Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist at the center of a U.S. Justice Department-led investigation, may plead guilty in a Florida wire-fraud case, a person close to the negotiations said.

A plea may help prosecutors build cases against lawmakers and their staffs in the Florida investigation and in a related probe of Abramoff's Washington lobbying activity. The plea may come as early as next week, although it hasn't been finalized, the person said. Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, declined to comment.

The Abramoff investigations have consumed Washington because of his ties to politicians such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a one-time friend of the lobbyist, and House Administration Committee Chairman Robert Ney, an Ohio Republican.

Abramoff's former business partner, Michael Scanlon, who was once DeLay's spokesman, pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to bribe members of Congress and their staffs, including Ney.

Abramoff and another former partner, Adam Kidan, were indicted in August in connection with a $147.5 million purchase of a casino boat company in Florida in 2000. Kidan pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy and wire fraud in that case, and his lawyer said he would be willing to testify.

Abramoff faces a Jan. 9 trial date in Florida.

U.K. Trip

DeLay, a Texas Republican, took a golfing trip to the U.K. in 2000 with Abramoff that included a meeting with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In October, Thatcher's employees were questioned by investigators about that trip. House rules bar lawmakers from accepting travel from lobbyists.

The House ethics committee is expected to investigate whether DeLay and other lawmakers improperly accepted travel paid for by the lobbyist.

DeLay has said he believed at the time that a nonprofit group paid the travel expenses, which is allowable under House rules. ``Mr. DeLay's travel was properly and publicly disclosed,'' said spokesman Kevin Madden. ``Mr. DeLay's attorneys proactively contacted the Department of Justice this spring to inform them that Mr. DeLay would cooperate in any manner requested of him,'' Madden said. The Justice Department hasn't contacted DeLay, he said.

Abramoff spokesman Andrew Blum had no comment. Ney was visiting troops in Iraq and his spokesman, Brian Walsh, said he didn't want to comment on a story from an unidentified person. Last week Ney said in a statement that he was ``never part of any criminal conspiracy.''

Senate Hearings

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which held a series of hearings on Abramoff and Scanlon, uncovered evidence that the two men inflated expenses and divided up profits from their tribal clients, according to testimony and e-mails released in June. In some cases, Abramoff directed his clients to donate to specific lawmakers and political groups, according to the e-mails.

Abramoff joined with Scanlon and his tribal clients to give money to a third of the members of Congress between 2001 and 2004, Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records show.

At least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations from the group, mostly from the tribes with casino interests. Republicans took in most of the money, with 110 of the lawmakers receiving $942,275, or 66 percent of the total. Abramoff also raised at least $100,000 for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election bid.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Forsythe in Washington mforysthe@bloomberg.net; Mort Lucoff in Miami

Last Updated: December 21, 2005 15:15 EST