Italia Federici

Last updated

Italia Federici (born August 12, 1969), the former president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), a greenscam organization. [1] Federici was also a political aide to Secretary of the Interior and CREA co-founder Gale Norton. [2] Federici pleaded guilty in June 2007 to tax evasion and obstructing the United States Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and was sentenced to four years probation. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy

Federici founded CREA with Norton and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, a college friend of Abramoff, in 1997 with money Federici inherited; [6] The organization was also funded by, and supported the goals of, mining and other industries.

Abramoff involvement

Federici introduced Jack Abramoff to Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles in March 2001, just before Griles started at the Department of the Interior. [6] Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to CREA, after which time she allegedly began using her connections with Griles to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors. [7]

In emails, Abramoff claimed that "she is critical" [8] to his work with the Department of Interior, especially with regards to preventing the Jena Band of Choctaws Indian Tribe from creating a casino, that would take money away from one of Abramoff's "core tribes". A February 18, 2003, email from Abramoff to Federici said "...This will be a PR disaster as you can imagine, especially if for some reason Interior agrees to approve this deal. McCrery and Vitter (the other R's in the delegation) are furious beyond belief. This is going to get really ugly. Please let Steve know about this. Thanks so much Italia!". [9] The email referred to Griles, who is reported to have been romantically connected to Federici. [10]

Federici also pleaded guilty to failure to file tax returns from 2001 - 2003; Furthermore, she did not pay income tax from 2001 through 2003.

In December 2007, Federici was sentenced to four years probation, and $77,243 in restitution of back taxes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Steven Griles</span>

James Steven "Steve" Griles was an American coal industry lobbyist and the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the George W. Bush administration from July 12, 2001, until his resignation on December 7, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Ney</span> American politician and criminal

Robert William Ney is an American politician from Ohio. A Republican, Ney represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until November 3, 2006, when he resigned. Ney's resignation took place after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. Before he pleaded guilty, Ney was identified in the guilty pleas of Jack Abramoff, former Tom DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy, former DeLay press secretary Michael Scanlon and former Ney chief of staff Neil Volz for receiving lavish gifts in exchange for political favors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Abramoff</span> American Republican lobbyist (born 1959)

Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist, businessman, film producer, writer, and convicted felon. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction and 21 other people either pleading guilty or being found guilty, including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional aides.

Michael Scanlon is a former communications director for Rep. Tom DeLay, lobbyist, and public relations executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed by separate state and federal grand jury investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials.

The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal exposed in 2005; it related to fraud perpetrated by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American tribes who were seeking to develop casino gambling on their reservations. The lobbyists charged the tribes an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multi-million dollar profits. In one case, they secretly orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Kidan</span> American businessman

Adam Kidan is an American business executive and lawyer who is the current president of Empire Workforce. He is also the current vice chairman of the Staffing Advisory Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Ralston</span>

Susan Bonzon Ralston, is public relations and business consultant. Ralston was formerly Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and a deputy to Karl Rove, the Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor at the White House, from 2001 until her resignation in 2006 after being linked to Jack Abramoff's lobbying.

The monetary influence of Jack Abramoff ran deep in Washington, as Jack Abramoff spent millions of dollars to influence and entertain both Republican and Democratic politicians. Abramoff had a reputation for largesse considered exceptional even by Washington standards. In addition to offering many Republican members of Congress expensive free meals at his restaurant, Signatures, Abramoff maintained four skyboxes at major sports arenas for political entertaining at a cost of over $1 million a year. Abramoff hosted many fundraisers at these skyboxes including events for Republican politicians publicly opposed to gambling, such as John Doolittle. Abramoff gave over $260,000 in personal contributions to Republican candidates, politicians, and organizations, and funded numerous trips for politicians and staffers and gave none to Democrats.

Tony Charles Rudy is an American politician. He served in the office of U. S. Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) from approximately 1995 to 2001, and rose to be his deputy Chief of Staff.

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) was a Republican environmental organization founded in 1998 by Gale Norton, who in 2001 became George W. Bush's U.S. Secretary of the Interior. CREA "evolved from a group" Italia Federici and Norton founded in 1997 "with tax activist Grover Norquist to push for Republican environmental goals." The organization's steering committee included lobbyists for the petroleum, mining, and auto manufacturing industries. The organization's president, Italia Federici, pleaded guilty in 2007 to obstructing the U.S. Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and for siphoning CREA funds for personal use. Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to her charity, after which time she began using her connections with J. Steven Griles, to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors. Later in 2007, CREA's vice president, Jared Carpenter, pleaded guilty of tax evasion for also diverting CREA funds for personal use.

Capitol Campaign Strategies was an American public relations firm run by Michael Scanlon, Tom DeLay's former press secretary, which Scanlon used in coordination with Jack Abramoff to redirect about $40 million in lobbying contributions from Indian tribes to Scanlon, Abramoff, and their associates, as well as funding bribes to Republican politicians such as Bob Ney. Scanlon and Abramoff have pleaded guilty for their activities. After Abramoff left Preston Gates and went to Greenberg Traurig in January 2001, Scanlon formed Capitol Campaign Strategies. Its official location was 611 Pennsylvania Avenue SE in Washington D.C., which is a maildrop. Scanlon also formed the dummy organizations American International Center and Atlantic Research Analysis aka Atlantic Research & Analysis, used to receive and distribute CCS money.

Kevin A. Ring is a former American attorney and congressional staffer; he served Republicans in both the House and the Senate, including U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle (R-CA). He also served as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Ellen Wooldridge</span> American lawyer

Sue Ellen Wooldridge is an American attorney and a former politically appointed U.S. government employee. She was formerly the United States Assistant Attorney General in charge of environment and natural resources, a division of the United States Department of Justice. As such, she was the U.S.'s top environmental prosecutor. She resigned from this post on January 8, 2007.

Mark Zachares is a Republican politician and lobbyist who served as Congressional aide to Rep. Don Young (R-AK). He pleaded guilty on April 24, 2007 to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for using his position in Congress to advance Abramoff's interests.

The federal investigations into Jack Abramoff and his political and business dealings are among the broadest and most extensive in American political history, involving well over a dozen offices of the FBI and over 100 FBI agents tasked exclusively to the investigation. Given the extent and complexity of the suspected corruption, an entire inter-governmental task force, involving many federal government departments and agencies, has been established to aid the federal investigation. The U.S. Justice Department has announced that it will not reveal the details of the investigation, or who specifically has been targeted for investigation until indictments are issued. Under his plea agreements, Abramoff is required to answer all questions by federal investigators and prosecutors.

Todd Boulanger is an American lobbyist. He was senior vice president of Cassidy & Associates and was a figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

<i>Casino Jack and the United States of Money</i> 2010 American film

Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a 2010 documentary film directed by Alex Gibney.

References

  1. ↑ Final report Committee on Indian Affairs. June 22, 2006
  2. ↑ Michael Scherer (November 18, 2005). "The greening of Italia Federici". Salon.
  3. ↑ Matt Apuzzo (June 6, 2007). "New Charges Filed in Abramoff Probe". Associated Press.
  4. ↑ Mark Heilprin (June 8, 2007). "GOP fundraiser pleads guilty in probe". Associated Press.
  5. ↑ Susan Schmidt (December 15, 2007). "Republican With Links to Abramoff Is Sentenced". The Washington Post .
  6. 1 2 Mike Soraghan (June 7, 2007). "Norton aide cops a plea". The Hill.
  7. ↑ "Senate Indian Affairs Hearings, testimony by Italia Federici (video)". Senate Indian Affairs Committee. November 17, 2005. Archived from the original on May 30, 2007.
  8. ↑ Susan Schmidt (November 18, 2005). "Abramoff Witness Frustrates Panel: E-Mails Suggest She Was Lobbyist's Connection to Interior Official". Washington Post. p. A08.
  9. ↑ Susan Schmidt (March 13, 2005). "Casino Bid Prompted High-Stakes Lobbying". Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Edmund L. Andrews (March 23, 2007). "Ex-Deputy of Interior Dept. Pleads Guilty". New York Times.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.