Abramoff May Plead Guilty This Week, Snaring Lawmakers in Probe

By Michael Forsythe and Jonathan D. Salant

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under criminal investigation, may agree this week to cooperate with federal officials in a move that former prosecutors say would put U.S. lawmakers in legal jeopardy.

Abramoff's lawyers may tell a U.S. district judge in Miami as early as today whether they've reached a plea agreement with the government ahead of a scheduled wire-fraud trial, according to a person close to the investigation. Judge Paul Huck has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. conference call for a status report on the negotiations.

To get a reduced prison sentence, Abramoff would have to implicate lawmakers in a related probe of his lobbying activities, said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

``I believe he has to be giving up members of Congress,'' Sloan said. ``Otherwise, Abramoff is as high as you go.''

If he doesn't agree to a plea bargain, Abramoff will go to trial Jan. 9 in connection with the purchase of a Florida casino cruise-ship company. His partner in that deal, Adam Kidan, pleaded guilty Dec. 15 to wire fraud and conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Political Donations

Another Abramoff partner, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to bribe Republican Representative Bob Ney of Ohio. Scanlon, a former aide to Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, is cooperating with the government. The Justice Department says Abramoff and Scanlon defrauded four Indian tribe clients out of more than $50 million in fees.

Some 220 lawmakers received at least $1.7 million in political donations from Abramoff, his associates and nine tribal clients between 2001 and 2004, according to a review of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records. Of those, 201 are still in Congress. Republicans received $1.1 million, or 64 percent of the total.

``When this is all over, this will be bigger than any (government scandal) in the last 50 years, both in the amount of people involved and the breadth to it,'' said Stan Brand, a former U.S. House counsel who specializes in representing public officials accused of wrongdoing. ``It will include high-ranking members of Congress and executive branch officials.''

Other Inducements

Several lawmakers are giving back the money they took in from Abramoff's clients and associates. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said Dec. 13 he was returning $67,000 in donations.

Scanlon's plea agreement suggests investigators also are looking at Abramoff's use of his Washington restaurant, sporting-event skyboxes and golf trips as inducements for favors from members of Congress.

A cooperating Abramoff would be ``the insider who will describe every event, every phone call, every cup of coffee and conversations at golf outings,'' said Joshua Berman, a partner at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Washington who until 2004 was an attorney in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which is leading the prosecution. ``The paper records won't tell you what was discussed at the fourth hole. Abramoff can.''

A 2002 golf trip to Scotland was one of the gifts Scanlon pleaded guilty to offering Ney, who heads the House Administration Committee.

White House Official

David Safavian, the former top procurement officer at the White House, was indicted in October for making false statements about business his agency had with Abramoff before taking part in the same golf trip. The trip cost Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation at least $166,634, according to financial records released in November by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Ney ranks third among members of Congress who received Abramoff-related campaign cash, taking in $61,225 from 2001 through 2004.

Ney has said he was ``duped'' by Abramoff. His lawyer, Mark Tuohey, says he didn't know whether an Abramoff plea would involve Ney.

Proving bribery requires evidence that lawmakers accepted gifts in return for official favors. Any such deal would normally be made orally in private, said John Kotelly, who prosecuted South Carolina Democrat John Jenrette, one of six congressmen convicted in the Abscam political corruption case in the 1980s.

`Not Apprehensive'

``A lot of it depends on what kinds of conversations Abramoff had with members of Congress,'' Kotelly said. ``Normally they're smart enough to just talk in generalities.''

DeLay, the Texas Republican who until September was House Majority Leader, took a golf trip to the U.K. in 2000 with Abramoff. In October, employees of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were questioned about the trip, which included a meeting between DeLay and Thatcher.

DeLay also has benefited from Abramoff-related campaign donations, ranking 12th among recipients. He took in more money directly from Abramoff -- $17,000 from 2001 to 2004 -- than any other member of Congress, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation gave $25,000 in 2003 to the DeLay Foundation for Kids, one of DeLay's charities. Another former DeLay staff member, Tony Rudy, was an Abramoff associate at Greenberg Traurig.

The Washington Post on Dec. 31 reported that a DeLay-linked nonprofit group, the U.S. Family Network, received $1 million in 1998 from individuals linked to Abramoff. The contributors were Russian oil executives that Abramoff was working with to influence U.S. legislation, the Post said, citing a former associate of the nonprofit group's organizer, who had been DeLay's chief of staff.

DeLay's lawyer, Richard Cullen, said he is ``not at all apprehensive'' about an Abramoff plea. ``I would not expect it to involve Mr. DeLay in any way,'' Cullen said.

Signatures Fund-Raisers

Abramoff's Washington restaurant, the now-closed Signatures, had a back room for meetings and was midway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Between 2001 and 2004, at least 55 fundraisers were held there by members of Congress, according to data compiled by Bristow, Virginia-based Dwight L. Morris and Associates.

Ney and House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, each held events at Signatures eight times. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio reported 10 visits, as did Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat.

Cantor signed a June 10, 2003, letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton with DeLay, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Roy Blunt opposing a request by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to open an off-reservation casino that would compete with the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, an Abramoff client. Pryce signed a separate letter on Sept. 12, 2003.

McCrery's Objection

Representative Jim McCrery, a Louisiana Republican whose district included the proposed casino site, said the letters came at his urging.

``My objection all along was that a landless tribe should not be allowed to just go forum shopping,'' McCrery said. ``They should not be able to go to some desirable business location, buy some land and build a casino.''

Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser said Baucus used Signatures for events because the restaurant was nearby and offered a private room.

Baucus on Dec. 19 said he would return $18,893 in campaign donations he received from Abramoff's associates and clients, including a previously undisclosed $1,893 for the use of an Abramoff-owned skybox at the MCI Center in downtown Washington for a fundraiser. Baucus has never met Abramoff, Kaiser said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Forsythe in Washington mforsythe@bloomberg.net ; Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 3, 2006 00:03 EST

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