Jack Abramoff Quotes
We probably had very strong influences, shall we say, on about 100 Congressional offices.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
Jack Abramoff, Political Lobbyist, Response to question of “How many Congressional offices did you own?”, CBS, 60 Minutes, November 6, 2011
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Congressman resigned to become the Vice President and General Manager of one of the nation's most powerful lobbying organizations.
In 2014 he was accused of money laundering and placed under house arrest by the Russian Government. This typically was the first step in seizing some or all of his assets. When that is done, typically there are local and national politicians who will benefit as they will be able to “buy” the assets from the government at pennies on the dollar.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist, businessman, movie producer, writer, and convicted felon. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction and to 21 people either pleading guilty or being found guilty, including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional aides.