by Damozel | Judge Ellen S. Huvele said that Abramoff had engaged in "a consistent course of corrupt conduct." (NYT)
Judge Ellen S. Huvelle of Federal District Court here ordered that Mr. Abramoff serve the time for corruption and tax offenses uncovered by an influence-peddling investigation that touched Republican leaders in Congress and midlevel officials in the Bush administration, among others.(NYT)
His sentence was less than the usual 11 years due to his "extensive cooperation."
This is rather sad:
Mr. Abramoff, who came to symbolize an out-of-control, even brazen style of courting government officials, told Judge Huvelle he had since realized how far he had stepped over the bounds of what was permissible. Wearing a worn brown T-shirt, pants with an elastic waistband and a Jewish skullcap, he apologized profusely and in a quavering voice said he was begging for mercy. “I have fallen into an abyss,” he said. “My name is the butt of a joke.”(NYT)
Poor man...though I know he doesn't really deserve my pity. The people he defrauded certainly didn't feel he deserved any:
Bernie Sprague, who had been a member of the tribal council of the Saginaw Chippewa in Michigan, said Mr. Abramoff had defrauded his tribe out of millions of dollars. Records produced at a Senate hearing showed that Mr. Abramoff had persuaded the tribe to donate to several political figures, including Mr. DeLay.
“Families and children suffered much pain because of this man,” Mr. Sprague said, pointing to Mr. Abramoff. He said that Mr. Abramoff had left a “dark stain” across the entire Indian nation, adding, “Thank you, Jack!”(NYT)
Even so, the sentence took into account both the help he's given in tracking down corruption and his own plea for mercy:
In 3,000 hours of interviews with the FBI, he gave information leading to the conviction of a string of lawmakers and high-profile political figures, including one member of Congress....
He said that much of the activity of Washington "lives in the loopholes" but that he had "blundered farther than even those excesses would allow"....
Abramoff's current jail term relates to the faking of a wire transfer to obtain loans to buy a fleet of casino boats.
(BBC News)
Those who wish for a refresher, Bill Moyers developed "an incredibly in-depth and definitive special called Capitol Crimes." (Crooks and Liars)
Albert "Jack" Stanley, a former chief executive for KBR entered a guilty plea for "conspiring in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials in return for engineering and construction contracts." (HuffPost)
As CEO of Houston-based KBR, Stanley headed a subsidiary within Halliburton Co., the oilfield services conglomerate whose chief executive from 1995 to 2000 was Vice President Dick Cheney.
Stanley also pleaded guilty to a separate count of conspiring to defraud KBR and others, admitting to receiving $10.8 million in kickbacks from a consultant hired by the company at his behest....
The government said the seven-year term is the longest sentence to date against an individual in a case involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it unlawful to bribe foreign government officials or company executives to obtain or retain business (HuffPost).
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