan provoked Boulis by calling Wagner names and making threats. According to this account, Boulis told Kidan to stop, but Kidan instead repeated an insult. Boulis then punched Kidan.

The day of the fight, Wagner e-mailed Abramoff pleading with him to come to Florida to mediate.

"The crisis at suncruz took on new meaning today with gb [Gus Boulis] and ak [Adam Kidan] getting physical," Wagner wrote. "Money is being wasted and lost and it shouldn't continue. . . . I'm telling you that you must address the issue asap. Your delay is only emboldening Adam and he is really on the edge."

Wagner wrote, "I liked Adam and thought I would be working with all of you to build an empire to be proud of and make us all alot of money too." But now she said, "the only recourse" was for Abramoff to join with Boulis and Waldman to vote Kidan out of SunCruz.

A day later, Wagner pointedly noted that Boulis, as a lender to the Kidan group, could "veto certain activities and transactions," thus canceling the takeover of SunCruz.

Abramoff forwarded Wagner's last e-mail to Kidan and Waldman. In response, Kidan told Abramoff, "We need to shut her down."

Kidan also urged, "Jack, you need to act above all of this."

In his e-mails to Abramoff, Kidan made a cryptic reference to an ally who had sent protection to Kidan in Florida.

"My friend in NY is acting out of concern for my safety," Kidan wrote to Abramoff. "By sending security I am afraid it will make things worse and I will ask him today to remove them. I appreciate his efforts, but the situation is at a critical point."

Kidan proposed "a concerted press effort" against Boulis.

"I was the victim of family violence before," Kidan wrote. "Lets use that in our favor (my mother wouldn't mind) to show how we can't tolerate violence and the like of criminals. Lets get the protective order. By painting the picture we box him. The negative is that his profile shows that he will retaliate against me."

Abramoff replied, "I agree with this completely."

He e-mailed Boulis attorney Anthone Damianakis: "It is my belief that Gus and Adam need to resolve the issue of what Gus is owed and Gus needs to move on out of the company."

Kidan hired a security firm to assess what kind of threat was posed by Boulis, who once had been arrested for harassing a girlfriend who had obtained a restraining order after she accused him of beating her. Kidan paid for three bodyguards and ordered an armor-plated Mercedes, according to court records. He also requested a restraining order, which was granted. He alleged that Boulis vowed to have him killed.

A week later, SunCruz made the first of $145,000 in payments to Moscatiello. Three checks for $10,000 each were made to Jennifer Moscatiello, daughter of Anthony, and $115,000 to Gran-Sons, a company the Moscatiellos ran. The payments were for catering, consulting and "site inspections," Kidan said later.

However, there is no evidence that any food or drink was provided or consulting documents prepared. The checks to Jennifer were made at Anthony's instruction, Kidan said, even though she performed no services. A lawyer for the Moscatiellos declined to comment.

On Jan. 19, 2001, Boulis went to court, seeking an injunction to prevent Kidan from operating the boats and to force him to make his payments to Boulis.

The next day, Kidan and Scanlon were guests at a reception in DeLay's Capitol Hill office celebrating the inauguration of George W. Bush, according to two people who were at the reception.

A week later, Abramoff and his partners leased a corporate jet to ferry congressional staffers down to Tampa for the Super Bowl game and a night of gambling aboard a SunCruz ship. Among those aboard were DeLay aide Tim Berry, who is now DeLay's chief of staff, and two staffers to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, by then a newly minted lobbyist working for Abramoff, was there, too.

Berry failed to report the trip on his disclosure forms. A DeLay spokesman said Berry had no idea SunCruz paid for the trip. He thought it was a Republican fundraising trip allowable under House rules.

On Jan. 31, the Kidan-Boulis brawl hit the front page of the Sun-Sentinel. Kidan told the newspaper that Boulis said: "I'm not going to sue you, I'm going to kill you. . . . This guy is violent -- he's sleazy."
A Federal Target

Back in Washington, Abramoff was moving his lobby business and many of his clients, including his tribal accounts, from Preston Gates to Greenberg Traurig LLP. He also took at least 10 employees with him from Preston Gates. At Greenberg, Abramoff made Tony Rudy his first hire from Capitol Hill.

Abramoff's departure had been coming for months. His style had clashed with others at Preston Gates, who believed he was moving too fast and being careless. Earlier in the year, Manuel Rouvelas, the firm's founding partner in Washington, had warned Abramoff, according to people familiar with the exchange.

"If you're not careful," Rouvelas told Abramoff, "you will end up dead, disgraced or in jail."

In February 2001, less than two months after Abramoff had settled in at Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff and Kidan were abroad prospecting for new business. They were in England preparing to fly to Hong Kong, when Kidan's bodyguard got a call. Boulis was dead.

Kidan rushed home. He told police he knew nothing about the slaying.

Fort Lauderdale police detectives say they know who committed the crime. All they need, they say, is one cooperating witness.

After Boulis's slaying, Kidan and Abramoff conducted business as usual at SunCruz. They asked Foothill Capital for another loan to clear up their debts. They stepped up plans to expand casino operations to the Northern Mariana Islands, where the government had been a client of Abramoff's. They also hired Greenberg Traurig as their lobbyists in Washington.

In March 2001, SunCruz executives, including Abramoff and Kidan, attended a fundraiser in Abramoff's box at MCI Center for Ney. The next month Kidan hosted a fundraiser in his apartment in Fort Lauderdale for his local congressman, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.).

But the relationship between DeLay and Abramoff changed. DeLay told a group of conservatives last month "that he had no idea that Abramoff was involved in this and was absolutely shocked when he found out about it," said Paul M. Weyrich, a conservative activist and longtime friend of DeLay's. "Immediately he had Abramoff called in and told him, 'I want no more dealings with you,' and I think he felt blind-sided by Abramoff, that Abramoff was aware of Tom's views on the subject and never bothered to tell him" about his stake in SunCruz.

DeLay, whose campaign committee had been one of the largest recipients of gambling money, has since stopped accepting contributions from Indian tribes that operate casinos.

In late spring, stories began appearing in the Florida media about Kidan's links to the Moscatiellos. In June, Abramoff, Kidan and the Boulis estate abruptly settled their differences by placing the company into bankruptcy. As part of the settlement, Abramoff and Kidan relinquished most of their interest in the company to the Boulis estate, in exchange for an agreement releasing Abramoff and Kidan from their debts and liabilities.

Foothill Capital would later contend that the settlement was intended to cover up the fraud at the closing.

In April 2003, the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit threw out the settlement, saying it was marred by conflicts of interest and should not have been approved by the bankruptcy judge. The court said the Kidan management was "riddled with fraudulent and dishonest transactions," including the charges the Boulis side made about Kidan's misuse of funds.

Today, the SunCruz casino boats are sailing under new ownership after a bankruptcy auction. Abramoff and Kidan remain embroiled in litigation with Foothill over the $60 million they were lent.

Neal Sonnett, a prominent Miami criminal defense lawyer hired by Abramoff, said in a court pleading last August that federal prosecutors have told him Abramoff is a "target" of a federal grand jury investigation.

Sonnett told The Post he is confident Abramoff will be cleared, calling him a "victim" in the SunCruz case. Sonnett said he could not discuss specifics, including the wire transfer, because of the ongoing investigation.

Abramoff has had little to say publicly about SunCruz. In 2002, he did talk to the Washington Business Forward.

"I was fortunate to get out of that financially better off than when I entered it," he said. "I was lucky it did not damage me. But it's not something I would repeat."

By then, Abramoff had already embarked on another enterprise -- one that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would later brand a "truly extraordinary" example of "exploitation and deceit." During a three-year period, Abramoff and Scanlon took in $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees from six Indian tribes.

"We need that moolah," Abramoff e-mailed Scanlon on Jan. 16, 2002. "We have to hit $50M this year (our cut!)."

Researcher Alice Crites and database editor Derek Willis contributed to this report.
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Old 05-02-2005, 12:11 PM   #2 (permalink)
Junkie
 
And this is different from the Democrats HOW, again?

Face it, politicians of all stripes make their livings by stealing people's money, labour, productivity, and time. They are -all- criminals. They are -all- bought, sold, and controlled by the same group of people; the multinational Corporate and Banking combines that own the Federal Reserve, the majority of our Nat'l Debt, and the totality of our money. The two parties simply play "good cop, bad cop" on each other's issues, while advancing the agendas of their Statist handlers.

Example: the gun-control debate. For years now, "moderate" gunowners have bought into the Statist lie that the Republicans will "save" us from gun-control, and have supported the Republican party. Meanwhile, with the full support of these twits, the Republicans have been emplacing laws and precedures ( USA PATRIOT act, anyone? ) which the Democrats will turn on gun-owners at the first available opportunity.

If the Republicans are an organized-crime gang, then so are the Democrats.
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Old 05-02-2005, 12:45 PM   #3 (permalink)
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There's an old saying about people who live in glass houses. The Democrat's ties to organized crime (especially with regard to Labor Unions) isn't exactly a secret.

Here's just one example, although we could tick and tie these types of connections all the way back to the glory days of prohibition and the 20's.



Quote:
Arthur Coia, president of the Laborers' International Union (LIUNA), was described by organized crime investigators in the Justice Department as being a mob puppet. Coia was a frequent guest at the White House, traveled with President Clinton on Air Force One several times, and they exchanged gifts. The Justice Department in 1995 had drafted a racketeering lawsuit against him, but after Hillary Clinton spoke to a LIUNA convention, a decision was made to allow the union to hire its own lawyer to root out corruption. Coia stayed in his position and continued to raise huge sums for the Democrats. He was chairman of a 1996 fund-raising event that produced more than $12 million for the party.
The long and short of it is, they are all in somebody's pocket.

http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A2945_0_2_0_C/
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Old 05-02-2005, 12:59 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
And this is different from the Democrats HOW, again?.............

......If the Republicans are an organized-crime gang, then so are the Democrats.
I invite you to do your research, and back your claim that there is anything reported in newspapers "of record", regarding any scenario implicating high officials in a federal democratic party administration that is similar in size, scope, finance, and criminality to this.

You talk your talk, but consider that the special prosecutor's office, in the '90's, before the Republican led legislature intentionally allowed the spec. prosecutor statute to expire, spent 6 years and in excess of $40 million, investigating the last Democratic administration, and found?

Your remarks serve to illustrate that you are in denial, and that you serve yourself up to these criminals by your reflexive, and inaccurate reaction, that everybody is doing this. What party currently controls two of three branches of federal government and is making menacing statements towards the third branch? These political leaders are undeniably organized, and are reported to be acting in a seriously crminal manner.

Where do you observe the system of checks and balances, besides the news reports, and examples of protest such as the one I am making, here, to be still functioning? Do you believe that checks and balances and the accountability that they were intended to afford, are even necessary?
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Old 05-02-2005, 02:25 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Host, you clearly mistake me for some sort of Republicrat apologist. I am no such thing, sorry for the confusion.

I detest both parties because politicians of both stripes, like Mafia wiseguys, make their money through extortion ( taxation ), rackiteering ( "fees" to get "licenses" to do everything ), money-laundering ( Fractional-reserve banking ), and murder ( pre-emptive war ). They are bought and sold by the same people, working towards the same ends ( greater power for the State ). Why should the Special Prosecutor find anything workable; these are not opposing parties, these are two different "special teams" playing for the same coaches. Look at who owns our National Debt, and look at who were the architects of the system that caused us to have a National Debt in the first place. Look at where both parties ( to say nothing of the government itself ) get their money. It does not matter if they have a "D" or an "R" next to their name; with one notable exception they are all, every last one, criminals and traitors.

Finally, in answer to your condescending series of loaded questions:
Yes, I do believe "checks and balances" are needed. I also believe that, since the Dems and Repugs are both working for the same people, those "checks and balances" are most emphatically NOT WORKING at the moment, and have not worked for a period of several decades at least.
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Old 05-02-2005, 04:04 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Host, I don't doubt the Republican corruption. I've researched it and came to the same conclusion that they are Organized Crime. The problem that troubles me is why would you embrace the democrats as if they are different somehow (if you're not a democrat disregard this post). There are doing nothing at all to stop this. At the most they will expose a small fraction of the Republican corruption, just enough to make the issue go away and act like they are taking a tough stance against them.

Kerry could of easily won the election if he would of called Bush out with all the information that we know to be true. Heck I might of even voted for him.

Recognizing the Neo-con corruption is a good thing, but looking to the democrats to do anything about is foolish imo.
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Old 05-02-2005, 04:06 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Host, you clearly mistake me for some sort of Republicrat apologist. I am no such thing, sorry for the confusion...........

.........Finally, in answer to your condescending series of loaded questions:
Yes, I do believe "checks and balances" are needed. I also believe that, since the Dems and Repugs are both working for the same people, those "checks and balances" are most emphatically NOT WORKING at the moment, and have not worked for a period of several decades at least.
The_Dunedan, please accept my apology for mistaking you for a defender of the status quo, and for seeming to write in a condescending way; it is out of frustration, not aloofness, that I came off in that way.

Although I agree that there are no angels in this cesspool of American politics, I still see some differences in the intent of the opposing sides, and practically speaking, please consider that legislative votes against anti-populist bills are some glimmer of representation of the best interests of the masses, on an anecdotal basis. What do you make of this? Do you think that it is inconsequential, or does it give you some hope that ordinart people still have a small voice?
http://www.progressivepunch.org/memb...zip=&x=40&y=10
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Old 05-02-2005, 06:24 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Host,
Apology accepted, and I likewise apologize for coming off as somewhat snappish.

As for the hope of ordinary people, I think that their voice lies in the Third parties. I looke forward to the day when a Congress composed of Libertarians, Socialists, Communists, arch-Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens....argues endlessly over everything. I will, obviously, be working tirelessly for a Libertarian victory/majority...but the mere thought of such a bruhaha of honest dissention makes me happy.
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Old 05-03-2005, 02:10 AM   #9 (permalink)
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If only.......tecoyah dreams the dream.....We could hold this sort of civlity up high in the politics board, (and yes Host, I understand what you are doing).

The corruption in this Administration is beyond anything I have ever seen, and it does concern me on a regular Basis. Having no serious political affiliation, I also find both parties lacking. The repubs because of the direction they are leading this country, and the removal of many of the safeguards built into our form of Government. The Dems for lacking the Balls to do anything about it.

We shall see if this board becomes enflamed.....if it does, the experiment ends.
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Old 05-03-2005, 03:26 AM   #10 (permalink)
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It would be naive to think the British royal family got their power because they were the nicest people in the land.

You's should have another revolution before it's too late.

Last edited by jwoody; 05-03-2005 at 06:43 AM..
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Old 05-03-2005, 03:57 AM   #11 (permalink)
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We'll see what Thursday's election brings, eh? Although I doubt that any change will be anything more than purely cosmetic...
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Old 05-11-2005, 10:14 AM   #12 (permalink)
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I found a little something about John Kerry and George W. Bush. It relates to one of my theories of the Democratic and Republican parties' working to gether for "their" so called better tomorrow.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0122-10.htm

Maybe this will help with our discussion.
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Old 11-20-2005, 11:44 AM   #13 (permalink)
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The background on this is here http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=97643
and here http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...27&postcount=3

What is especially noteworthy about Jack Abramoff is that he began his "career" as a political operative with karl Rove and Grover Norquist, and he "came up" with them. He has been the money machine behind many republican, and a few democrat campaigns. Tom Delay may have more to fear from the investigations involving his ties to Abramoff, than he does from Ronnie Earle's prosecution of him.

Bush and Rove employed Abramoff's former key assistant, Susan Ralston, in the white house as the Norquist controlled gatekeeper between Rove and the outside world.
Bush, when he was Texas governor in 1997, wrote a reference letter, vouching for Abramoff, to the government of Guam.

President Bush authorized the firing of the interim prosecutor who was investigating potential illegality in the Mariianna Islands that targetted Abramoff's activities there. This triggered a recent and ongoing investigation of the prosecutor's firing, partly because Rove endorsed the prosecutor's successor, who dropped the investigation into Abramoff.

i think that Abramoff related indictments will do more to damage the reputation of republicans and the Bush presidency than Fitgerald's prosecutions will. What do you think?
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...801428_pf.html
Abramoff Associate Charged In Scheme
U.S. Alleges Plot To Bribe Lawmaker

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 19, 2005; A01

Former public relations executive Michael Scanlon was charged yesterday with conspiring with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bribe government officials, including a congressman, and bilk millions of dollars from Indian tribes.

The government officials were not named in a court document filed by federal prosecutors in the District. But the document's description of legislative favors allegedly provided by a person identified as "Representative #1" matches the actions of Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee.

Ney, who this month received a grand jury subpoena for testimony and documents, has denied any wrongdoing. His attorney, <b>Mark H. Tuohey, confirmed yesterday that Ney is the congressman referred to in the charging document but said prosecutors have not alleged that Ney had knowledge of any bribery scheme.

"He was wined and dined the way lots of political people are, and he did some official acts, but there's no connection between the two," Tuohey said.</b> "I've had no indication he's a target of anything."

<b>Scanlon, 35, is charged with one count of conspiracy. He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, said sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Such cooperation from a pivotal figure in the Abramoff case is a major advance in the 18-month federal investigation into alleged bribery and corruption involving the lobbyist, members of Congress and executive branch agencies.</b>

In the court documents, prosecutors said Scanlon, once a press aide to former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), worked with Abramoff in a scheme in which the lobbyist would direct tribes to hire Scanlon's public relations firm without telling them Scanlon had agreed to kick back half of the profits to Abramoff.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy also involved a scheme to "corruptly offer and provide things of value, including money, meals, trips and entertainment to federal public officials in return for agreements to perform official acts."

Scanlon, who could receive a maximum of five years on the conspiracy charge, is scheduled to appear at a hearing in U.S. District Court here on Monday.

"Mr. Scanlon and the Department of Justice will present a proposed plea agreement to the court to resolve the charge in the information," said Scanlon's attorney, Stephen L. Braga.

Abramoff's attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, declined to comment on the charges against Scanlon.

Scanlon and Abramoff received $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees from half a dozen Indian tribes they represented from 2000 to 2004. Reports of those enormous fees -- coupled with millions in political contributions made by the tribes at Abramoff's direction -- prompted a Senate investigation and the Justice Department probe that resulted in the case filed yesterday.

Investigations related to Abramoff's activities in Washington and Florida have resulted in six previous indictments. Abramoff and a business partner were indicted in August in connection with their allegedly fraudulent purchase in 2000 of a Florida casino ship company. In September, three other men were indicted in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of the former owner of the cruise ships. And in October, David H. Safavian, the White House's top procurement official and a former Abramoff associate, was indicted for allegedly lying to federal investigators.

In the charging document filed yesterday, prosecutors said Scanlon and Abramoff "provided a stream of things of value to Representative #1 and members of his staff," including a "lavish" Scotland golf trip in 2002, tickets to sporting events and meals at Abramoff's Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant. The two also allegedly provided campaign contributions to Ney's political action committee and to other political committees on Ney's behalf.

In return, federal prosecutors allege, Ney agreed to "support and pass legislation," meet with Scanlon and Abramoff clients, and place statements in the Congressional Record. Ney also agreed to help an Abramoff client get the contract to install a wireless telephone system in the House office buildings.

Public records show that Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record favorable to Abramoff's 2000 purchase of the casino boat company, SunCruz Casinos. Two sources involved in the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said prosecutors have e-mails in which Abramoff and Scanlon discussed making contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee that Ney could take credit for as an inducement to getting him to place comments in the Congressional Record.

<b>In March 2002, Ney agreed to back legislative language that would benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso, an Abramoff and Scanlon client. The lobbyists wanted Ney's help to reopen the Tigua casino, which the state of Texas had shut down.

"Just met with Ney!!! We're f'ing gold!!!! He's going to do Tigua," Abramoff told Scanlon in a March 20, 2002, e-mail made public by Senate investigators.

Six days later, Abramoff directed tribal officials to make three contributions totaling $32,000 to Ney's campaign and political action committees. A Ney spokesman recently said that money has since been donated to Ohio charities and Ney said in a statement a year ago that he had been misled.</b>

"I am absolutely outraged by the dishonest and duplicitous words and actions of Jack Abramoff," Ney said in November 2004. "I too was misled and I regret that I put faith in the representations that he made to me."

<b>Ney also approved granting a 2002 license to install cellular telephone antennas in House office buildings to an Israeli telecommunications company. The company had donated to an Abramoff-controlled charity and later became Abramoff's lobbying client.</b>

When Ney informed the House on Nov. 4 that he had been subpoenaed by the Abramoff grand jury, his spokesman said Ney had not been informed that he was a target of the investigation. His spokesman, Brian Walsh, reiterated that yesterday.

"Congressman Ney will fully cooperate in the investigation of the Abramoff matter," Walsh said in a statement. "He has not been told that he is the target of any investigation and there would be no grounds to do so. Mr. Scanlon's being charged with lying to and cheating his clients does not change that. In the meantime, the Congressman will continue to focus on working hard and doing the job he was sent to Congress to do."

Scanlon worked until 2000 for DeLay, who stepped down from his leadership post in September after being charged with violating campaign finance laws in Texas. When Scanlon left Capitol Hill to join forces with Abramoff, he was still paying off student loans. Soon he was buying millions of dollars in real estate and traveling by helicopter and corporate jet.

The charge against Scanlon alleges that Abramoff advised tribes in Mississippi, Louisiana and Michigan to hire Scanlon's company, Capital Campaign Strategies LLC, for grass-roots public relations work while hiding the fact that Abramoff would receive half the profits. The purpose of the scheme, the prosecutors allege, was to "enrich themselves by obtaining substantial funds from their clients through fraud and concealment and through obtaining benefits for their clients through corrupt means."

<b>Prosecutors detailed the alleged fraud perpetrated on four tribes, contending that Scanlon billed the four tribes $53 million and then kicked back $19 million to Abramoff.</b>

Abramoff's lobbying fees had to be publicly reported under federal rules, but Scanlon's public relations fees were not subject to public scrutiny.

At the time Abramoff was one of Washington's most successful Republican lobbyists, first at the firm of Preston Gates and then jumping in early 2001 to Greenberg Traurig. He was ousted from Greenberg Traurig in March 2004, after reports in The Washington Post about his fees and the funds he received from Scanlon.

Greenberg Traurig has since reached settlements with several tribes, agreeing to return millions in fees collected by its former lobbying star.
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Old 11-20-2005, 02:14 PM   #14 (permalink)
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This jumped out at me.
"Ney also approved granting a 2002 license to install cellular telephone antennas in House office buildings to an Israeli telecommunications company."
I'd just like to point out that there is a foriegn-owned tel-com company that has cell phone equipment in the White House. Isn't this how intelligence agencies spy on foriegn governments?
Why did they 'need' to install them in the first place? How good was reception prior to installation? Who else bid for the contract? Anyone?
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Old 11-20-2005, 02:19 PM   #15 (permalink)
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I would also like to postulate that the current story under consideration does indeed fit the 'crime syndicqate' model.
This does not mean the republiclowns are all criminals. There are people doing the job the way it is supposed to be done. (Dems too!) If there weren't things would be MUCH worse. Look at mexico if you want to see what a government looks like when it is run by OC. (Everyone in charge there has ties to the narco-syndicate. Everyone.)
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Old 11-21-2005, 10:07 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SERPENT7
I would also like to postulate that the current story under consideration does indeed fit the 'crime syndicqate' model.
This does not mean the republiclowns are all criminals. There are people doing the job the way it is supposed to be done. (Dems too!) If there weren't things would be MUCH worse. Look at mexico if you want to see what a government looks like when it is run by OC. (Everyone in charge there has ties to the narco-syndicate. Everyone.)
You're right.....prosecutors are only looking at a half dozen members of congress, so far. I don't ever remember anyone pleadiing guilty without a court fight, when doing so is conditioned upon agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors by fingering co-conspirators, and payiing $19.7 milliion in restitution, and he still has a possible five year jail term and a $250,000 fine hanging over his head. There must be some compelling evidence against Scanlon, and he must be convinced that he would have faced seiizure of his millions by the government, after he was found guitly if he chose to go to trial. Bob Ney of Ohio is already named as a criminal by Scanlon, in the terms of his guitly plea.

It's a blockbuster of a story and we are kept on the periphery, but we know that Abramoff is at the center, and his influence, dealiings, and even his former assistant, Susan Ralston, reaches into the white house, and to Tom Delay, in congress. If Abramoff can be persuaded to be a government witness, and is not killed before prosecutor can find all all that he knows, there is a chance that this investigation will bring down the government.

Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100719_pf.html
<b>Abramoff Partner Pleads Guilty
Scanlon Admits He Conspired to Bribe Lawmaker</b>

By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; A01

A onetime congressional staffer who became a top partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials and agreed to pay back more than $19 million he fraudulently charged Indian tribal clients.

The plea agreement between prosecutors and Michael Scanlon, a former press secretary to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), provided fresh detail about the alleged bribes. The document also indicated the nature of testimony Scanlon is prepared to offer against a congressman it calls "Representative #1" -- who has been identified by attorneys in the case as Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio).

Scanlon, a 35-year-old former public relations executive,<b> faces a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine</b>, but the penalty could be reduced depending on the level of his cooperation with prosecutors. His help is expected to be crucial to the Justice Department's wide-ranging Abramoff investigation, which began early last year after the revelation that Scanlon and the lobbyist took in tens of millions of dollars from Indian tribes unaware of their secret partnership to jack up fees and split profits.

<b>Investigators are looking at half a dozen members of Congress, current and former senior Hill aides, a former deputy secretary of the interior, and Abramoff's former lobbying colleagues,</b> according to sources familiar with the probe who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Because of his central role in much of Abramoff's business, Scanlon could be a key witness in any trials that arise from the case.

Scanlon had been in discussions with prosecutors for six months before Friday's announcement that he was being charged with one count of conspiracy as part of a plea agreement. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle yesterday and <b>agreed to pay restitution of $19.7 million</b>, Scanlon's share of fees from four tribes named in the charging documents.

He admitted that he or Abramoff offered bribes on behalf of clients over a period of four years, and at one point during the proceedings he corrected court filings that mistakenly noted that the illegal acts began in 2001. "My client informs me that some of the overt acts are actually in 2000," said Scanlon attorney Stephen L. Braga.

Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said the congressman was defrauded by Scanlon and Abramoff and his official actions had nothing to do with improper influence. "Any allegation that Representative Ney did anything illegal or improper is false. This plea agreement mentions a number of unsubstantiated allegations, but in fact, many of the things suggested to have occurred did not actually take place," Walsh said.

The plea agreement lists gifts Ney was offered or received, including a golf trip to Scotland in 2002, $4,000 to his campaign committee, $10,000 to the National Republican Campaign Committee made with credit to Ney, regular meals and drinks at Abramoff's Signatures restaurant, sports tickets, and frequent golf and related expenses at courses in the Washington area.

The document states that the gifts were "in exchange for a series of official acts." These included providing legislation, agreeing to put statements into the Congressional Record, contacting federal officials to influence decisions, meeting with Abramoff's clients and endorsing a wireless telecommunications company that wanted to install antennas in House office buildings.

According to the plea agreement, Ney made the Congressional Record statements in support of Abramoff's efforts to buy a fleet of Florida casino ships "calculated to pressure the then-owner to sell on terms favorable to Lobbyist A [Abramoff] and his partners."

The filing also refers to a trip that Ney was offered to attend the Super Bowl in Tampa in 2001 that sources have told The Washington Post the Ohio congressman backed out of at the last minute. That trip was paid for by SunCruz Casinos Inc., which Abramoff acquired in 2001. Abramoff is facing fraud charges in Florida in connection with the acquisition of that company.

Ney also provided help to two Texas tribal clients of Abramoff that wanted permission to open casinos, the plea agreement said. In one case in December 2002, Ney sought help from another unidentified House member for one of the tribes, the prosecutors said. Ney also met with a member of a California tribe doing business with Abramoff and agreed to help pass tax legislation affecting the tribe, the documents said.

Another all-expenses-paid trip mentioned in the documents was a 2000 visit to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an Abramoff client. A source with knowledge of the trip said that senior members of Ney's and DeLay's staff went along.

At yesterday's hearing, Scanlon folded his hands and answered the judge respectfully and even, at times, enthusiastically. Asked if he was satisfied with his attorneys, he said, "I am indeed!" He also appeared relaxed afterward, joking with Mary Butler, the top prosecutor on the case, that she was letting him leave the courtroom first to "face the gauntlet" of reporters outside.

Scanlon was released after promising to post a $5 million unsecured bond -- essentially a personal guarantee. Scanlon, who purchased a home in St. Bart's with lobbying proceeds, gave his passport to his attorney Plato Cacheris under an agreement with prosecutors. He agreed not to leave the country without giving authorities two weeks' notice.

Standing in the rain next to his attorneys, Braga and Cacheris, Scanlon declined to comment. Cacheris said, "He's obviously regretful for the circumstances that brought him here." At the end of the briefing, Scanlon, who remembers many of the reporters from days handling press for DeLay, said: "Thanks, guys. I'll be in touch."
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