A key player in the middle of the ongoing Tom DeLay scandals is a shady Washington lobbyist named Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, currently under investigation by two Senate committees, the Department of the Interior and the Justice Department, is "one of the city's richest and best connected lobbyists." He was the ultimate power player, raking in $750 an hour and pulling in millions of dollars from clients looking to use his power, connections and influence. All that began to change last fall, however, when e-mail messages seized from his computer "told a story of front groups, secret kickbacks, manipulated tribal elections and political payoffs." Here's a look at the sordid past of a former Washington kingpin and DeLay ally, Jack Abramoff:
The Washington Post reported this weekend new charges surrounding Abramoff's connection to SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of casino ships with ties to organized crime. Abramoff partnered with the 36-year-old owner of a Dial-a-Mattress franchise, Adam Kidan, to purchase the casinos. The crux of the matter is a faked $23 million wire transfer designed to convince lenders to finance Abramoff's group. Abramoff and Kidan, who allegedly had ties to the Gambino crime family, then refused to pay the fleet's owner, even as they began paying themselves $500,000 a year each from the fleet's profits.
Abramoff is perhaps best known for hitting the jackpot by working both sides of a get-rich-quick scheme to exploit Indian tribes. (Abramoff "once boasted he had steered more than $10 million in tribal contributions" to his conservative friends and allies.) Abramoff represented the Coushatta Tribe Indians, casino owners who wanted to stop a rival casino from being built in Texas by the Tigua Indians. The Coushatta Tribe paid millions to Abramoff, who worked with Michael Scanlon, a high-priced public relations guru, and Christian Coalition leader-turned-lobbyist Ralph Reed to rally local Texas religious leaders and pastors and shut down the Tigua casino. Once the Tigua casino closed, Abramoff and Scanlon turned around and persuaded the cash-strapped Tigua Indian tribe "to pay $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it." Reed claims not to have known about the double-cross. The New York Times shows others on the Christian right aren't so sure. Uber-right-wing Paul Weyrich has doubts, saying, "I think it's a hard sell that he didn't know any of this."
Abramoff told Time magazine the Indian tribes got their money's worth, saying, "The return on investment for these tribes is far better than anything they or we could have imagined." That's a far cry from earlier e-mails he sent, calling the Indians "monkeys," "troglodytes" and "morons." He also said in those earlier e-mails that his partner, Scanlon, took the money from the tribes, "divided the $5 million into three piles: $1 million for actual expenses and $2 million for each of us."
In June 2002, Abramoff sent an e-mail to Marc Schwartz, the consultant to the Tigua Indian tribe, asking the tribe to set up a trip for Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) in return for Ney's support on a bill to reopen their casino. In an e-mail, he told Schwartz: "our friend asked if we could help (as in cover) a Scotland golf trip for him and some staff for August. The trip will be quite expensive (we did this for another member you know who) 2 years ago." Schwartz has testified before a Senate committee that "you know who" was Tom DeLay. Records back up the charges DeLay did travel to Scotland, with Abramoff as well as an entourage including his wife and top two aides, in 2000. In violation of House rules, airfare for the trip was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff. DeLay maintains he had "no way of knowing that any lobbyist might have financially supported the trip," but his former Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann confirms DeLay's congressional office was in direct contact with Abramoff's law firm, Preston Gates, about the trip itinerary before DeLay's departure.
Abramoff paid for Ney's trip to Scotland by running money through a children's charity, Capital Athletic Foundation, which bills itself as promoting sports-related programs for kids. Instead of blowing cash on T-ball or Pop Warner for underprivileged kids, however, the "charity" spent $150,225 for Abramoff, Ney, Reed, and then-General Services Administration Chief of Staff David Safaviana to take a private jet to go golfing in Scotland. (Abramoff used DeLay's name to rake in cash for the "charity." One Indian tribe told federal investigators "that they made the donations because Abramoff told them it would impress DeLay.") A review of the tax and spending records of the charity reveals that "less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths."
Abramoff also set up a legally questionable six-day trip to Moscow Rep. Tom DeLay took in 1997 which was "underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government." The Russia trip was paid by an obscure firm called Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, which was deeply involved with Russian oil executives. Abramoff used a D.C. nonprofit, the National Center for Public Policy Research, to pay for the trip, which cost more than $57,000. According to sources, the non-profit was then paid back by a shadowy front group based in the Bahamas, which was financed by Russian oil executives.
Abramoff represented the Northern Mariana Islands in their quest to avoid U.S. labor laws. Businesses on the islands "enjoyed a quirky status" whereby "American labor laws like the minimum wage did not apply, but manufacturers there could still affix the Made in the U.S.A. label to garments they produced." Abramoff charged the Mariana government over a million dollars in fees, then used the islands to cultivate ties to members of Congress, flying dozens of lawmakers and their aides for luxurious vacations. (The New York Times points out it was "on a trip to the Marianas in 1997 that DeLay proclaimed Abramoff 'one of my closest and dearest friends.'") Abramoff is being investigated for bilking the islands out of money. One audit concluded that about $1.2 million in government payments was "not adequately supported." The charges included travel, telephone, photocopy, computer research, outside-professional fees and "$2,000 for a June 1996 golf tournament."
Abramoff had his assets frozen by a Montgomery County, MD judge "in connection with a lawsuit over unpaid wages filed by employees of a religious academy that Abramoff founded." Abramoff shorted thirteen teachers a quarter of their pay when the Eshkol Academy, an Orthodox Jewish school in Columbia, MD, that received most of its funds through Abramoff's efforts, closed in May 2004. Abramoff also saw the school as a prime place to make a little money off of the lives of tribal elders. In 2004, he recommended that the broke Tigua tribe retain him at no cost. Instead, he wanted them to allow Eshkol Academy to "buy term life insurance policies on tribal elders and receive the benefits upon their death, with the money then channeled back to Abramoff."
The Washington Post reported this weekend new charges surrounding Abramoff's connection to SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of casino ships with ties to organized crime. Abramoff partnered with the 36-year-old owner of a Dial-a-Mattress franchise, Adam Kidan, to purchase the casinos. The crux of the matter is a faked $23 million wire transfer designed to convince lenders to finance Abramoff's group. Abramoff and Kidan, who allegedly had ties to the Gambino crime family, then refused to pay the fleet's owner, even as they began paying themselves $500,000 a year each from the fleet's profits.
Abramoff is perhaps best known for hitting the jackpot by working both sides of a get-rich-quick scheme to exploit Indian tribes. (Abramoff "once boasted he had steered more than $10 million in tribal contributions" to his conservative friends and allies.) Abramoff represented the Coushatta Tribe Indians, casino owners who wanted to stop a rival casino from being built in Texas by the Tigua Indians. The Coushatta Tribe paid millions to Abramoff, who worked with Michael Scanlon, a high-priced public relations guru, and Christian Coalition leader-turned-lobbyist Ralph Reed to rally local Texas religious leaders and pastors and shut down the Tigua casino. Once the Tigua casino closed, Abramoff and Scanlon turned around and persuaded the cash-strapped Tigua Indian tribe "to pay $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it." Reed claims not to have known about the double-cross. The New York Times shows others on the Christian right aren't so sure. Uber-right-wing Paul Weyrich has doubts, saying, "I think it's a hard sell that he didn't know any of this."
Abramoff told Time magazine the Indian tribes got their money's worth, saying, "The return on investment for these tribes is far better than anything they or we could have imagined." That's a far cry from earlier e-mails he sent, calling the Indians "monkeys," "troglodytes" and "morons." He also said in those earlier e-mails that his partner, Scanlon, took the money from the tribes, "divided the $5 million into three piles: $1 million for actual expenses and $2 million for each of us."
In June 2002, Abramoff sent an e-mail to Marc Schwartz, the consultant to the Tigua Indian tribe, asking the tribe to set up a trip for Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) in return for Ney's support on a bill to reopen their casino. In an e-mail, he told Schwartz: "our friend asked if we could help (as in cover) a Scotland golf trip for him and some staff for August. The trip will be quite expensive (we did this for another member you know who) 2 years ago." Schwartz has testified before a Senate committee that "you know who" was Tom DeLay. Records back up the charges DeLay did travel to Scotland, with Abramoff as well as an entourage including his wife and top two aides, in 2000. In violation of House rules, airfare for the trip was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff. DeLay maintains he had "no way of knowing that any lobbyist might have financially supported the trip," but his former Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann confirms DeLay's congressional office was in direct contact with Abramoff's law firm, Preston Gates, about the trip itinerary before DeLay's departure.
Abramoff paid for Ney's trip to Scotland by running money through a children's charity, Capital Athletic Foundation, which bills itself as promoting sports-related programs for kids. Instead of blowing cash on T-ball or Pop Warner for underprivileged kids, however, the "charity" spent $150,225 for Abramoff, Ney, Reed, and then-General Services Administration Chief of Staff David Safaviana to take a private jet to go golfing in Scotland. (Abramoff used DeLay's name to rake in cash for the "charity." One Indian tribe told federal investigators "that they made the donations because Abramoff told them it would impress DeLay.") A review of the tax and spending records of the charity reveals that "less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths."
Abramoff also set up a legally questionable six-day trip to Moscow Rep. Tom DeLay took in 1997 which was "underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government." The Russia trip was paid by an obscure firm called Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, which was deeply involved with Russian oil executives. Abramoff used a D.C. nonprofit, the National Center for Public Policy Research, to pay for the trip, which cost more than $57,000. According to sources, the non-profit was then paid back by a shadowy front group based in the Bahamas, which was financed by Russian oil executives.
Abramoff represented the Northern Mariana Islands in their quest to avoid U.S. labor laws. Businesses on the islands "enjoyed a quirky status" whereby "American labor laws like the minimum wage did not apply, but manufacturers there could still affix the Made in the U.S.A. label to garments they produced." Abramoff charged the Mariana government over a million dollars in fees, then used the islands to cultivate ties to members of Congress, flying dozens of lawmakers and their aides for luxurious vacations. (The New York Times points out it was "on a trip to the Marianas in 1997 that DeLay proclaimed Abramoff 'one of my closest and dearest friends.'") Abramoff is being investigated for bilking the islands out of money. One audit concluded that about $1.2 million in government payments was "not adequately supported." The charges included travel, telephone, photocopy, computer research, outside-professional fees and "$2,000 for a June 1996 golf tournament."
Abramoff had his assets frozen by a Montgomery County, MD judge "in connection with a lawsuit over unpaid wages filed by employees of a religious academy that Abramoff founded." Abramoff shorted thirteen teachers a quarter of their pay when the Eshkol Academy, an Orthodox Jewish school in Columbia, MD, that received most of its funds through Abramoff's efforts, closed in May 2004. Abramoff also saw the school as a prime place to make a little money off of the lives of tribal elders. In 2004, he recommended that the broke Tigua tribe retain him at no cost. Instead, he wanted them to allow Eshkol Academy to "buy term life insurance policies on tribal elders and receive the benefits upon their death, with the money then channeled back to Abramoff."