Though Scanlon faces up to five years in prison and must pay up to $19.7 million in restitution, former federal prosecutor Melanie Sloan predicted Scanlon could emerge from the scandal a multimillionaire.
"Commit a great fraud, enrich yourself, go to jail for a while and get out rich," said Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "He would hardly be the first person to do it, but it does seem pretty outrageous."
It is outrageous. But Scanlon is in a position to give up so many members of the GOP that he got to write his own ticket.
More on the jump...
The Delaware News Journal has a story out today about Mike Scanlon. It tracks how he went from beach bum to multi-millionaire in a few short years by moving tons of cash into the Abramoff/ DeLay/GOP slush fund.
Scanlon was the first member of the conspiracy to plead guilty. And because Mike was the first to cop a plea, he will get to keep most of his ill-gotten gains:
The article details Scanlon's rise to power, his Real Estate deals in Delaware, his love life and his connection to the Abramoff scandal. Some highlights include:
Scanlon and once-powerful lobbyist Jack Abramoff recently pleaded guilty in federal court to running a scam on several Indian tribes between 2000 and 2004. The two collected more than $80 million from the tribes while conspiring to defraud them and bribe government officials.
While bilking the tribes, Scanlon embarked on an extravagant real estate spree in Sussex County, buying and selling millions of dollars worth of real estate and capitalizing on the booming market. [snip]
Scanlon and a corporation he controls bought 10 properties for $18.7 million from May 2001 through January 2005 -- and paid $12.2 million in cash, a News Journal review of Sussex County property records found.
The properties included five multimillion dollar homes -- the cedar shake former du Pont mansion, two in Rehoboth Beach and two in Henlopen Acres. He also bought four properties in Georgetown -- two homes, a downtown office-apartment complex and an office park off U.S. 113.
Scanlon has since sold three homes -- for $4.5 million more than he paid, records show. Six properties are still in his name. [snip]
In 1999, he and his first wife, Carrie Anne, along with his older sister, Erin, and her husband, paid $165,000 for a bungalow on West Street in Dewey. He was then press secretary for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who later became House majority leader.
After leaving DeLay's office that year and forming the Capital Campaign Strategies public relations firm, Scanlon soon teamed up with Abramoff, one of Washington's most politically connected lobbyists.
In a scheme they called "gimme five" -- the pair's e-mail code word for kickback -- Abramoff convinced tribal clients to hire Scanlon to help secure licenses or fight off competition. The two agreed to keep their financial relationship a secret from the tribes.
By then, divorced with a young son, Scanlon rented space at 53 Baltimore Ave., a clapboard home near Rehoboth's boardwalk. There he ran American International Center Inc., touted by its Web site as a nonprofit agency aiming to "influence global paradigms in an increasingly complex world."
Scanlon hired two Rehoboth pals -- a lifeguard and a yoga instructor -- as "high-powered" directors, the Web site said, but gave them minimal job duties, according to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs co-chaired by Arizona Sen. John McCain. [snip]
The investigation of Scanlon ended abruptly in November, when he was charged. Days later he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and bribery.
Now free on $5 million bail and cooperating with authorities, Scanlon's sentencing date could "be years away" because the probe is ongoing, Braga said.
As for Scanlon's properties, his plea bargain allows third parties such as Abramoff to pay part of the $19.7 million restitution. Braga said it's "impossible to know" if Scanlon will have to sell any. "He will do whatever is necessary, including the sale of real estate, in order to meet that commitment.''
There are no liens on Scanlon's properties, but he cannot sell any property without the government's permission, court records show.
In the meantime, Scanlon's plea deal hinges on providing federal authorities with "information, evidence and testimony, if required, concerning any matter."
That would include being a witness in any case brought against U.S. Rep. Robert W. Ney, R-Ohio. Ney has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. But Scanlon and Abramoff have admitted giving gifts, including trips, meals and sports tickets, to Ney or his staff in exchange for favors for their clients.
Sloan, the former prosecutor, said Scanlon, by virtue of being the first key player to plead guilty in the case, received an attractive deal.
And the article doesn't even touch on Scanlon's role in protecting sweatshops and human trafficking on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). And (as I posted earlier this week) all of the plea deals in the Abramoff scandal are pointing towards Scanlon's work on CNMI as the next shoe to drop. And the key is Scanlon's work to get two CNMI legislators to support the DeLay candidate for CNMI Speaker of the House, Ben Fitial, in exchange for money appropriated by the GOP controlled Congress in DC:
The ideal candidate was Benigno (Ben) R. Fitial. Back in the 1980s he was a member of the first CNMI Legislators and he pushed though laws that allowed foreign investment on CNMI. That opened the doors for the Hong Kong based Tan Family to move to the Islands and start opening sweatshops. Of course Ben left government and became an executive with the Tan Family. A position he held for 11 years overseeing a corporation with more labor abuse violations than any other in the history of the United States. So obviously he was the man the GOP wanted to put in charge of CNMI Legislation.
But of course in a fair election Fitial would never get the votes to become CNMI's Speaker of the House. So in late 1999, Jack, Tom and the gang sent Ed Buckham and Mike Scanlon over to CNMI to twist some arms and make some deals.
And it worked! (emphasis added):
Incumbent Rep. Alejo M. Mendiola from Rota and newly elected representative from Tinian Norman S. Palacios yesterday officially withdrew their support for Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider for speakership of the House of Representatives in favor of closest rival, former Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.
In a letter addressed to Republican Party chairman Francisco DLG. Camacho and dated Dec. 15, the two legislators said they split from the group backing Mr. Hofschneider "after seriously considering the extenuating circumstances surrounding the speakership issue" for the 12th Legislature.
"We sincerely believe that under the leadership of Representative-elect Benigno R. Fitial, the people of the CNMI, especially Tinian and Rota will greatly benefit from such leadership," they said in a letter. [snip]
Members of the 18-seat chamber are expected to choose leaders of the House and chair of the various committees when they convene on the inaugural day on Jan. 10.
So all plea agreements mention that in January 2000, Scanlon, Volz and others traveled to CNMI. They were there to seal the deal and ensure Fitial election. This was important to Abramoff and his sweatshop clients. And Fitial would deliver the goods for Jack. By July 2000 he had pushed through legislation that basically ordered the CNMI Government to rehire Abramoff. And they did.
But the Volz plea mentions that the January 2000 travel was to "in part to assist Scanlon and others with their lobbying businesses" and the Rudy Plea stated that (emphasis added):
In 2000, Rudy worked with others to secure certain appropriations projects for the CNMI which he knew would help Abramoff's lobbying business and that had been sought by Abramoff and Lobbyist B;
Lobbyist B is Ed Buckham. In late 1999 Mike Scanlon was still on DeLay's staff when he traveled to CNMI with Buckham to fix the CNMI election. By the time Mike took the January trip he was working for Abramoff, Buckham and himself. According to Scanlons final financial disclosure form as a Hill staffer, he was paid $10,000 by Buckham for work done "during a break in service". Back in 1999 Buckham's lobbying firm only had one client doing business on CNMI. That was Enron. They wanted to land the contract to build a power plant on the islands to help run all those sweatshops. By the end of 1999 they were losing the bid.
In January 2000 they lost the bid. By March, Fitial had pushed through legislation that reopened the bidding and forced awarding Enron the contract. Then, of course, Enron imploded and the power plant on CNMI was never built.
And the payoffs to CNMI flowed through the GOP controlled Congress (and later the Bush White House as well). As Jack explained in his pitch letter:
Working on behalf of the Western Pacific Economic Council, our team not only stopped all anti-CNMI legislation from being enacted, we helped to secure $1.4 million in extra CNMI appropriations for infrastructure improvements in Tinian and Rota.
And that was not all. Millions flowed through the Appropriation process to CNMI. Jack, Tom and the gang had many willing participants in the process. Folks like Doolittle, Pombo, Taylor, Rohrabacher, Young, Burton, Burns and a host of others have plenty to worry about. And they should worry, because they have committed a horrible crime.
And Mike Scanlon is giving them up. He has millions of reasons to talk. And the GOP has millions of reasons to worry.
They should.
Every member of the GOP Caucus who worked to block legislation extending US labor, immigration and custom laws to CNMI should be put on the defensive. The crimes were real and the evidence has been presented to Congress since before 1994. It is time to hold these folks accountable: both as co-conspirators and at the ballot box.
2006 is now. Let's take our Country back!