Last sentence handed down in Abramoff probe

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Last sentence handed down in Abramoff probe
Associated Press | Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2012 2:22 am

Tony Rudy was among the first people to plead guilty in the long-running probe of influence peddling tied to Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On Friday, the former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay was the last person sentenced in an investigation that focused on Congress, racked up 21 convictions, yet netted only one lawmaker.

Rudy's cooperation over the past six years helped win convictions of 18 people, but U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle still gave Rudy a sentence of five months in a halfway house and three years of probation for his role in conspiring with Abramoff and others to accept a stream of gifts when Rudy was a staffer and to offer gifts to public officials when he became a lobbyist _ all in exchange for legislative favors.

Team Abramoff's brazen behavior included lavish foreign trips for public officials, as well as frequent meals and tickets to sporting events. All the while, Abramoff and his coterie of former congressional aides were grossly overbilling their Indian tribe clients and secretly lobbying against them in order to create more need for lobbying services.

Abramoff spent 3 1/2 years in federal prison for his crimes. His crimes have long since been depicted in a documentary movie and a Hollywood release, with actor Kevin Spacey playing Abramoff.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/last-sentence-handed-down-in-abramoff-probe/article_67e4aaf7-20bd-53d2-854d-d97f4c731a8f.html#ixzz1sfBaB0wW

[sofa king]

1. Eh, they got away scot free.

No conviction for the murder of Gus Boulis.

No conviction for the Brooks Brothers Riot.

No conviction for using gambling revenue to support Republican election-thieves in Florida.

No conviction for the 9/11 terrorists showing up on Jack's casino boat a week before the attacks, on the day al Qaeda directed them to return their remaining funds back to al Qaeda.

No conviction for participating in international terrorism by secretly funding a sniper school in Israel.

No conviction for a dozen Republican Members of Congress who are known to have participated in Abramoff's trips, grifts, and scams, supported his legislation, backed his illegal operations, and successfully protected themselves afterward.

I used to be more bitter about this than I am now, once I realized that there must be literally dozens or hundreds of former Bush Administration officials and Republican Members of Congress who can and will sink the GOP forever with some choice revelations about what really went on.

Every one of those co-conspirators has to be pampered and coddled to keep them quiet, and in coming years I think we'll see the majority of them die early and unexpected deaths, since there is no statute of limitations on several of the things Team Abramoff did.

So we've got that going for us.

[UpInArms]

2. well said

Wish I could recommend this post

Wish I weren't so tired and bitter

[mopinko]

8. ++++++++++++++++

[lonestarnot]

4. Wow refresh my old brain re the casino boat before the attacks. So much shock to contend with back

then, I don't recall this part.

[sofa king]

6. It's been scrubbed, but not completely.

The journalist was Vicky Chachere, who sent out a story via AP on September 26, 2001 entitled "SunCruz casinos turns over documents in terror probe." The most complete version of the original article that I can find is here:

http://dccc.org/blog/entry/suncruz/

The important part of it is that there were video tapes, which were turned over to the FBI and which have subsequently never been seen or referenced again. By anyone. Ever.

The bit about al-Q directing the hijackers to return their remaining funds on that same day comes directly from the 9/11 Commission report, which of course has been shown to be an unreliable source--one more excellent reason to assume the worst behind that cover-up.

The whole thing has been kicked around on the old DU, for example here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x121713

Abramoff was sentenced in January, 2006 but did not turn himself in until September. Someone named "Sholom" meticulously scrubbed the "Jack Abramoff" entry on Wikipedia from February to May, 2006, managing to remove virtually all references to the hijackers. Someone may wish to generate a little economy by trying to put it back in. Someone else, I am sure, is paid to make sure it doesn't stay in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Jack_Abramoff

[lonestarnot]

9. Hmmm. It's a mystery.

[sofa king]

10. Well, no. An exposed cover-up is not a mystery.

The cover-up is there for all to see. Since evidence of a cover-up is also evidence of concealment of a crime, the penalties for such behavior are enormous--like, life in prison enormous.

So there is no mystery about this: whatever complicity the Bush Admin had in protecting Abramoff and his financial relationship with the 9/11 terrorists, it was a criminal relationship so devastating that the cover-up was worth the risk.

It doesn't matter what they did. Making sure nobody knows what they did in the middle of a crime in which a thousand innocent people died, and an aftermath which killed a million people, is a crime worthy of execution all by itself.

[dotymed]

3. What a farce.

The "big boys" never got touched and instead of slowing down the illegal lobbying industry and their greedy politician conspirators, they just went "under-ground" with some aspects of their organized crime. Of course after the illegitimate SCOTUS passed "Citizens United" (doesn't that sound so benign and beneficial to Americans?), much of their activity became legal.
Americans, on the other hand, survive in an increasingly totalitarian police state. Iran has nothing on us.
Murder has become legal, the President just (supposedly) has to approve it. What a disgusting nation of serfs we have become.

[OnyxCollie]

5. K&R. nt

[leveymg]

7. Tony's been out on bail all these years, reward for turning in Abramoff. Who did Jack turn on?

Last edited Sat Apr 21, 2012, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Black Jack was sentenced to six years, and served only 3.5, even though the indictment included dozens of felony counts. He, too, must have cooperated. Who did he turn on, and why were the higher-ups never prosecuted and sent up the river?

The answer is likely in here: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/366