Lobbyist Abramoff indicted for fraud

By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 - Jack Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist involved in ethics allegations facing Representative Tom DeLay, was indicted in Florida on Thursday on unrelated fraud charges involving his purchase of a fleet of gambling boats from a businessman who was slain amid bitter wrangling over the sale.

The indictment by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale charges Mr. Abramoff and a business partner with conspiracy and wire fraud in the $147.5 million purchase of the shipping line, SunCruz Casinos, in 2000. They are accused of presenting lenders with a counterfeit document suggesting that they had arranged a $23 million wire transfer to the seller.

Mr. Abramoff's lawyer in the case, Neal R. Sonnett of Miami, said Mr. Abramoff would plead not guilty. "We've made the point since the beginning of this investigation that Jack Abramoff has done nothing wrong," Mr. Sonnett said. "He's anxious to defend himself."

There is no accusation that Mr. Abramoff or his partner, Adam R. Kidan, had any involvement in the death of the Fort Lauderdale businessman, Konstantinos Boulis, but the unsolved gangland-style killing produced extensive news coverage in Florida over the disputed sale of SunCruz. Mr. Boulis was gunned down while driving home in February 2001.

Mr. Sonnett had no comment when asked if the indictment would provide the Justice Department with leverage in pressing Mr. Abramoff to cooperate in a separate grand jury investigation here focused on his multimillion-dollar lobbying contracts with the gambling operations of Indian tribes.

The Florida indictment charged Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Kidan with one count of conspiracy and five counts of wire fraud - each count carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine - and asked that they be forced to pay $60 million in criminal penalties.

Mr. Abramoff has long been one of Washington's best-connected and best-paid lobbyists. In a statement released with the indictment, the agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Miami field office, Michael S. Clemens, appeared to be referring to Mr. Abramoff's former influence in Republican circles when he said that the criminal charges demonstrate "that regardless of position, status, wealth or associations, fraudulent activity will not be tolerated."

Mr. Abramoff's lobbying for Indian tribes is under scrutiny in Washington by the Justice Department, the Interior Department, the Treasury Department and two Senate committees.
Democratic Congressional leaders have called on the House ethics committee to investigate the relationship between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader, and the propriety of lavish overseas trips that Mr. Abramoff arranged for Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican.

Mr. DeLay has described Mr. Abramoff, a former action-movie producer and restaurateur whose entry into Republican politics on a national level began with his election as chairman of the College Republicans, as among his "closest and dearest friends."

Members of the ethics committee have suggested that they will consider opening an investigation later this year of Mr. DeLay and other lawmakers who were close to Mr. Abramoff.
The Associated Press reported late Thursday that Mr. Abramoff had been taken into custody in Los Angeles. Mr. Sonnett said that Mr. Abramoff had not surrendered immediately to the authorities on Thursday because he was traveling with his 12-year-old daughter and needed to arrange for her safe return to the Washington area.

"The government has taken the position that if he doesn't turn himself in immediately, that they are going to consider him a fugitive," Mr. Sonnett said. "The government doesn't seem to care that he's with his 12- year- old."

The Florida indictment accuses Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Kidan of fraud in the creation of what prosecutors described as a counterfeit document reflecting a $23 million wire transfer, which purports to be to Mr. Boulis.

The transfer was required by lenders who were helping underwrite the boat purchase and who had insisted that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Kidan provide evidence that they had come up with $23 million of their own money for the sale.

After receiving the wire transfer document, the indictment said, the lenders provided Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Kidan with $60 million in loans toward the purchase.

"These lenders relied upon the false financial statements and the counterfeit copy of the wire funds transfer to approve and fund the loan," the Justice Department said in a statement outlining the charges.

In a statement released through his lawyer, Mr. Kidan said that he would also plead not guilty. "I have cooperated fully with the federal investigation for the past three years because I have nothing to hide," he said. "I did nothing wrong, and these allegations are totally unfounded."

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