How low is this? Making a poor tribe force elders to give life ins to Jack

[NVMojo]

In his pomp, nothing fazed Abramoff, who charged his private clients consulting fees of $750 an hour. When one of his Native American tribal clients was struggling to pay for his services, he had an inventive solution. Elderly members of the tribe should take out life insurance policies that would, on their death, be paid to the private religious school in Maryland that Abramoff had founded. From there, it went into his own wallet.

more...

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=31672006

[rumpel]

1. Anything for a buck. Nowadays these type of people seem to be everywhere.

[acmavm]

2. What the hell did these poor Indians think he was going to do for them?

What possible 'service' could he have sold them, or told them he could deliver that would have made them believe that they should insure their lives and when they died he should get the proceeds?

This is just tooooooooo weird. What was he selling them that they felt the NEEDED so damn much?

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Fundy churches do the same thing ........

Some time ago, we went to a church service with our fundy relatives. Big church in Michigan. They talked about this from the damned pulpit.

These people have no honor whatever. none. Slimy, money-grubbing motherfuckers.

[roguevalley]

4. one more vote to put this on the front page for the fundies and other

asshats. THis man deserves a beating.

[opihimoimoi]

5. Lower than whale shit he is

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Hmm...how many other religious schools and churches have the

same laundering scheme going on with other Republicans?

[elehhhhna]

8. Here in TX, lots of peole "tithe" their kids' tuition to the church, then

deduct it. Even worse (or better?) it's a great way to launder bribes--have the briber just pay your church for the kid's tuition, then the briber can deduct it as a "tithe". Happens all the time.

[formercia]

7. I don't want to slam religion, but.....

Even though the majority of religious organizations are legitimate and do a lot of good in this World, there are those who use it as a form of organized crime. You get to rake in the cash and not pay taxes, what a racket.

[SillyGoose]

9. 10 years is too lenient for this slime.

It seems that there is no depth he wouldn't sink to. Abramoff made a deal that would put him behind bars for 10 years, instead of 100 years. After reading through several articles outlining what this slimeball did, I think 10 years is too lenient.

:grr:

[chat_noir]

10. Washington lobbyists shakedown Indian casinos

The small vignette that unfolded during a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing last month reads like a heartwarming tale befitting the holiday season. A rich Washington lobbyist reaches out to an impoverished Indian tribe on the Texas-Mexico border and offers to buy insurance for all the tribe’s elders. The insurance will be free to American Indians over 75 years old, even those who are not enrolled members of the tribe. The lobbyist offers to pay all premiums for the Elder Legacy Program.

“It means the world to me,” he says.

There’s a catch. It’s term life. And death benefits will not be paid to family members, but to a private school in Washington, D.C. The school, founded, funded and directed by the lobbyist, will then pay the tribe’s lobbying fees at his law firm, Greenberg Traurig. It was a bold, innovative plan. Public policy advocacy secured by deferred income based on cold actuarial calculation. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was both benefactor and beneficiary, speculating on the lives of the elder members of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe of El Paso and collecting death benefits in Washington.

“I’m glad he didn’t send an undertaker to take measurements,” said Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), at the hearing.

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1830