Abramoff sentenced in Florida

March 29, 2006

[tag]Jack Abramoff[/tag] is going to jail, but thanks to his cooperation in the federal [tag]corruption[/tag] investigation, his sentence in Florida was the minimum penalty.

Jack A. Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist at the center of a major corruption scandal, was sentenced in Miami today to five years and 10 months in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise ships. An associate received the same sentence.

U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck sentenced [tag]Abramoff[/tag], 47, and his former partner, Adam R. [tag]Kidan[/tag], 41, after considering their pleas for the shortest possible prison terms. Each laid most of the blame on the other for the scam, in which they faked a $23 million wire transfer to obtain financing for the 2000 purchase of SunCruz Casinos from an owner who was later shot to death in a gangland-style hit.

Abramoff and Kidan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in the case. Each had faced a minimum of five years and 10 months in federal prison and a maximum of seven years and three months under sentencing guidelines associated with their plea agreements.

The judge opted today for the minimum. But Abramoff faces the prospect of at least a few additional years in prison when he is sentenced in a separate case in Washington, D.C.

The DC case is, for political purposes, the more compelling controversy, particularly as we wait to see a) who all is implicated; and b) what happens to them. Abramoff will face up to 11 years in prison in DC, but, as the WaPo noted, “Abramoff’s attorneys and federal prosecutors agreed that his eventual sentence from that case would run concurrently with the sentence handed down in Miami.”

I think Jack should be sentenced to community service and provide nursing care for young Native-Americans suffering from the effects of poverty and inhalant abuse. Maybe then he’d understand why he should not be stealing from these people.

  • Who will Jack take up the river with him…..That is what I want to know.

    I suppose he gets to go to Minimum Security Federal Prison where he is forced to fix his own mint julips and play tennis outside in the hot Florida sun forgoing the comfort of his air-conditioned tennis dome. I’m feeling really sorry for him now.

  • What about “he didn’t kill anybody. Except maybe that guy in Florida.”

    When those Mafiosi who killed Boulis start singing about who hired them, to avoid Old Sparky, Abramoff is going to finally get the sentence he deserves: bye-bye jerkoff.

  • The lighter the sentence Abramoff gets, the bigger the fish the prosecutors are going after. If Abramoff was the top dog in the case, they would have thrown the book at him. Instead he gets minimum sentences that run concurrently, and there is the possibility of future reductions in his sentence if he continues to cooperate.

    Booyah! (rubs hands gleefully together)

  • I was astonished by all the people writing in saying ‘Oh, despite all that ‘illegal’ stuff he’s still a great dad’. Oddly my kids would probably think that a ‘great’ dad would be one actually in the house…

  • “Abramoff’s attorneys and federal prosecutors agreed that his eventual sentence from that case would run concurrently with the sentence handed down in Miami.”

    Is this a done deal? So if he only rats out on some low level players in congress (and none in the White House) he still gets concurrent sentences? That’s outrageous.

  • This is BIG put those typical Repugs behind bars actually i think a trip to Guantanamo would be most apprepo… and take that lying scumbag Duke the Crook Cunningham with…
    i’m also looking to see if there is anyone who can help me uncover the lying thief trator Cunninghams war record. I sooooooooo do not believe there is much chance of him being a hero on any level and i suspect the lying began long ago … like trying to buff himself up at every opportunity… E me if you know how or where to start. i had thought Nancy’s Pelosi’s daughters’ ppl were going to get on this when i spoke with Christina about it at the DNC convention in Phoenix last Dec.

  • In fact there is lots of evidence that Duke the Crook was a liar back on May 10, 1972. Let’s start with the fact there never was a “Colonel Tomb” in the VNAF – the “ace of aces” who was supposedly Duke’s 5th victory. No North Vietnamese scored more than 8 victories, certainly not the 13 “Tomb” supposedly had. Additionally, while around 95% of USAF/USN air-to-air claims from the war have been verified in the NVAF loss records, there is no loss for a MiG-17 that day in Vietnam – this also puts at question at least one of Duke’s other claims that day, also a MiG-17 and an airplane not easily mistaken for either a MiG-19 or MiG-21. Put all that together with the fact that Willie Driscoll – Duke’s backseater – has never publicly spoken about the deadly dogfights they were in that day.

    Allegedly, he was hit by a SAM at the conclusion of the 5th fight, which put the airplane on fire and resulted in the two of them leaving the airplane once they were over the Gulf of Tonkin and could be rescued. Lots of fellow naval aviators think the moron ran himself out of gas and then started the fire (easy enough if you’re clumsy) in a botched air-start attempt.

    Funny thing, before he made ace, Duke was on his way out of the Navy under a cloud for having broken in to the CO’s locked office and opening his locked desk to see a fitness report that was going to end his career with three low ones in a row. Then he makes “ace” and the Navy can’t throw him out for being a moron, despite the fact everyone knows he is. So they just never promoted him past O-5, which is really suprising in a service where any young officer who does something outstanding can make Admiral so long as he keeps his alcoholism private and his public nose clean professionally.

    Go here http://dukecunningham.org/ and go to the comments section where his fellow Naval Aviators comment about him.

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