http://www.c-span.org/watch/index.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3&ShowVidDays=30&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=30http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53609-2004Jul15?language=printerEx-Lobbyist Is Focus of Widening Investigations
By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 16, 2004; Page A19
Former powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations entrepreneur Michael Scanlon are the focus of widening investigations this summer, one by Congress and the other a criminal probe involving five federal agencies. A criminal task force of investigators from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, the Justice Department's public integrity section, the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Interior Department inspector general's office is looking into payments Abramoff and Scanlon received from an array of clients, including 11 wealthy Indian tribes that operate gambling casinos, according to officials familiar with the investigation.
In Congress, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has set a deadline of this week for responses to subpoenas it has issued. Congressional staff members from the Indian Affairs Committee and the Commerce Committee have spent five months gathering documents and interviewing tribal members and others in preparation for a public hearing in September, officials said.
Government sources and people who have been interviewed said the twin investigations are examining tens of millions of dollars in fees that Abramoff and Scanlon received from clients, including, in Abramoff's case, a number of foreign entities. Investigators also are looking into ties the two have to members of Congress, into campaign donations and into whether criminal or tax codes were violated in the work they contracted to do or by the fees they collected, the sources said.
The Washington Post reported earlier this year that Abramoff, who is well-connected to conservative Republicans in the White House and Congress, and Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), received more than $45 million in lobbying and public affairs work from four newly wealthy tribes in the past three years. Those fees rival what some of the biggest corporate interests in the country pay to influence public policy.
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