The following is a list of trips for politicians, lobbyists, and staffers funded by Jack Abramoff .
The picture at right (taken at Carnoustie) for the trip to St. Andrews, the famed Scottish golf course. This trip was paid for by Abramoff at a cost of $160,000. Congressman Bob Ney's then chief of staff, William Heaton, admitted "falsifying his and Ney's financial disclosure forms in 2002 and 2003 to keep gifts secret. For example, Ney's forms said the Scotland trip was paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research so he could meet with Scottish parliamentarians, though the Scottish Parliament was not in session...." [1]
Date | Location | Participants | Details |
---|---|---|---|
December 4–12, 1996 | Saipan | Ed Buckham, Tony Rudy, Jeff Shockey | Abramoff paid at least $3000; he was reimbursed by Preston Gates & Ellis, reimbursed in turn by the Marianas government |
New Year's, 1997 | Saipan | Tom DeLay (R-TX) with his wife and daughter | Stayed for free at beachside resort |
January 1997 | Saipan | James Clyburn (D-SC) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS) | Clyburn and Thompson invited by National Security Caucus Foundation, who was paid by Preston Gates & Ellis and told that the government had paid for it |
Six days, 1997 | Russia | Tom DeLay, Ed Buckham, Jack Abramoff, lobbyist Julius "Jay" Kaplan, Amy Ridenour of NCPPR and her husband, journalist Bart Adams, Jesse Helms aide James P. Lucier, David Lowe (National Endowment for Democracy) | About $60,000 funneled by Naftasib executives Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky through Bahamas company Chelsea Enterprises, which paid the National Center for Public Policy Research. [2] |
late May-early June 2000 | London/Scotland | Tom DeLay, Tony Rudy, Ed Buckham, Susan Hirschmann | Airfare charged to Abramoff's credit card, expenses charged to Ed Buckham's credit card; supposedly organized by National Center for Public Policy Research [3] |
February 21, 1999 | Marshall Islands | Official congressional delegation led by Don Young (R-AK) | Also in delegation: John Doolittle (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), delegates of Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and 8 staffers. Preston Gates sued the Marshall Islands to get reimbursed for the trip. [4] [5] [6] |
January 2001 | Super Bowl XXXV, Tampa | Conrad Burns chief of staff Will Brooke, Bob Ney chief of staff Neil Volz, Burns appropriations staffer Ryan Thomas, Tom DeLay staffers | Funded by SunCruz Casinos; Brooke and Volz later joined Team Abramoff [7] |
2001 | Korea | Tom DeLay, DeLay's wife, Ed Buckham | |
July 2001 | Puerto Rico | John Lopez (John Doolittle chief of staff) | Paid for by Greenberg Traurig in violation of House ethics rules |
August 3–11, 2002 | Scotland & London | Bob Ney, Ralph Reed, David Safavian, Jack Abramoff, Ney's chief of staff, William Heaton, House Administration Committee lawyer Paul D. Vinovich, lobbyist Michael Williams | golfing trip paid for by Capital Athletic Foundation at a cost of over $130,000—this trip was named in Safavian's indictment because he had falsely claimed Abramoff had no business before the GSA at the time of the trip [8] |
January 2003 | Fiesta Bowl, Tempe, Arizona | Bob Ney and staffers | named in Neil Volz's plea |
May 9–12, 2003 | New Orleans | Bob Ney, William Heaton, Neil Volz, and another lobbyist | named in Neil Volz's and Bob Ney's plea; $7200 paid for by Greenberg Traurig |
August 9–14, 2003 | Scotland | Tom Feeney (R-FL), Ralph Reed, Mark Zachares, Bob R. Brooks Jr., chief of staff to Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) | paid for by Abramoff though supposedly by National Center for Public Policy Research [9] |
August 24–27, 2003 | Lake George, New York | Bob Ney, William Heaton, another Ney staffer, Neil Volz, and another lobbyist | named in Neil Volz's plea [10] and Bob Ney's plea; [11] $3500 paid for by Volz and reimbursed by Greenberg Traurig |
John Taylor Doolittle, is an attorney and an American politician. Elected to Congress in 1990, he served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, representing California's 4th congressional district. In the 109th Congress, he held a leadership role as the Deputy Whip for the Republican party in the House. He was succeeded in the House of Representatives by Tom McClintock. Before being elected to Congress, he had served in the California State Senate from 1984 to 1991.
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.
Amy Moritz Ridenour was president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington, DC conservative think tank. Ridenour held this post from the organization's founding in 1982 until her death. She wrote a syndicated op-ed column from 1997 and was a frequent radio and television guest.
The U.S. House Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Before the 112th Congress, it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
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.
The Capital Athletic Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity organization founded in 2000. The organization's nominal purpose was to provide needy youths with athletic opportunities. The organization has been used by its founder, Jack Abramoff, as a front group for channeling money into his own political causes. In its first four years of operation, the charity collected nearly $6 million.
SunCruz Casinos offered offshore "cruises to nowhere", legally transporting passengers into international waters beyond the reach of federal and state gambling laws. In the 2000s (decade), it became known for the involvement of some high-profile lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff, and the murder of its former owner, Gus Boulis.
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.
"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.
Alexander Strategy Group was an American lobbying firm involved in the K Street Project. The firm was founded by Ed Buckham, a former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Tom Delay, and his wife Wendy. The firm openly promoted its access to DeLay. Its chief lobbyist was Paul Behrends, who became Dana Rohrabacher's aide.
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.
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.
William Heaton is the former chief of staff for former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), and a supporting figure in the Abramoff scandal.
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.
Pablo E. Carrillo is a one-time admiralty lawyer from New Orleans, Louisiana, who was U.S. Senator John McCain's chief of staff. In that capacity, Carrillo led McCain's investigations of the Jack Abramoff tribal lobbying scandal and the KC-X Boeing tanker scandal, which McCain referred to extensively throughout his campaign.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a 2010 documentary film directed by Alex Gibney.
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