Mark Zachares

Last updated

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 [1] in return for using his position in Congress to advance Abramoff's interests. [2] [3]

Career

Zachares became acquainted with Jack Abramoff while serving as Secretary of the Department of Labor and Immigration for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ("the CNMI"); Abramoff was a lobbyist for business interests of the U.S. territory. The Anchorage Daily News described their relationship:

Abramoff was the commonwealth's lobbyist. According to the Saipan Tribune, he was paid at least $11 million from 1994 to 2001 to prevent Congress from interfering with local regulation of wage rates and immigration - the two issues under Zachares' authority. "Beginning in the mid-1990s, Zachares came to have extensive contact with Abramoff during Zachares' tenure as an official of the CNMI, and Zachares and Abramoff became personal and professional acquaintances", the charging document said. [4]

Zachares received $10,000 from Abramoff's false charity, Capital Athletic Foundation in two payments. The first came while he was secretary, the second after leaving the job. Starting after the 2000 election and a number of months afterwards, Abramoff attempted to convince the White House to hire Mark Zachares as the head of the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs. [4] In 2002, Abramoff helped Zachares secure a job as legal counsel to the Oversight & Investigations subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, then became staff director for the Coast Guard & Maritime subcommittee—both overseen by Rep. Don Young, who served on the committee that oversees insular affairs, the House Resources Committee.

It was alleged that

While doing favors for Abramoff from his positions on Young's committee, Zachares was rewarded with all kinds of favors, from being invited on a $160,000 golf trip to Scotland to use of Abramoff's luxury box seats at the MCI Center in Washington where the Wizards of the NBA and Capitals of the NHL play, [4] $30,000 worth of sporting and event tickets from Abramoff, free meals and drinks at Signatures Restaurant, and free rounds of golf at Woodmore Country Club, where Abramoff was a member. [2]

Zachares, as part of his plea bargain, agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, who, in exchange, would not prosecute Zachares' wife, Cynthia. [5]

The scandal was portrayed in the 2010 movie Casino Jack and the United States of Money . [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saipan</span> Capital city of the Northern Mariana Islands

Saipan is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385, a decline of 10% from its 2010 count of 48,220.

<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 Native American 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.

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. She 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.

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.

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">Tom Feeney</span> American politician

Thomas Charles Feeney III is an American politician from Orlando, Florida. He represented Florida's 24th congressional district. He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas.

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.

Trevor Blackann is an American former lobbyist who pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff scandal. He began his political career as a staffer for Missouri Republican Roy Blunt.

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

James F. Hirni is a lobbyist who was convicted of bribing U.S. Senate staff aides in exchange for favorable amendments to legislation. A former aide to U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), he joined the lobbying firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, and then became a member of "Team Abramoff" at Greenberg Traurig. He went on to become a lobbyist for Wal-Mart from 2004–08, as its Executive Director of Republican outreach. He was fired when charges were filed concerning his activities with Abramoff.

Fraser Verrusio, was policy director to Alaska US Rep. Don Young (R) and Policy Director for the House Transportation Committee while Rep. Young was chairman. On March 6, 2009, he was indicted for violating federal anti-corruption laws in the long-running Jack Abramoff scandals. He attended Mount Carmel High School from September 1984 to June 1986.

Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio was a Northern Mariana Islander politician who was the 4th Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. Elected in 1993, he served one term from January 10, 1994 to January 12, 1998. During his governorship and most of his political career, Tenorio was a member of the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands, which was not then affiliated with the American Democratic Party. However, he later switched his affiliation to the Covenant Party. As of 2021, he is the last Democrat to serve as governor of the territory.

<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.

<i>Casino Jack</i> 2010 film

Casino Jack is a 2010 comedy-drama thriller film directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Kevin Spacey. The film focuses on the career of Washington, D.C. lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff, who was involved in a massive corruption scandal that led to his conviction as well as the conviction of two White House officials, Rep. Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional staffers. Abramoff was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in 2006, and of trading expensive gifts, meals and vacations for political favors. Abramoff served three and a half years of a six-year sentence in federal prison, and was then assigned to a halfway house. He was released on December 3, 2010.

References

  1. Susan Schmidt; James V. Grimaldi (April 24, 2007). "Former Hill Staffer to Plead Guilty in Abramoff Probe". Washington Post. p. A04.
  2. 1 2 Docket for Mark Zachares (pdf), April 23, 2007
  3. "Mark Zachares".
  4. 1 2 3 Richard Mauer (April 29, 2007). "Young aide's link to Abramoff sheds new light on Marianas bill". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2007.
  5. "Ex-Hill aide pleads guilty in Abramoff scandal". AP. April 24, 2007.
  6. "Casino Jack and the United States of Money". IMDb .