← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Blond Knight
Thread ID: 19580 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2005-08-11
2005-08-11 21:17 | User Profile
Sorry Jack, seems you waited a bit too long to get your one way ticket to Israel.
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[url]http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12358861.htm[/url]
Posted on Thu, Aug. 11, 2005
Feds indict lobbyist and N.Y. businessman on fraud charges
BY JAY WEAVER AND WANDA J. DeMARZO
Miami Herald
FBI agents were seeking to arrest a once-powerful Washington, D.C., lobbyist on Thursday after a Fort Lauderdale federal grand jury charged him and a New York businessman with scheming to defraud two lenders in a $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos.
Agents were to take Republican insider Jack Abramoff into custody on Thursday afternoon in the Baltimore area. His partner in the controversial 2000 SunCruz acquisition, Adam Kidan, was expected to surrender to authorities, according to sources familiar with the probe.
The South Florida indictment charging the duo with defrauding $60 million from two lenders that financed the sale instantly rocked the nation's corridors of power. Indeed, rumors of their imminent arrests circulated during the past week.
Abramoff has been a target of a separate Washington federal probe into millions of dollars in fees that he and a lobbyist partner raked in from Indian tribes that own casinos.
The embattled lobbyist-lawyer has also come under intense scrutiny for his fundraising and other political activities on behalf of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, of Texas, who himself is under attack by Democrats for alleged unethical conduct.
According to federal court records, Abramoff, 40, is accused of using some of SunCruz's income to subsidize his fundraising endeavors, including paying for private boxes at FedEx Field, MCI Center and Oriole Park at Camden Yards to entertain major GOP donors and politicians.
The Fort Lauderdale bank-fraud indictment represents only one of several potential legal serious legal problems for Abramoff and Kidan that stretch from South Florida to the Northeast.
Police have also been questioning them about the gangland-style hit on Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis, the rag-to-riches Greek immigrant who sold his fleet of casino ships to the Kidan-led group in September 2000.
Boulis, 51, was gunned down in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 6, 2001. Police have not charged anybody in the homicide investigation.
The sale of SunCruz -- the floating-gambling empire that sank into bankruptcy nine months after the deal -- is at the core of the bank-fraud charges, according to the new indictment and a separate federal lawsuit filed last year in Fort Lauerdale.
Boulis was forced to sell SunCruz in 1999 after federal prosecutors reached a settlement with him on charges of violating the Shipping Act because he purchased his fleet without being a U.S. citizen. Facing a 36-month deadline, Boulis turned to his maritime lawyer in Washington, D.C., who was partners with Abramoff. The power broker set out to find a buyer for Boulis.
Enter Kidan: The 36-year-old New York businessman had known Abramoff for years as Republican activists and had just sold his Dial-a-Mattress franchise in Washington. Kidan was looking for a new investment opportunity.
Abramoff and Kidan would soon become partners in a bid to buy Boulis' business.
But the pair had a problem: securing a loan to seal the deal.
They contacted Foothill Capital, Inc., a California-based unit of Wells Fargo & Co. A second lender, Citadel Equity Fund, Ltd., based in the Cayman Islands, joined Foothill in the financing plan.
According to court records, this is how the SunCruz loan got bungled:
The two lenders agreed to put up $60 million in financing, as long as the business partners guaranteed the loans and invested $23 million of their own money. Also, Boulis agreed to accept promissory notes from Kidan and Abramoff the balance of the sale and keep a 10 percent interest in SunCruz.
But at the September 2000 closing in New York, the lenders allege that Kidan and Abramoff -- as well as SunCruz representatives -- hoodwinked them into believing that the partners had transferred their $23 million to Boulis.
When the lenders demanded proof, both Kidan and SunCruz partner Ben Waldman each sent a Foothill executive faxed copies of a ''wire transfer'' record that purportedly documented the $23 million transfer on the last day of the closing.
The notification, dated Sept. 22, 2000, stated that $23 million had been sent ''by order of Adam Kidan'' from his Chevy Chase Savings Bank to Boulis' Ocean Bank.
Foothill alleged the document was a fraud -- that Kidan's account had already been closed before the purported transfer.
Abramoff, in a counter claim, said Kidan had lied to him about the transfer and that he wasn't not present at the closing.
In the separate civil suit, Foothill and Citadel dropped Abramoff as a defendant in the suit in June. Waldman agreed to pay $450,000 settle. The lenders are still seeking to recover millions of dollars from Kidan.
2005-08-11 21:45 | User Profile
Some info on Adam Kidan:
[url]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=5&url=http%3A//www.gwu.edu/%7Emedia/pressreleases/kidan.cfm&ei=6cT7Qpq9Ho3IigGVzt04[/url]
Prior to his ownership of Dial-A-Mattress, Adam Kidan was managing partner of a New York City law firm where he specialized in corporate matters.[B] Also [/B][B]while in New York, he owned a chain of bagel stores.[/B] Prior to practicing law, he was appointed president of the Four Freedoms Foundation, where he organized economic development programs for Eastern Europe and developed fundraising programs.
Kidan currently serves on the board of directors of the Laurel Regional Hospital Foundation and Greater D.C. Cares and on the Women's Issues Leadership Committee of the Washington Hospital Center.[B] He is also a member of the board of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, [/B][B]Greater Washington [/B[B]]Urban League[/B] and chairman of the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee.
Also;
[url]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A//www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050105E.shtml&ei=6cT7Qpq9Ho3IigGVzt04[/url]
2005-08-13 18:41 | User Profile
Poor Jack was a bit slow off the mark. Two of his accomplices have already made a clean getaway in the nick of time:
[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.
full article: hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/071305/abramoff.html
2005-08-13 19:08 | User Profile
[QUOTE]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.[/QUOTE] Sure they were, as soon as they had looted these tribes to their full potential.
I bet the Bush Administration, backed up by "conservative talk radio" will be raising hell about this. [sarcasm] :yucky:
2005-08-19 12:53 | User Profile
Move? Relocate? Why not "fugitive from justice"? Newsweek is walking very gingerly around the fact that this practice of "relocation" to Israel is being used more and more, and not just in potential capital cases.
[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8941526/site/newsweek/[/url]
Abramoff: More Trouble Ahead?
Dennis Cook / AP Arrested: Lobbyist Abramoff (right) faces fraud charges
Newsweek Aug. 22, 2005 issue - The Justice Department played hardball last week with former superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, in part because of concerns he might flee to Israel. Hours before Abramoff was indicted on fraud charges in Miami last Thursday, FBI agents tried to arrest him at his Maryland home. But he'd already left for Los Angeles. Agents tracked him down on his cell phone and ordered him to surrender to the local FBI office. When Abramoff did, later that day, he was handcuffed, thrown into jail, then released last Friday on a $2.2 million bond.
Abramoff's treatment contrasted with that given his codefendant, Adam Kidan, who was allowed to show up in court on his own. A senior Justice official says one reason was that some of Abramoff's friends and former colleagues have moved to Israel. "There was concern he could relocate to another country," says the official, who asked not to be identified because the matter involves a pending case. Neal Sonnett, Abramoff's lawyer, called the Feds' tactics "mean-spirited," and says his client is fully ready to show up in court to refute the charges, which involve an allegedly phony $23 million wire transfer to buy a fleet of casino boats.
Another possible reason for the Feds' stance: to pressure Abramoff to cooperate in a broader, D.C.-based probe that could touch members of Congress and Bush administration officials. The probe centers on tens of millions in allegedly inflated lobbying fees Abramoff collected from Indian gaming tribes. But that's not all that's under scrutiny. A lawyer for another client, Tyco International, tells NEWSWEEK that it's turned over to Justice evidence alleging Abramoff defrauded it with a lobbying campaign against legislation to bar federal contracts to U.S. companies, like Tyco, headquartered in overseas tax havens. Tyco, based in Bermuda, paid $1.7 million to Abramoff's firm in 2003 and 2004ââ¬âplus $1.5 million for a "grass roots" campaign to gin up opposition to the effort among Tyco's domestic suppliers. The Tyco official who hired Abramoff is the firm's general counsel, Tim Flanigan, a former White House lawyer nominated by President Bush for deputy attorney general. Tyco lawyer George Terwilliger says the firm "was a victim of a rip-off." Abramoff, he says, recommended the $1.5 million be paid to Grassroots Interactive, a group that allegedly did little work and later diverted funds for other purposes. Grassroots is "controlled" by Abramoff, says Nathan Lewin, a lawyer for Tyco's registered agent. Abramoff's former law firm has agreed "in principle" to repay the $1.5 million, says a source close to Tyco who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Abramoff, who raised more than $100,000 for Bush's re-election, allegedly told Flanigan he'd lobby White House aide Karl Rove on behalf of Tyco, says the source close to the company. Rove, whose secretary formerly worked for Abramoff, has "never spoken to [Abramoff] about any of his clients," says a White House spokeswoman. An Abramoff spokesman and his former law firm declined to comment.
ââ¬âMichael Isikoff
2005-08-19 13:28 | User Profile
Weisbrot,
Isn't this the same Tyco that also ripped off some folks?
2005-08-19 14:09 | User Profile
[QUOTE]Isn't this the same Tyco that also ripped off some folks?[/QUOTE]
The very one.
Below, info on the above-mentioned Abramoff-linked aide. Convergence, eh?
[url]http://rawstory.com/news/2005/ROVE_AIDE_CALLED_TO_TESTIFY_TOOK_HIS_MESS_0802.html[/url] ROVE AIDE CALLED TO TESTIFY TOOK HIS MESSAGES John Byrne
A former senior aide to Bush adviser Karl Rove who reportedly gave testimony to a grand jury investigating the leaking of a CIA agent's identity answered phones and took Rove's messages, RAW STORY has discovered.
According to a 2004 Salon piece, she also had a role with one of conservative Washington's leading men, Grover Norquist, in which she took messages for Rove and called Norquist to screen callers.
"For two years, the assistant who answered Rove's phone was a woman who had previously worked for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Norquist's and a top DeLay fundraiser," Salon reported. "One Republican lobbyist, who asked not to be named because DeLay and Rove have the power to ruin his livelihood, said the way Rove's office worked was this: 'Susan took a message for Rove, and then called Grover to ask if she should put the caller through to Rove. If Grover didn't approve, your call didn't go through.'"
The Washington Monthly added, soon thereafter:
"Speaking of phones and doorkeepers, it's widely understood that to have real influence in Washington, one must be on good terms, not so much with Cabinet secretaries, as with White House secretaries--that is, the assistants who sit in the outer offices of the president's senior advisors. As with much else in this town, uber-lobbyist/anti-tax activist Grover Norquist seems to understand this rule as well as anybody. Norquist had a deal with Susan Ralston, who until recently was the assistant to Karl Rove. An unnamed Republican lobbyist recently told Salon.com: "Susan took a message for Rove, and then called Grover to ask if she should put the caller through to Rove. If Grover didn't approve, your call didn't go through."
How did Norquist attain such influence over Ralston? Flowers every Friday? Redskins tickets? The answer, actually, is what the White House ethics lawyers call a "preexisting relationship." Ralston had formerly worked for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Norquist's and a top fundraiser for House majority whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas).
Ralston has since left the pressure cooker White House job for possibly the most isolated island in Washington. She is now executive assistant to Eddy R. Badrina, the senior advisor of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."