Ahhh...here comes some of the "bigger moolah...." Many Millions in Kickbacks From Tribes
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
January 4, 2006
Money Trail
nytimes.com
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The kickbacks from one Indian tribe exceeded $11 million. From another, they surpassed $6 million. In less than three years, Jack Abramoff secretly netted more than $20 million from tribes in five states, a sum close to half of the $43.3 million they paid him and a partner to lobby on their behalf.
"These are staggering numbers, even by Washington standards," said Stanley Brand, a defense lawyer who specializes in criminal and ethical matters. "The big firms do very, very well, but they don't come close to these kinds of numbers."
The level to which Mr. Abramoff enriched himself at the expense of clients came into sharp focus on Tuesday as his plea agreement on federal charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion was made public by the Justice Department.
The agreement referred to five business relationships Mr. Abramoff had with Indian tribes, and in each case he admitted to receiving a large percentage of the tribe's total spending as a kickback. As part of his plea, Mr. Abramoff agreed to repay his former clients $25 million.
Mr. Abramoff carried out his fraudulent schemes by persuading clients that they needed the lobbying services of firms run by a former business partner, Michael Scanlon, or by his own companies. Mr. Scanlon pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress, and as part of his plea, he agreed to repay $19.6 million to the tribes that once retained him.
Mr. Abramoff's largest kickback came from a Louisiana tribe that used his services from early 2001 through the spring of 2004. In the plea agreement Mr. Abramoff said the tribe paid companies run by Mr. Scanlon $30,510,000. But through an agreement between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, they concealed a kickback of about $11,450,000 to Mr. Abramoff.
In another scheme, beginning in early 2001, a Mississippi tribe paid Mr. Scanlon about $14,765,000, ignorant of the "secret profit-sharing agreement" between Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Abramoff that sliced off nearly half of the total, about $6,364,000, as a kickback to Mr. Abramoff.
A Michigan tribe paid Mr. Scanlon about $3.5 million from the middle of 2002 to the fall of 2003, unaware of the "secret arrangement" that directed about $540,000, half the profit earned by Mr. Scanlon's companies, to Mr. Abramoff.
In a scheme that suggested how little they cared for the needs of their clients, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon persuaded a Texas tribe in 2002 to hire them to help the tribe reopen its casino through federal legislation. According to the plea agreement, while the tribe paid $4.2 million for services arranged by Mr. Scanlon, the two men concealed from the Texas tribe that, at the same time, they had collected millions of dollars from the Louisiana tribe to oppose all gaming in the Texas Legislature.
They also did not tell the Texas tribe that $1,850,000 of their fees went directly to Mr. Abramoff "pursuant to his undisclosed arrangement with Mr. Scanlon."
In a final case cited by the plea agreement, a New Mexico tribe paid Mr. Scanlon $2.75 million, hiding from tribal officials that the lobbying firm's profit margin was about 80 percent and that $1,175,000 of the total was paid to Mr. Abramoff through his secret agreement with Mr. Scanlon.
Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, a trade group with 700 members, said Mr. Abramoff was "in a league by himself" as a Washington lobbyist, a term he said he used reluctantly.
"Jack Abramoff, by my definition, is not a lobbyist," Mr. Miller said. "He knowingly defrauded clients. In my view, he is nothing more than a scam artist." |
