Jack Abramoff

Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in federal prison for business fraud, but was allowed to remain free for three months so he could continue assisting in a wide-ranging probe of corruption and influence-peddling on Capitol Hill. Abramoff and a former business partner, Adam R. Kidan, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in their purchase of SunCruz Casinos gambling boats in 2000.

Congressman Bob Ney was a long way from the cracked brick streets and ragged neighborhoods of his Rust Belt hometown when he teed off on the fabled golf course at St. Andrews, Scotland, in the summer of 2002. But there was nothing unusual about his cozy ties with the Washington lobbyist who helped arrange his tee time. The Ohio Republican has a history of close relations with lobbyists and special interests that predate golf partner Jack Abramoff.

Everybody got something. The Mashpee Wampanoags, famed for greeting the Pilgrims at Plymouth, will be named a nationally recognized tribe -- a designation they sought for 30 years so that they could benefit from federal aid programs. Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist embroiled in a Washington corruption scandal, and his firm championed the Indians' cause and pocketed tens of thousands of dollars in tribal money. And Rep. Richard W.

Growing up on the family ranch here, Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) says, he learned that "you have to work till you're done. There's nobody else to pick up the slack." It's a lesson he carried from the fields of the northern San Joaquin Valley to the committee rooms of Congress, where for more than a decade he has doggedly labored to undo one of America's signature environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act.

The corruption investigation surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff shows the significant political risk that Republican leaders took when they adopted what had once seemed a brilliant strategy for dominating Washington: turning the K Street lobbying corridor into a cog of the GOP political machine. Abramoff thrived in the political climate fostered by GOP leaders, including Rep.

Several well-known conservative organizations may have put their tax-exempt status at risk as a result of helping disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients, according to a new report from congressional Democrats. The report by the minority staff of the Senate Finance Committee concludes that the organizations "appear to have perpetrated a fraud on other taxpayers" by engaging in "what amounted to profit seeking and private benefit behavior inconsistent with their tax-exempt status."

A huge outfitting store on the edge of this mountain-ringed town should be a conservative bastion: The ranchers and farmers who come to shop tend to be reliable Republicans. But here at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply -- amid the calf pens, muck buckets and bags of horse feed -- there are signs of trouble for the GOP. And that could be bad news for the party from coast to coast. Jack Bolender, a retiree who voted for three-term Sen.

Whatever his shortcomings, Jack Abramoff still has connections -- more than 250 of them, to be precise -- including prominent lawyers, religious leaders and even a member of Congress. They are encouraging a federal judge to give the disgraced lobbyist a reduced sentence Wednesday in a Miami fraud case. They have written letters to U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck, saying that the picture of Abramoff that has emerged through the news media is a gross distortion, and that he deserves a break.

Promising to cooperate fully in a burgeoning federal probe that has engulfed Congress, a former partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff entered a guilty plea Monday to a charge that he and the lobbyist conspired to bribe public officials, including a senior Republican member of Congress, and to defraud Indian tribes of millions of dollars. "Guilty, your honor," Michael P.S. Scanlon told U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, pleading to one criminal conspiracy count leveled against him.

The top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove quit Friday, a week after congressional investigators portrayed her as a key link between senior officials and the now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- brokering deals for his clients as she accepted premium tickets to sporting events and concerts. Susan Ralston had worked as Rove's executive assistant, functioning as a gatekeeper of sorts for President Bush's most trusted political advisor.

The Justice Department's corruption probe into the far-flung dealings of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has ensnared one of its own. Robert E. Coughlin II was charged in federal court Monday with violating federal conflict-of-interest laws by aiding a lobbyist and an unnamed lobbying firm -- believed to be Abramoff's -- while serving in the department's office of legislative affairs between 2001 and 2003. According to the document filed in U.S.

Former Montana Sen. Conrad Burns is no longer part of a federal investigation of jailed Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Burns, a Republican, narrowly lost reelection to a fourth term in 2006 after Democrats made his relationship with Abramoff a key issue. Abramoff is at the center of a corruption investigation that has led to convictions of a former congressman, legislative aides, lobbyists and Bush administration officials.

Italia Federici, who served as Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's conduit to the top ranks of the Interior Department, was sentenced Friday to two months in a halfway house during a day in court that touched on her romantic liaisons, tax evasion and conduct before the Senate. Federici, 38, the onetime president of a Republican environmental group, had pleaded guilty to evading taxes and obstructing the Senate's investigation of Abramoff's lobbying for Indian tribes.

Three aides to Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville) have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury this week in an investigation into the ties the congressman and his wife had to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Doolittle's chief of staff, Ron Rogers, and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Blankenburg received subpoenas from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, it was announced Tuesday in the House, as required by the chamber's rules.

The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands said Thursday that he was cooperating with the Justice Department's corruption investigation surrounding imprisoned GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The tiny U.S. commonwealth is also still trying to retrieve some of the millions it paid Abramoff's firms, said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial. Fitial referred questions about the Justice Department's inquiry to his Los Angeles attorney, Tom Pollack, who didn't immediately return calls for comment.

Former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton is urging a federal judge in Washington to show leniency in sentencing her former top deputy, but leaders of Indian and environmental organizations want J. Steven Griles to be given a stiff sentence for his crimes. Once described by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff as "our guy" at the Interior Department, Griles pleaded guilty in March to lying to Senate investigators as they looked into the scandal surrounding Abramoff.

Italia Federici, former head of a Republican environmental advocacy group, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. As part of her plea deal, Federici agreed to provide information that people close to the case said could lead investigators to officials in Congress and the Bush administration. Sentencing was set for Nov. 16.

The founder of a Republican environmental organization was charged Wednesday with tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003.

A former senior staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the public by steering potential clients and inside government information to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for cash, gifts and the promise of a high-paying job.

FBI agents have searched the northern Virginia home of Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville) in a continuing investigation into the influence-peddling scandal involving former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The search Friday related to the activities of a political consulting firm owned by Doolittle's wife, the congressman's office confirmed Wednesday. Julie Doolittle worked for Abramoff from 2002 to 2004.