Robert William Ney is an American politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. In 2007, he was convicted on charges of corruption and sentenced to 30 months in jail. 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.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist, businessman, movie 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 to 21 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.
Greenberg Traurig is an international law firm founded in Miami, Florida, United States in 1967 by Larry J. Hoffman, Mel Greenberg and Robert H. Traurig. For the past three years, it has ranked #14 in the AM Law 100 by gross revenue, and in the top 20 of the Global 200.
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 Abramoff/Scanlon Indian lobbying scandal was fraud perpetrated by lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon on Native American tribes who were seeking to develop casino gambling on their reservations.
David Hossein Safavian is a Republican former lawyer who worked as a congressional aide, lobbyist, and later as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration. 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.
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.
Alexander Strategy Group was an American lobbying firm involved in the K Street Project, founded by Ed Buckham and his wife Wendy. Buckham is a former chief of staff of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and 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.
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.
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.
Will Brooke is an American political staffer and a figure in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.
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 governmental 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.
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.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a 2010 documentary film directed by Alex Gibney.
