Abramoff connections to the White House intensify

The connections between disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the Bush White House were, not too long ago, relatively weak. Abramoff had established far more meaningful ties to congressional Republicans, most notably Tom DeLay, but the Bush gang could take some solace in the fact that the administration had not been caught up in Abramoff’s corrupt web.

At least, that was the case up until recently.

This fall, the Bush-Abramoff connections have not only surfaced, they’ve multiplied. In September, David Safavian, the Bush administration’s top federal procurement official, was arrested for his role in doing secret favors for Abramoff, who just happened to be his former employer. We also saw Tyco executive Timothy Flanigan withdraw from consideration to be Bush’s Deputy Attorney General after the Senate learned that Abramoff had done lobbying work for Flanigan. The links intensified when the Senate learned about Abramoff’s work with former Deputy Secretary of the Interior Steven Griles.

And today the New York Times moves the Abramoff story even closer still to the president.

The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.

The African leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, met with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004, 10 months after Mr. Abramoff made the offer.

To be sure, as the NYT notes, there’s no evidence that Abramoff organized the meeting or was paid by Gabon. But Abramoff at least claimed to have the clout and connections to make the meeting happen.

The documents also show that Mr. Abramoff and his colleagues drew up a draft contract that called for $9 million in fees to be paid to GrassRoots Interactive, the small Maryland lobbying company that his former colleagues say he controlled. […]

In a draft agreement with Gabon dated Aug. 7, 2003, Mr. Abramoff and his associates asked that $9 million in lobbying fees be paid through wire transfers – three of them, each for $3 million – to GrassRoots instead of the Washington offices of Greenberg Traurig, the large lobbying firm where he did most of his work. The agreement promised a “public relations effort related to promoting Gabon and securing a visit for President Bongo with the president of the United States.”

Uber-activist Paul Weyrich told the LA Times two weeks ago, “I’ve been talking to some [Republican] members who are scared to death” by the Abramoff affair, adding, “That one has the potential for blowing into something far larger.” Something to keep in mind.

Late last Friday afternoon, Ellen Miller at the TPM Cafe was looking for Jack Abramoff’s Capital Athletic Foundation’s 2003 IRS return on Form 990. My wonderful library stays open late on Friday so I went and got the 2003, 2002 and 2001 990s. I posted most of the info on the TPM Cafe website:

http://auctionhouse.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/11/4/114556/020

I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I got from finding the information myself. A 9/28/04 Washington Post story already covered a lot of the information from the 990s but I only read the story yesterday.

Abramoff’s foundation gave Tom DeLay’s foundation $25,000 in 2003.

In 2003, Abramoff donated $47,981 Kaygold LLC, an entity he controlled and pulled out $251,242 through Beis Avrohom Chaim, another Abramoff-controlled entity. That the amounts were not rounded suggests, in this former auditor’s mind anyway, that they were for specific purposes.

I don’t know anything about the National Center for Public Policy Research but if had donated to it, I would want to know why the Center gave 5% of its operating expenses in 2003 and 2002 to Jack Abramoff’s “charity”. The amounts total $700,000.

One of the donors listed on the 2003 990 is IIA, Asia House, 4 Weisman Street, Tel Aviv, Israel 64239. IIA gave $500,000. According to the Washington Post, IIA is International Interactive Alliance, an internet gambling company. I found other information on the internet that indicated IIA is a Gibraltar corporation. What was IIA buying?

In 2003, Abramoff in his own name, donated $400,000. Did Abramoff wash cash from the Sun Cruz gambling cruise company through the foundation.

In 2002, Abramoff donated $991,749 in his own name. Again, he could be laundering cash from Sun Cruz through the foundation and the specificity of the amount might indicate that it was earmarked for one purpose.

In 2002, S.P.I. Spirits (Cyprus) Limited donated $25,000. Uri Shefler, a Russian owns SPI, is (was) battling the Russian government over who owns the rights to Stolichnaya vodka and its trademark names. I found a story from one of the indy websites, sandiego.indymedia.org, about one Ronald Fino, a “former labor leader”, who was helping the Russian government. I wonder if Mr. Fino knows that SPI appears to have paid some kind of bribe. The $25,000 payment might help the Russian case in court.

Debra and Jacob Frenkel of Silver Spring, Maryland donated a total of $14,400 between 2002 and 2001. Through Google, I found two Jacob Frenkels. One is a former SEC attorney and the other was formerly with Merrill Lynch and the Bank of Israel. The donations may have been perfectly legitimate but we are talking Jack Abramoff here. Both Jacob Frenkels could have had reasons other than being charitable to give to the Capital Athletic Foundation.

The Choctaw Indians of Mississippi gave $1,000,000 in 2002 and the Coushatta Indians of Louisiana gve $1,000,00 in 2001. An entity named the Alabama-Coushatta Entertainment Center of Livingston, Texas gave $50,000 in 2002. The Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Mount Pleasant, Michigan gave $25,000 in 2002 (The 990 incorrectly listed Mount Pleasant as being in NY).

In 2002, Foxcom Wireless donated $50,000. Foxcom, an Israeli telecom, since changed its name to MobileAccess Networks. Foxcom won the contract to provide wireless service to Congress and the $50,000 may have been part of a bribe. Ellen Miller has a link to a related NY Times story in her TPM Cafe post.

Atlantic Research & Analysis gave $950,000 in 2003. Atlantic is a consulting firm owned by Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s former business partner.

Sony Electronics gave Abramoff’s foundation $6,000 in 2003.

Chevy Chase Bank in Laurel Maryland gave $10,000 in 2002.

If I were investigating Jack Abramoff, I’d check to see how the religious foundations and schools spent the money that he donated to them. In NYC, the US Attorney for the Eastern District in Brooklyn is investigating the Jacobs (Jacobwitz) family for fraud, arson and bribery in connection with the bankruptcy of Allou Healthcare, a publicly traded company. The Jacobs are Hassidics and are suspected of laundering money through Hassidic religious and educational entities.

As an aside, I personally worked briefly on a criminal bankruptcy case involving another Hassidic family from Brooklyn. I know that not all Hassidics are crooks, far from it, but the Hassidics do not pay their fair share of taxes. They deal in cash to the point of paying cash for baby deliveries. The Hassidics believe in large families which is fine with me but if they want schools built for them in upstate NY by NYC, they should pay their taxes.

That said, Abramoff’s foundation gave $300,000 in 2002 to P’Tach, an educational organization in NYC.

I think 990s might be an untapped source of information for the amateur sleuth. My library can afford to pay for a foundation database so I am fortunate enough to get 990 informaton free. I certainly enjoyed looking up information about Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff!