Word: abramoff
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INDICTED. JACK ABRAMOFF, 40, a top Republican lobbyist enmeshed in ethics investigations of his close friend, House majority leader Tom DeLay; on unrelated charges of defrauding lenders in the $147.5 million purchase of a casino cruise line in Florida five years ago; in Fort Lauderdale...
...controversial super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff create a popular Washington restaurant just to make friends and influence people? Signatures, his gourmet trattoria on Pennsylvania Avenue, was renowned as a high-class feeding trough for politicians. Indeed, as Capitol Hill circulates a purported comp list from Signatures that includes eight Congressmen, TIME has obtained an e-mail showing that Abramoff offered a complimentary meal to a longtime ally who, like him, is in a lot of ethical hot water these days. His message, headed "Tom and Christine DeLay" and addressed to restaurant staff, is dated May 2, 2002, when Tom was House...
...find no record that this meal took place," a DeLay representative told TIME. "All restaurants comp patrons, and Signatures is no different," says a spokesman for Abramoff. Reps for both men note that House rules allow old friends to pick up dinner tabs. Confidential financial records examined by TIME show that Abramoff's eatery gave out meals worth only about 7% of its revenues--just above the national average of about 5%. But because his lobbying drew FBI and congressional scrutiny earlier this year, patrons have stayed away. As a result, restaurant-industry sources tell TIME, Abramoff is close...
...organization has begun an investigation and that Reed's lawyers are cooperating. The Choctaws last week supported Reed's claim that none of the money paid to oppose the lottery came from gambling profits. Reed's Republican-primary opponent, state senator Casey Cagle, has made Reed's association with Abramoff a campaign issue. "We were working to shut down a gambling casino, and I make no apologies," Reed told TIME in March...
What of the friendship among the three men? In 2002 Abramoff came to see Reed as competition and cut him off the Choctaw gravy train. "He is a bad version of us! No more money for him," Abramoff wrote Scanlon. Norquist was still standing by Abramoff last week, in a way. "I've known Jack for a long time," he said. "He's never approached me for anything improper. But we have led very different lives over the last 20 years." --With reporting by Greg Fulton and Greg Land/Atlanta and Viveca Novak/ Washington