Jack Abramoff sentenced to 48 months
The former lobbyist faced a much harsher term for his role in a corruption scandal.
WASHINGTON -- Jack A. Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican super-lobbyist, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a corruption scandal that rocked Congress and the Bush administration.
U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle pronounced the sentence as a tearful Abramoff stood before her with his lawyers this afternoon in a courtroom that included both victims and family members.
The sentence was far below the 121 months that Abramoff could have received under federal sentencing guidelines but more than either the Justice Department or his lawyers had requested.
Huvelle said Abramoff deserved the sharp reduction in sentence because of his help in aiding prosecutors pursue other targets in the lobbying scandal.
But she also said she wanted to send a strong signal that compromising the integrity of public officials would not be taken lightly.
Huvelle said Abramoff had "corrupted the political process and deprived the public of the honest services" of officials in the executive and legislative branches.
Abramoff has been in prison for approximately two years on a separate bank fraud conviction in Florida.
The judge said the effect of her sentence would be that Abramoff would serve a total "just shy of six years," including the time he has already served.
"I view that as fair. ... That is a substantial amount of time," the judge said. "But there has been serious wrongdoing here and in Florida."
Addressing the court before sentencing, Abramoff acknowledged to Huvelle that he had "happily and arrogantly engaged" in a corrupt lifestyle but that "I come before you today as a broken man.
"I have fallen into an abyss, your honor, and I don't know quite how to get out," he said. "My name is the butt of jokes, the source of laughs, the title of scandals, the synonym for perfidy, and I am not sure that will ever change.
"I beg your honor to consider all the things you have heard today in rendering your judgment about how much longer I need to be away from my family," he concluded. "I am so sorry I put everyone through all this."
The sentencing marked the culmination of the rise and fall of a powerful Republican power-broker whose web of influence -- and crimes -- came to snare figures in the Bush administration, members of Congress and their top aides and other well-heeled lobbyists in the U.S. Capitol.
