New Charges Filed in Abramof Probe (Federici guilty plea expected)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

New Charges Filed in Abramof Probe
By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

June 6, 2007, 5:14 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The head of a Republican environmental advocacy group
was charged Wednesday with tax evasion and obstructing a Senate inquiry
as part of the Jack Abramoff corruption probe.

Italia Federici was named in a two-count criminal information, a document
that normally indicates a guilty plea has been negotiated. A hearing was
set for Friday, the Justice Department said.

Federici served as a go-between for Abramoff, the once-powerful lobbyist,
and J. Steven Griles, who was deputy interior secretary during President
Bush's first term, prosecutors said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-abramoff-federici,0,3645233.story

---

Note: That typo in the headline comes from the AP.

---

Source: The Hill

Former Norton aide to plead guilty in Abramoff case
By Mike Soraghan
June 06, 2007

The Hill has learned that Italia Federici, a one-time political aide to
former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has agreed to plead guilty to
tax evasion and obstruction of Congress as part of the investigation
into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff.

The Republican activist will be the second person with ties to Norton
to plead guilty in the Abramoff investigation. Former Deputy Interior
Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about
his relationship to Abramoff and Federici. He is to be sentenced later
this month.


Link: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/former-norton-aide-to-plead-guilty-in-abramoff-case-2007-06-06.html

[Eugene]

1. "Environmentalist" Helps Abramoff Probe (AP)

Source: Associated Press

Environmentalist Helps Abramoff Probe

Thursday June 7, 2007 12:16 AM

By MATT APUZZO

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of a Republican environmental
advocacy group is set to plead guilty in the Jack Abramoff
scandal and is cooperating with an FBI investigation into
corruption involving Congress and the Bush administration,
two people close to the case said Wednesday.

Italia Federici served as a go-between for Abramoff, the
once-powerful lobbyist, and J. Steven Griles, the deputy
interior secretary during President Bush's first term,
prosecutors said Wednesday in documents charging her
with tax evasion and obstructing a Senate inquiry into the
Abramoff scandal.

Under a deal with the Justice Department, she must
cooperate with authorities and is identifying other criminal
targets, one of the people said.

Authorities believe Federici may be able to provide
information about former Interior Secretary Gale Norton,
other Bush administration officials and the contacts that
she, Abramoff and Griles cultivated in Congress, the second
individual said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6689569,00.html

[0007]

2. Senator Dorgan is right on!!

"It looks to me like you got paid for things that had nothing to do whatever with your organization," Dorgan said. "It looks to me like you were working for Mr. Abramoff and you were getting paid by Indian tribes to do it."

Federici told the committee: "He did ask me for assistance, but it was not the body of work I did." She said she was "responding to Jack as a friend, as I would respond to any friend who had a need or question." Federici said she learned later about Abramoff's lobbying practices now under investigation. "I didn't know he was doing the things he was doing," she said.

more....http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701682.html

[Roy]

3. I seem to remember her....

being high and mighty, quite testy and evasive in the hearings.

I guess a little real oversight brought her down a peg, they will be busy exterminating these criminals from this government for a long time.

They may never have time to get down to legislating for the people.

[caligirl]

4. GOP Environmentalist Linked to Abramoff to Plead Guilty

Source: Wa Post

By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 7, 2007; Page A04

Italia Federici, the president of a Republican environmental group who came under Senate scrutiny last year because of her ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion and obstructing a congressional investigation.

Federici, 37, is president of a nonprofit group founded in 1997 by Gale Norton -- before she became interior secretary -- and conservative anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. Abramoff and his Indian tribal clients donated $500,000 to Federici's group between 2001 and 2003 in an effort to influence J. Steven Griles, the Interior Department's deputy secretary at the time, with whom Federici was romantically involved.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602348.html?hpid=moreheadlines

---

she was testalieing big time and McCain and others knew it. He and others in that hearing in 05 knew much more than the public realized then. Like Griles was having an affair with her, its in the article now. But it was kept hush hush then.

[Erika]

5. kicked n/t

[caligirl]

8. Will they look closely at Norton now?

[maddezmom]

6. Another Guilty Plea Expected in Abramoff Probe..makes 12 to face charges

Another Guilty Plea Expected in Abramoff Probe
Thursday June 7, 3:01 am ET
Emma Schwartz, Legal Times


The head of a conservative-leaning advocacy organization is expected to plead guilty to two felony charges as part of the ongoing federal influence-peddling investigation into the activities stemming from former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a document filed in federal court Wednesday.

Italia Federici, co-founder of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, is charged with obstructing Senate proceedings for obscuring the extent of her relationship with Abramoff and J. Steven Griles, former deputy secretary of the Interior Department, during hearings and interviews before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, according to an information document filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This is the same charge to which Griles pleaded guilty in March.

~snip~

Federici is the 12th person to face charges as part of the Justice Department's influence-peddling probe arising from Abramoff's conduct. Aside from Abramoff and Griles, other officials who have pleaded guilty include the Interior Department's former Mariana Islands desk officer, Roger Stillwell; Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and his former chief of staff, Will Heaton; Mark Zachares, a former staffer for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska; and former Abramoff associates Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy, Neil Volz and Adam Kidan. David Safavian, the former top procurement officer at the Office of Management and Budget, also was convicted on four charges of making false statements and obstructing justice stemming from his dealings with Abramoff.


more:http://biz.yahoo.com/law/070607/6b4346c7f0ad2384c966ddbcf3930957.html?.v=1

[annabanana]

7. Norton aide cops a plea

Source: The Hill

By Mike Soraghan
June 07, 2007
Italia Federici, a onetime political aide to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and lying to Congress as part of the ongoing investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff, according to documents obtained by The Hill.

The Republican activist will be the second person with ties to Norton to plead guilty in the Abramoff investigation. Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his relationship to Abramoff and Federici.
He is to be sentenced later this month.

Federici is set to admit in federal court on Friday that she helped to forge a connection between Norton’s top deputy and now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

“During much of Griles’s tenure as Deputy Secretary, defendant Federici served as a conduit for information between Abramoff and Griles in order to foster Abramoff’s and his client’s interests,” the court documents, filed by the Justice Department, state.


Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/norton-aide-cops-a-plea-2007-06-07.html

---

(more at link)

All together now:
Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum,

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust