Just days ago we learned that Michael Scanlon, a very close associate of Jack Abramoff, has agreed to testify in all future cases against the corrupt lobbyist. Now, the
WaPo reports,
'Witness May Have Pivotal Role in Probe of Alleged Corruption', that a deal from Abramoff himself may not be far off.
[Scanlon's] cooperation also increases pressure on Abramoff to make his own deal with the prosecution. Abramoff has told his legal team that despite the millions of dollars he brought in, he is all but out of money, lawyers in the case said. Abramoff and another business partner are facing trial in Florida on separate fraud charges.
More inside on Scanlon, the depth of his involvement in Abramoff's dealings and why Abramoff making a deal grows increasingly inevitable.
As a witness in the wide-ranging, influence-peddling probe of Abramoff and government officials, Scanlon may have knowledge of many areas of interest to investigators. In addition to Abramoff's dealings with the tribes, Scanlon was in a position to know whether lawmakers and their aides provided legislative favors for Abramoff's lobbying clients, including the tribes. E-mail shows Abramoff often talked of gaining sway over key officials at the Interior Department, which plays a regulatory role in tribal land issues and Indian gambling operations.
Scanlon's cooperation is crucial to helping prosecutors prove that any favor to a lawmaker was in explicit exchange for an official act, said Leonard Garment, an attorney for President Nixon during Watergate.
In the hierarchy of Abramoff's lobbying associates that helped him defraud tribal clients out of millions and millions of dollars, Scanlon was his right-hand man. Mini-Casino Jack. Abramoff Jr. Take your pick. While Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Italia Federici, members of Congress and the Interior all helped Abramoff, Scanlon was absolutely pivotal.
But Scanlon could be a guide to the activities of top House GOP staffers, some of whom are now lobbyists and political consultants who work closely with DeLay, now the former majority leader.
Tom DeLay, of course, isn't the most immediately effected representative. That award looks to go to 'Representative #1', a.k.a. Bob Ney (R-OH):
From Ney, prosecutors allege, Scanlon and Abramoff "sought and received" a series of official acts, including meeting with clients, sponsoring legislation and approving a license to install wireless communications in the U.S. House for an Abramoff client.
Ney also placed comments in the Congressional Record favorable to Abramoff's 2000 purchase of the Florida casino boat company, SunCruz Casinos. Scanlon handled SunCruz's dealings with Ney and his chief of staff, Neil Volz, who later also went to work for Abramoff.
Just weeks ago, we learned that Ney was served a subpoena ordering his release of all relevant documents regarding his 2002 trip to Scotland along with Abramoff, Scanlon, now-indicted David Safavian, Neil Volz and others.
Of course, with Abramoff, Scanlon & Co., there are many other interesting intersections that Scanlon can provide crucial information on:
Scanlon was also a link between Abramoff's SunCruz dealings and DeLay's office.
Scanlon could help investigators learn more about the purpose of gifts and nearly $3 million in campaign contributions Abramoff and his tribal clients lavished on members of Congress and their staffers, who night after night filled the lobbyist's four sports skyboxes. Scanlon may also be able to elaborate on e-mails that have been made public by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, in which Abramoff discussed job offers to public officials and his efforts to get political appointees at the Interior Department to intercede on issues affecting clients.
Scanlon may also be knowledgeable about Abramoff's direction of tribal funds to several charitable foundations and advocacy groups and tax-exempt organizations, including one run by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. E-mail shows that Scanlon was intimately familiar with some of the financial dealings of anti-gambling activist Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition.
Did you hear that, Grover? Ralph? Still considering that bid for Lt. Gov.?
Perhaps most important of all, Scanlon was in a position to be able to trace back where the bilked funds came from, how it was laundered and where it ultimately ended up:
Abramoff turned to Scanlon when he wanted to disguise the origins of money from foreign entities, including the Malaysian government, e-mails and records show -- another area of likely interest for prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service. Scanlon set up the American International Center, a Rehoboth Beach foundation that claimed on its Web site to be "a premiere international think tank."
With the vast extent of inside knowledge that Scanlon holds and has presumably already begun laying out to prosecutors, Abramoff has no reason not to work out a deal. Unless, that is, he fears having the same fate as Gus Boulis.