Summary

Original source:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/03/abramoff.plea/index.html

Details

• She said Abramoff admitted to corrupting government officials and defrauding his own clients out of $25 million.
• Abramoff admitted that he did not disclose receiving kickbacks on payments from Native American tribes to a partner's public relations firm.
• Abramoff and his politically connected partner, public relations expert Michael Scanlon, jokingly referred to their scheme as the "Gimme Five Program," Fisher said.
• Abramoff's plea agreement spares him the possibility of a maximum 30-year sentence if he provides useful assistance in the corruption probe.
• As part of the deal, Abramoff agreed to cooperate with the IRS on his tax evasion charge and pay the agency $1.72 million.
• Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement that Abramoff will cooperate with prosecutors, repay "anyone he has harmed," and "seek absolution from all."
• Court documents filed Tuesday describe how Abramoff and Scanlon cheated clients of Abramoff's lobbying firm by urging them to use Scanlon's PR firm -- which in turn paid Abramoff millions of dollars in kickbacks.
• Abramoff is a longtime associate of several top GOP leaders, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Americans for Tax Reform director Grover Norquist, and former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed.
• Another source, a senior government official, told CNN the probe involves about two dozen lawmakers and staffers.
• Ney is known to have entered comments in the Congressional Record against a man standing in the way of an Abramoff project -- a 2000 casino fleet purchase -- and he took a 2002 golf trip to Scotland that Abramoff sponsored.
• Ney is the only member of Congress to disclose that he has been subpoenaed -- a step required under House rules -- as part of the investigation.
• DeLay, who is facing unrelated money laundering charges, was forced by party rules to step down from his leadership position in September after he was indicted in Texas.

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