Thomas Dale DeLay is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican,DeLay represented Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He served as House majority leader from 2003 to 2005.
George Rector Nethercutt Jr. was an American lawyer,author,and politician. A member of the Republican Party,he rose to national attention upon his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994,when he defeated Tom Foley,the speaker of the house,in Washington's 5th congressional district. Nethercutt served five terms and left the House in 2004,when he mounted an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
Robert William Ney is an American former politician who represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until his resignation on November 3,2006,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.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist,businessman,film producer,and writer. 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.
David Hossein Safavian is an American former lawyer who worked as a congressional aide,lobbyist,and later as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration. A Republican,he served as Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration (GSA). He is a figure in the Jack Abramoff lobbying and corruption scandal,having worked with the lobbyist on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw account. After serving with Abramoff as a lobbyist,in 1997 Safavian co-founded lobbying firm Janus-Merritt Strategies with Republican activist Grover Norquist.
Italia Federici,the former president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA),a greenscam organization. Federici was also a political aide to Secretary of the Interior and CREA co-founder Gale Norton. 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.
"Team Abramoff" is the team of lobbyists assembled by Jack Abramoff when he worked at Greenberg Traurig,primarily of former aides to prominent Congressional politicians. Their work is embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandals.
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.
GrassRoots Interactive (GRI),now defunct,was a small Silver Spring,Maryland,United States,lobbying firm controlled by Jack Abramoff. It was founded "with a $10,000 investment" by the company's sole owner,Republican lawyer Edward B. Miller,in May 2003,"a month after he began work as a senior official in the state Department of Business and Economic Development." Miller,then a lawyer at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary,is a former aide to Governor of Maryland Robert L. Ehrlich,Jr. and "was promoted to deputy chief of staff in the governor's office" in early 2004.
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.
The Jack Abramoff CNMI scandal involved the efforts of Jack Abramoff,other lobbyists,and government officials to change or prevent,or both,Congressional action regarding the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and businesses on Saipan,its capital,commercial center,and one of its three principal islands.
Sue Ellen Wooldridge is an American attorney and former government official. She was the United States Assistant Attorney General in charge of environment and natural resources,a division of the United States Department of Justice,from 2005 until her resignation in 2007. As such,she was the top environmental prosecutor in the country.
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.
Robert E. Coughlin,II,is an American lawyer and former government official who served as the Deputy Chief of Staff,Criminal Division,of the United States Department of Justice and was a senior figure in the Jack Abramoff Probe.
The investigations in Jack Abramoff led to several plea agreements by those involved,including Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH). Abramoff himself also pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges,including tax fraud and bribing public officials. Abramoff's activities also became an issue that many Democratic candidates raised in the November 2006 House and Senate elections,as the challengers painted the incumbent Republican Congress as corrupted by Abramoff and his powerful allies. On March 29,2006,Abramoff was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $21 million.
Todd Boulanger is an American lobbyist. He was senior vice president of Cassidy &Associates and was a figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
