How to Raise Cash... Disguise Its Sources... And Buy Influence

HOW TO RAISE CASH... Abramoff tended to pick clients far removed from the Beltway who were sometimes either too desperate or too unfamiliar with the lobbying trade to question his unorthodox tactics and exorbitant fees

Indian tribes: Abramoff lobbied on their behalf mainly to protect their casino interests—thwarting competing ventures and legislative moves to tax gambling revenues. He and partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to Congressman Tom DeLay, were also secretly playing off their clients against one another and bilking them of millions.

eLottery: This Internet gambling firm hired Abramoff and invested some $2 million in an intricate campaign in 2000 to kill a bill that would have outlawed most online gambling. Abramoff used Christian groups to block the bill on the grounds that it didn't go far enough.

Mariana Islands: Abramoff's first major client paid him $9 million in fees. He helped block legislation, opposed by the U.S. protectorate's textile industry, that would have imposed a minimum-wage law. The Marianas were the venue of many junkets for lawmakers.

Russian oil and gas firms: As first reported by the Washington Post, two executives allegedly wanted to ensure that a U.S. bill that would enable the IMF to bail out the Russian economy in 1998 would not impose high taxes on their industry. Abramoff helped them cultivate DeLay.

Foxcom Wireless: This Israeli firm wanted a $3 million contract in 2002 to install cell-phone antennas in the House of Representatives.

...DISGUISE ITS SOURCES

Abramoff moved money in numerous ways—not just to cheat his clients but also to pay for brazen junkets and cloak the ethically (and legally) dubious machinery of his enterprise

Americans for Tax Reform: Founder Grover Norquist was a conduit of funds, and though he took commissions, he isn't accused of breaking the law. He sent $1.15 million from just one tribe to antigambling groups and funneled $150,000 sent by eLottery to the consultancy of Ralph Reed, former chief of the Christian Coalition.

Capitol Campaign Strategies: Scanlon's p.r. firm is where Abramoff routed much Indian-casino business without telling his clients that he was also sharing in its profits. Those kickbacks, from absurdly inflated fees, were the source of most of the $20 million Abramoff made by cheating the tribes.

Century Strategies: Reed's political consultancy mobilized Christian antigambling groups for Abramoff, without revealing that its funds came from gambling interests. Reed, now running for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, says he did not know about the origins of the money.

National Center for Public Policy Research: Abramoff sat on the board of this think tank when, in 2000, he took DeLay and his aide Tony Rudy on a golfing junket to Scotland. Two checks of $25,000 to this entity from eLottery and an Indian tribe allegedly helped cover the $70,000 bill.