Jack Abramoff

Kevin Spacey thought he understood Jack Abramoff — until he began visiting the disgraced lobbyist in prison. "I read what everyone read about him, and then I started reaching out to him, and it was two different people," Spacey recalled. "On the one hand he's funny, almost comedian-like funny, and you can see how he owned a room. And then you look at what they said about him and he's the devil incarnate. And then there's the facts. " Spacey plays the colorful, morally compromised lobbyist in "Casino Jack," a film about the K Street scandal that will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday, and is emerging as one of the festival's hotter entries.

Maybe in a few years the high-flying machinations of notorious Washington puppet-master Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, his partner in crime, will be funny. But even with Kevin Spacey trying his carnival barker hardest in "Casino Jack," it still feels too painfully close to find much humor in Abramoff's now legendary, and illegal, lobbying efforts. If a fast-talking manipulator of political egos wasn't hard enough to make appealing in the way of, say, Michael Douglas' "Wall Street" abuser, there were other problems facing this fictionally flip tale.

I'VE LONG BEEN involved in the public eye, but only as a largely unassuming policy nerd. A couple of weeks ago, however, I found myself spotlighted as a player in l'affaire Jack Abramoff -- Abramoff is the lobbyist who pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion. Luckily, I missed the real action -- so I won't be joining him in the dock. Instead, I accepted occasional payments to write on issues of interest to him.

Kevin Spacey has earned accolades and two Oscars for nailing the nuances of characters who might otherwise seem simply reprehensible. Now he's upping the ante playing real-life criminal and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently imprisoned for fraud and corruption, in the darkly comedic "Casino Jack. " Directed by George Hickenlooper ("Factory Girl"), who died in his sleep last month at the age of 47, "Casino Jack," which opens Dec. 17, won praise at the Toronto International Film Festival and is propelling its leading man into award season.

In court documents, he was known only as "Representative 1," an anonymous member of the House who always seemed to have his hand out when super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff came calling for favors for his clients. On Friday, the lawmaker, Ohio Republican Bob Ney, officially emerged from the shadows and acknowledged his guilt. Ending months of denials that he had betrayed the public trust, the politician once known as "the Mayor of Capitol Hill" agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges.

Trying to distance himself from a corruption scandal, President Bush on Thursday refused to release photographs showing him with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and declined to disclose information about meetings between Abramoff and White House staff. Recent news reports have described five photographs showing the president with Abramoff, a GOP-friendly lobbyist and longtime Republican fundraiser, which were shot during White House functions.

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.

A U.S. grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor and the inquiry ended soon after. The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in Washington that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.

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.

Kevin Spacey has earned accolades and two Oscars for nailing the nuances of characters who might otherwise seem simply reprehensible. Now he's upping the ante playing real-life criminal and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently imprisoned for fraud and corruption, in the darkly comedic "Casino Jack. " Directed by George Hickenlooper ("Factory Girl"), who died in his sleep last month at the age of 47, "Casino Jack," which opens Dec. 17, won praise at the Toronto International Film Festival and is propelling its leading man into award season.

Kevin Spacey thought he understood Jack Abramoff — until he began visiting the disgraced lobbyist in prison. "I read what everyone read about him, and then I started reaching out to him, and it was two different people," Spacey recalled. "On the one hand he's funny, almost comedian-like funny, and you can see how he owned a room. And then you look at what they said about him and he's the devil incarnate. And then there's the facts. " Spacey plays the colorful, morally compromised lobbyist in "Casino Jack," a film about the K Street scandal that will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday, and is emerging as one of the festival's hotter entries.

"Why would you make a documentary," kingpin lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a.k.a. the Man Who Bought Washington, asked filmmaker Alex Gibney. "No one watches documentaries. You should make an action movie," he advised, which, in the best possible sense, is what Gibney has done. "Casino Jack and the United States of Money" is a film that's always on the move, a smart, lively, thoroughly involving doc about a complex, critical subject. As previous credits such as "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and the Oscar-winning "Taxi to the Dark Side" demonstrated, Gibney is as good as it gets at making complicated political material come alive on screen.

Jack Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for his leading role in a wide-ranging corruption scandal that rocked Congress and the Bush administration. As family members and angry former clients looked on, U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle pronounced sentence after a tearful Abramoff, admitting that he had "happily and arrogantly engaged" in a corrupt lifestyle, made a plea for leniency. "I come before you today as a broken man," he said.

The Justice Department recommended a dramatic reduction in the prison sentence of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who became the key witness against lawmakers and congressional aides whom he spent years corruptly influencing. Prosecutors cited his work in an FBI investigation that sent numerous powerful people to prison, including former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles. The scandal also contributed to the Republicans' losses in Congress. In 2006, Abramoff began serving nearly six years for a fraudulent Florida casino deal.

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.

For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations -- even when his own bosses wanted him to stay. Now he knows. Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

Maybe in a few years the high-flying machinations of notorious Washington puppet-master Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, his partner in crime, will be funny. But even with Kevin Spacey trying his carnival barker hardest in "Casino Jack," it still feels too painfully close to find much humor in Abramoff's now legendary, and illegal, lobbying efforts. If a fast-talking manipulator of political egos wasn't hard enough to make appealing in the way of, say, Michael Douglas' "Wall Street" abuser, there were other problems facing this fictionally flip tale.

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.