Lobbyist Abramoff Defrauded Indians,
Witnesses Claim Abramoff 'Pocketed $6.5M'...
Spending on Tribe's Account...
- AP: Papers: Lobbyists, partners {Reed} bilked Tribes
- Bloomberg: Abramoff probe turns up updated information
- WP: Panel Says Abramoff Laundered Tribal Funds - McCain Cites Possible Fraud by Lobbyist
A spokesman for Abramoff said that "any fair reading of Mr. Abramoff's career" would show that he was an effective lobbyist for his clients.
"Mr. Abramoff is put into the impossible position of not being able to defend himself in the public arena until the proper authorities have had a chance to review all accusations," said the spokesman, Andrew Blum
Question: is there any way to do any type of "reputation management" at this time? I mean Abbe Lowell is now keeping mum, Jack had his say in Time and the NYT Magazine, and Ralph Reed will spin his way into the Church of Public Opinion, and no one will give one big fat oy vey, will they?
The Choctaws, the richest and most successful gambling tribe in the country, initially defended Abramoff when his activities first drew scrutiny over a year ago. But they began cooperating with government investigators last summer after being told by Greenberg Traurig that its internal investigation had found fraud in the lobbyist's work for the tribe. [.pdf]
Yesterday, McCain said the committee had found that Abramoff and Scanlon had pocketed $6.5 million of the $7.7 million in consulting fees they received from the Choctaws. McCain said that Abramoff had directed the Choctaws to hire Scanlon for consulting work, but never revealed to the tribe that they had a secret partnership, which they called "gimme five," according to the
e-mails.
Whenever Scanlon pitched his services to a client, Abramoff would remind him of their extra profits. On Aug. 16, 2001, Abramoff wrote to Scanlon, "Don't forget the gimme five aspects." On Oct. 17, 2001, Abramoff wrote, "So there is more gimme five coming on all these as well, right?"
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