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Thread ID: 18774 | Posts: 16 | Started: 2005-06-23
2005-06-23 01:19 | User Profile
Abramoff Defrauded Indians, U.S. Senate Witnesses Say (Update1) June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist who is the subject of a federal investigation, diverted funds from Indian tribes into projects ranging from an Orthodox Jewish academy to an Israeli sniper school, new documents show.
Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon inflated expenses and divided the profits from $15 million in payments from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, according to testimony and e- mails released at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing. The two men told the Indians they used the money for a lobbying campaign to prevent rival casinos from opening, said witnesses, including Donald Kilgore, the tribe's attorney general.
This investigation has taken twists and turns we had not anticipated,'' said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is vice chairman of the committee.It has uncovered deceptions and greed that even by Washington standards are breathtaking.''
Some of the fees were funneled though a nonprofit tax-exempt organization, and much of the money went into Abramoff's own bank account -- unknown to the tribes or the nonprofit group. It was part of what Abramoff labeled his ``gimme five'' program, according to the e-mails and testimony.
[url]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a9s0nfJm4uZA&refer=top_world_news[/url]
2005-06-23 01:52 | User Profile
In a typical fashion, the money that zhids swindle they invest in common tribal projects (and bribing the goyim).
2005-06-23 01:55 | User Profile
Albion, Thanks for updating this story.
See also: [url]http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15162&highlight=Abramoff[/url]
2005-06-23 02:10 | User Profile
This is "christian" ZioNut Ralph Reed's good buddy. Reed is running for Lt. Governor here in GA. Maybe he'll get Jack to fund raise for him.
2005-06-23 02:18 | User Profile
[url]http://theyellowline.blogspot.com/2005/06/jack-abramoff-portrait-of-corruption.html[/url]
Politics might not cause corruption but it sure can lead to some amazingly crooked behavior. The most recent tale of corruption is also one of the most shockingly heartless to come out in years. And it involves Republican power-player and lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Michael Scanlon.
The tale of their alleged misdeeds is long and involved. But one of the most disgusting acts was reported last night on ABC's Nightline. Without getting into the nitty gritty, here are the details.
ââ¬Â¢ Abramoff represented Indian tribe casino interests in Louisiana.
ââ¬Â¢ The Louisiana tribe felt they were losing business to an El Paso, Texas tribe's casino
ââ¬Â¢ Abramoff used the Louisiana tribe's casino money to fund a Christian grassroots opposition to the El Paso casino on the grounds that gambling is immoral
ââ¬Â¢ The grassroots campaign worked and the El Paso casino was shut down, putting around 400 Native Americans out of work and shutting off the tribe's only viable source of income
ââ¬Â¢ Abramoff then met with the El Paso tribe and sold them on his services, saying he could get them reopened by slipping language into a bill before Congress.
ââ¬Â¢ The tribe had no knowledge that Abramoff had funded the grassroots campaign against them and agreed to pay Abramoff 4 million dollars along with several hundred thousand in targeted political contributions
ââ¬Â¢ Abramoff failed to get the language inserted and the casino remains closed
ââ¬Â¢ Throughout this episode Abramoff and Scanlon exchanged e-mails gloating over how smart they were and how dumb the El Paso tribe was.
I don't think I need to comment on this. The alleged facts pretty much paint a clear portrait of immense corruption and exploitation. There's nothing quite like greed to make a man forget he has a heart.
And this is only one of the many shady deals for which Abramoff is being investigated by the FBI and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Before the inevitable trials are complete, this might be a scandal that takes several lawmakers down with it, most prominently Abramoff's good friend, House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) who may or may not have received illegal contributions via Abramoff.
Whatever the outcome, Jack Abramoff is living proof that power, greed and a casual relationship with morality can lead a man to commit truly reprehensible acts.
2005-06-23 02:21 | User Profile
[IMG]http://img.slate.msn.com/media/1/123125/123075/2112264/2116388/050407_Jack-Abramoff.jpg[/IMG] [B]Jack Abramoff[/B] The friend Tom DeLay can't shake. By James Harding Posted Thursday, April 7, 2005
Where to begin examining the extraordinary career of Jack Abramoff? His work trying to secure a visa for the great Zairian kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko, perhaps, or the bilking of an estimated $66 million out of Native American tribes, clients he described as "monkeys," "troglodytes," and "idiots"? Or his leadership of a 1980s think tank financed, unbeknownst to him apparently, by the intelligence arm of South Africa's apartheid regime?
No, the chapter of our man's story that matters most at the moment begins with a toast given by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay during a New Year's trip they both took to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in 1997. "When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made," DeLay said before an audience of Abramoff's clients in the islands' garment industryââ¬âwhom, upon his return to Washington, he helped win an extended exemption from federal immigration and labor laws.
The most salient fact about Abramoff these days is that he may prove DeLay's undoing. The House majority leader has so far commanded extraordinary, tight-lipped loyalty from the Republican ranks in Congress in the face of scandals detailed here. But precedent is not on his side. Newt Gingrich's political demise was a slow death by a thousand cuts. Today there is already plenty of speculation in Washington that the White House is wavering about DeLay: As much as the president prizes loyalty, he is intolerant of sleaze and impatient with damaging distractions from his agenda. "Within six months, Karl will force him out," a senior administration official from the first term says, speaking, of course, of Karl Rove. At least one conservative redoubt, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, has already thrown open the door. Mr. DeLay has "an unsavory whiff that could have GOP loyalists reaching for the political Glade if it gets any worse," the paper wrote last week.
continues ... [url]http://slate.msn.com/id/2116389/[/url]
2005-06-23 02:52 | User Profile
Letting zhids into politics is like letting child molesters be scout leaders: the result is known in advance. How come that the slimiest and most cinical of all swindlers invariably turn out to be zhids?
2005-06-23 15:07 | User Profile
According to TV news, the money he took from the Indians was funneled to Israel.
2005-06-23 21:29 | User Profile
Abramoff Defrauded Indians, U.S. Senate Witnesses Say (Update1) June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist who is the subject of a federal investigation, diverted funds from Indian tribes into projects ranging from an Orthodox Jewish academy to an Israeli sniper school, new documents show.
Abramoff and partner Michael Scanlon inflated expenses and divided the profits from $15 million in payments from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, according to testimony and e- mails released at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing. The two men told the Indians they used the money for a lobbying campaign to prevent rival casinos from opening, said witnesses, including Donald Kilgore, the tribe's attorney general.
This investigation has taken twists and turns we had not anticipated,'' said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is vice chairman of the committee.It has uncovered deceptions and greed that even by Washington standards are breathtaking.''
Some of the fees were funneled though a nonprofit tax-exempt organization, and much of the money went into Abramoff's own bank account -- unknown to the tribes or the nonprofit group. It was part of what Abramoff labeled his ``gimme five'' program, according to the e-mails and testimony.
Heightened Scrutiny
The use of nonprofit groups to fund lobbying campaigns and congressional travel has come under increased scrutiny since March. That's when the Washington Post reported that the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington-based group that witnesses today said Abramoff used to funnel at least $1 million in Choctaw money, sponsored a 2000 congressional golf trip to Scotland, which included House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Abramoff.
According to a study by the Center for Public Integrity, non- profit groups with lobbyists on their boards paid for at least 850 congressional trips worth more than $4 million between January 2000 and mid-2004.
Neither Abramoff nor Scanlon, a former aide to DeLay, were at today's hearings. A spokesman for Abramoff said the lobbyist deserved the fees he was paid by the Indian tribes.
Any fair reading of Mr. Abramoff's career would show that his clients benefited immensely from the hard work he and his team did on their behalf,'' spokesman Andrew Blum said in a statement.Mr. Abramoff hopes that those who are quick to judge him now will remember that there are two sides to every event and that the media can condemn someone before he ever has a chance to right the record.''
Blum said Abramoff can't respond to specific allegations because he's under investigation by the Justice Department.
$66 Million in Fees
Abramoff and Scanlon took in more than $66 million in fees from 2001 to 2004 from tribal clients, said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who's chairman of the committee. They directed some of those funds to congressional campaigns in a bid to win influence, according to e-mails released by the committee in two hearings held last year.
A Bloomberg News analysis of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records shows that at least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations from Abramoff, Scanlon and six Indian tribe clients between 2001 and 2004.
There are two possibilities: that Abramoff and colleagues are the sickening exception to the usual DC lobbyist rule, or that they are all too typical,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.If it's the latter, Katie, bar the door.''
Losing Money
Dorgan, McCain, representatives from the Mississippi tribe and the head of the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy Research alleged that Abramoff may have committed fraud.
In a Nov. 4, 2002, e-mail, Abramoff told Scanlon to tell Mississippi Choctaw legislative liaison Nell Rogers that the two were losing money representing the tribe. They actually spent only $1.2 million of the $7.7 million they charged the tribe for projects in 2001, according to McCain.
I think you should call her and tell her that we have turned the corner but you are pouring it on to make sure we win,'' Abramoff wrote.Tell her as of now you are finally willing to say that we will win this, but laughingly say `I don't know how I am going to get back all the money I had to dump into this.'''
Kilgore told the committee that was ``a blatant, calculated scheme to defraud a client.''
Educating the Public
In 2002, the National Center for Public Policy Research received $1 million from the Choctaws -- the largest amount of money the group had ever received, according to Amy Ridenour, the center's president.
Ridenour said today that she was told by Abramoff -- a friend of almost 22 years -- that the money was to be for a campaign to educate the public on Indian gaming.
She said he asked her to send $500,000 to Capitol Campaign Strategies, Scanlon's public-affairs firm which she was told was doing the work for the campaign. Another $450,000 was to go to Abramoff's charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation, and $50,000 to the Washington lobbying firm Nurnberger & Associates, who she was told was coordinating the campaign, she testified.
Instead, Abramoff was paying off a personal debt owed to Ralph Nurnberger, a partner in the lobbying firm, McCain said, citing testimony to the committee by Nurnberger. Abramoff told his executive assistant to make up invoices'' from the Capital Athletic Foundation and Nurnberger & Associates togive his activities the veneer of legitimacy,'' McCain said.
`I'm Appalled'
Ridenour said that another $1.25 million the center received from Abramoff's lobbying firm in 2003 was directed to the foundation and to Kaygold LLC, which she assumed was another public-affairs firm conducting the campaign. Instead, according to testimony by Gail Halpern, Abramoff's accountant, it was a corporation solely owned by Abramoff.
Frankly, I'm appalled,'' Ridenour said.It seemed perfectly consistent with our mission, and it seemed like good, legitimate work.''
The foundation used money from the Choctaws and other donors to fund a variety of pet interests of Abramoff's, McCain said. Almost 80 percent of the group's funds went to the all-boys Eshkol Academy that Abramoff set up in Maryland. The foundation also sent payments to a friend of Abramoff's who ran sniper workshops for the Israeli Defense Force.
One e-mail released by the committee today details costs for equipment needed by the sniper workshops. Abramoff's friend once suggested that he could write a letter with the workshop's logo as an ``educational entity'' when Abramoff was trying to figure out how to match the payments with the foundation's mission, McCain said, citing Abramoff's secretary.
No, don't do that,'' Abramoff replied in the e-mail.I don't want sniper letterhead.''
[url]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a9s0nfJm4uZA[/url]
washingtonpost.com Panel Says Abramoff Laundered Tribal Funds McCain Cites Possible Fraud by Lobbyist
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, June 23, 2005; A01
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff used money from a Mississippi tribal client to set up bogus Christian anti-gambling groups and to fund pet projects including gear for a "sniper school" in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to documents released yesterday by Senate investigators.
The revelations came in e-mails and testimony made public yesterday by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee at its third hearing on the activities of Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a public relations executive and former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
Abramoff, who is also at the center of a corruption investigation by the Justice Department, laundered tribal money by directing the Indians to donate to tax-exempt groups that the lobbyist later used for his own purposes, the Senate committee said. One project involved Abramoff's effort to arrange for military equipment, including night-vision goggles and a "jeep," for the sniper training conducted by a high school friend.
Aaron Stetter, a former Scanlon employee, testified that Scanlon and Abramoff sought to whip up opposition to casinos proposed by rival tribes by setting up bogus Christian phone banks. He said callers would identify themselves as members of groups such as the Christian Research Network or Global Christian Outreach Network and urge voters to contact their representatives.
Material released yesterday also appeared to undermine assertions by former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, now a candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor.
Reed has acknowledged receiving $4 million from Abramoff and Scanlon to run anti-gambling campaigns in the South. Reed has said he did not know where the funds were coming from, but e-mails suggest that he was aware that some of the money he was getting came from the casino-rich Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Other e-mails presented at the hearing -- obtained from Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP -- showed that Abramoff and his lobbying team discussed how they would "pump up" their bills and expense accounts to the Choctaws by tens of thousands of dollars a month, raising new questions about the law firm's failure to rein in the lobbyists.
The committee chairman, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said investigators had uncovered possible mail and wire fraud that should be pursued by the Justice Department, as well as tax issues that would be of concern to the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department already is looking into more than $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees Abramoff and Scanlon received from tribes around the country.
Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin did not testify, but he said in a statement that "we were astounded that a senior director at a major law firm would or could engage in misconduct of this sort . . . and that he was able to get away with it for so long."
Donald Kilgore, attorney general of the Choctaw tribe, said the firm's lobbyists engaged in "a blatant, calculated scheme to defraud a client." He said records and e-mails the tribe has reviewed show a series of kickbacks, misappropriated funds and unauthorized charges. "Mr. Abramoff consistently directed that the bills be padded and pumped up," Kilgore said.
Greenberg spokeswoman Jill Perry said that when the firm learned of Abramoff's activities more than a year ago, it demanded his resignation. "We share others' outrage at this misconduct, which is antithetical to our firm's culture and values," Perry said.
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.
Three former associates of Abramoff and Scanlon who were summoned to testify declined to do so, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. They included former Greenberg lobbyist Kevin Ring, who continues to represent the Choctaw tribe as a lobbyist, and Shawn Vasell, who like Ring was a congressional aide before joining Abramoff's lobbying team.
A third former associate, Brian Mann, was a director of the American International Center, a foundation set up by Scanlon in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Money from tribes and other clients passed through the AIC and was paid to Reed as well as to Abramoff and Greenberg Traurig.
Mann, a yoga instructor, was a director of the AIC, along with former lifeguard Brian Grosh, a longtime beach buddy of Scanlon's. The AIC described itself on its Web site as "a premiere international think tank," that was "determined to influence global paradigms in an increasingly complex world."
Grosh told the panel that Scanlon asked him to serve as a director of the AIC and paid him $2,500. "I'm embarrassed and disgusted to be part of this whole thing," he testified, saying he did not know much about the AIC's financial activities.
Asked about the e-mails released yesterday, Reed reiterated in an interview that the money he received for his anti-gambling activities did not come from gambling proceeds. He said that he has always acknowledged receiving money from the Choctaws but asked the tribe to assure him that the funds sent to him would not come from the casino.
"The assurance I sought was that the money did not come from gambling activity," Reed said. "And that assurance was honored."
In September, however, Reed's office provided a different explanation. "We knew that Greenberg Traurig was recruiting coalition members [for the anti-gambling effort] and raising funds as well, but we had no direct knowledge of their clients or interests," the office said in a statement. "At no time were we retained by nor did we represent any casino or casino company."
E-mails released yesterday indicated that Reed did know the name of the client. OnApril 4, 1999, Abramoff told Reed to put together a cost plan for the campaign, "including a total budget figure with category breakdowns." He added: "Once I get this I will call Nell at Choctaw and get it approved."
In subsequent e-mails, Abramoff and Reed discuss how Reed would be reimbursed by the Choctaws through Abramoff's firm, and Americans for Tax Reform, a group founded by conservative activist Grover Norquist.
Yesterday, Reed's office said his comments yesterday and the September statement were not inconsistent.
The "Nell" referred to in the April 4 e-mail is Nell Rogers, who had been the Choctaws' main contact with Abramoff. Called to testify yesterday, she told the committee the tribe knew that Abramoff and Scanlon were using "intermediaries" such as the American International Center to pay for the anti-gambling campaigns.
"I am sure there probably were concerns -- or public perception concerns -- about some of the recipients, about not being associated with a tribe or with a gaming tribe," she said.
Abramoff, Norquist and Reed have been political allies since their days as leaders of the College Republicans. Reed and Abramoff appear to have set up a business arrangement as Reed wound down from the 1998 election cycle. Responding to a query from Abramoff about how candidates he supported had done, Reed wrote: "Hey, now that I'm done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts."
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.
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?"
Said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.): " 'Gimme five' means 'I'll take a cut of this.' " "I'm past anger and bitterness," Rogers, the Choctaw official who had worked most closely with Abramoff, told the committee. "It is an extraordinary story of betrayal."
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062200921_pf.html[/url]
2005-06-23 22:13 | User Profile
Wow. How far things have degenerated....
2005-06-23 22:38 | User Profile
[IMG]http://www.nintendorks.com/chris/archives/singletear.PNG[/IMG]
Keep America beautiful. Put Jews in the trash.
2005-06-23 23:50 | User Profile
This has been posted further down on this page:
[url]http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18774[/url]
2005-06-24 01:03 | User Profile
[size=3]Fund-Raising: Take It to the (West) Bank[/size] Money meant for the inner city went to fight the intifada. What donors to Jack Abramoff's charity didn't know. [url="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7615249/site/newsweek/"]http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7615249/site/newsweek/[/url]
[img]http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Sections/Newsweek/Components/Photos/Mag/050502_Issue/050423_Delayabramoff_hu.hmedium.jpg[/img] [font=Courier New][size=1]Jack Abramoff, (right) with his attorney, testifies before the Senate in 2004[/size][/font]
2005-06-24 02:10 | User Profile
It looks like Mr. Abramoff used some of his ill gotten lucre for some serious cosmetic surgery.
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[url]http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1078368959883[/url]
[url]http://www.law.com/images/128_pics/abramoff_jack.jpg[/url]
[IMG]http://www.law.com/images/128 pics/abramoff jack.jpg[/IMG]
Compare this pic to the one Albion just posted, perhaps the one I found is not the right person?
2005-06-24 03:07 | User Profile
Compare this zhid to one specimen in "Der Ewige Jude":
[img]http://www.holocaust-history.org/der-ewige-jude/images/frame26.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.law.com/images/128_pics/abramoff_jack.jpg[/img]
2005-07-18 16:19 | User Profile
When all else fails, you can always become 'a pious Jew' and move to the holy land.
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[url]http://www.nationalvanguard.org/printer.php?id=5497[/url]
[url]http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/071305/abramoff.html[/url]
July 13, 2005 Abramoff duo quits U.S. By Josephine Hearn
Two former associates of Jack Abramoff, the embattled lobbyist, left the country Monday night en route to a new life in Israel. The relocation comes as a Justice Department taskforce presses forward with an investigation into potential criminal wrongdoing stemming from Abramoffââ¬â¢s business dealings.
Sam Hook and his wife Shana Tesler both worked with Abramoff at the law firm, Greenberg Traurig. Hook served as the registered agent for Grassroots Interactive, a lobbying venture tied to Abramoff that has reportedly been subpoenaed by the Justice Department taskforce.
Tesler, a lawyer, worked with Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig and then followed him to the lobbying firm, Cassidy & Associates, after he was ousted from Greenberg following news reports of his questionable dealings with Indian gaming tribes.
Abramoff and public affairs consultant Michael Scanlon are the target of the Justice Department probe and two Senate investigations into allegations that they bilked tribes out of more than $60 million. A federal grand jury has been convened to consider possible criminal charges in the matter.
Like Abramoff, Hook and Tesler are both Orthodox Jews. They have been planning for some time to move their family to Israel, said their attorney Alyza Lewin at Lewin & Lewin.
ââ¬ÅPursuant to longstanding plans that predate any investigation, Shana Tesler and Sam Hook have relocated to Israelââ¬Â¦One thing had nothing to do with the other,ââ¬Â Lewin said.
Former White House counsel Lanny Davis said that the pairââ¬â¢s relocation could hamper the Justice Department investigation because it would be harder to enforce subpoenas abroad.
ââ¬ÅWhether you are able to enforce a subpoena in a foreign country depends upon specific treaty commitments,ââ¬Â Davis said, ââ¬Åbut in general the answer is noââ¬Â¦ Even if you could try to enforce it through a treaty, it would be extremely difficult.ââ¬Â
E. Lawrence Barcella, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said, ââ¬ÅIf theyââ¬â¢ve already testified in the grand jury, if the government already has the evidence it needs or has made agreements with them, it may not affect it at all. On the other hand, if [the government] charges them, [it] would go through extradition proceedings with Israel,ââ¬Â Barcella said, ââ¬ÅIt could complicate what [the government] is doing but it wouldnââ¬â¢t condemn anything.ââ¬Â
Lewin said that Hook and Tesler had been cooperating with the investigation and would continue to respond whenever needed. The two are not Israeli citizens.
ââ¬ÅTheyââ¬â¢ll still be able to be reached. They have every intention to continue to cooperate,ââ¬Â Lewin said.
Lewin said Hook had only a minor role in Grassroots Interactive (GRI).
ââ¬ÅMr. Abramoff asked Mr. Hook to administer GRI on an interim basis but Mr. Abramoff solely controlled GRI. Any actions Mr. Hook took on behalf of GRI including any payments made by GRI were made pursuant to the specific instruction of Mr. Abramoff,ââ¬Â Lewin said.
Documents released last month by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing showed that GRI had written a check for $25,000 to an associate of Abramoff.
GRI was created in March 2003 by Edward Miller, who was then a lawyer at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and is now a senior aide to Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R). In September 2003, Hook took over the administration of Grassroots until Abramoffââ¬â¢s ouster from Greenberg Traurig in March 2004.
Hook originally came to Greenberg Traurig after having worked at Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm that is now defunct.
Tesler held several positions in the Clinton White House before joining Greenberg Traurig in 2000. She went to Cassidy & Associates in March 2004 but left at yearââ¬â¢s end to found a two-person law firm, VHT Law, with another former Greenberg Traurig attorney, John van Horne. Like Hook, Tesler and Abramoff, van Horne left Greenberg Traurig in March 2004, said two sources with knowledge of the firm.
Greenberg Traurig refused to comment on when former employees had left the firm.
Van Horne was subpoenaed last fall by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in its ongoing investigation of Abramoff.
At a November hearing, former Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) expressed frustration with van Horneââ¬â¢s lack of response to the subpoena.
ââ¬ÅThereââ¬â¢s another person who I believe rather flouted the authority of this committee. That person is John van Horne, who was served with a document subpoena that was due on October 5th. To this date, the committee has not received the documents called for under the subpoena, nor an explanation for his non-compliance,ââ¬Â Campbell said.It was unclear at press time whether that situation had been resolved.
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BTW-This story seems to be covered rather well at this site:
[url]http://www.hillnews.com/[/url]