Lobbying Cases Shine Spotlight on Family Ties - NYT (Abramoff)

[DoYouEverWonder]

WASHINGTON, April 8 — On Dec. 3, 2003, Aeneas Enterprises opened for business in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, and judging by its bank records, the small consulting company with no listed telephone number was an instant success. Within a month, its records show, Aeneas had taken in $2.3 million from a single client.

Aeneas is under scrutiny by the Justice Department and Congressional investigators. Its founder, Robert Abramoff, a lawyer and sometime Hollywood movie producer, is the brother of Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist at the center of a Washington influence-peddling scandal involving several members of Congress.

The company's records show that the $2.3 million was received from another consulting firm, GrassRoots Interactive of Silver Spring, Md., which was established by Jack Abramoff and where he directed some of his huge lobbying fees. Billing statements prepared by Aeneas do not show what service Robert Abramoff provided to warrant millions of dollars in payments from his brother's company.

Robert Abramoff did not return phone calls for comment. His apparent entanglement in his brother's business is an example of what investigators say is something remarkable about the criminal inquiry centered on Jack Abramoff and his Washington lobbying network.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/washington/09lobby.html?hp&ex=1144555200&en=b22d52753fd8b7bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage


I guess this is what the Repugs really meant by the party of family values.

[napi21]

1. a know, these guys even make lousy crooks!

GOOD crooks know better than to launder the $$ through their FAMILY!

For quite a while, we kept hearing how smart Rove was, and how great all that Pub "stick together" stuff was working for them. There were even some here on DU who thought they were almost unbeatable.

But the house was made of match sticks, and one fell out. As we're able to see inside that house, things aren't orderly and well shielded at all! Seems they're just a bunch of dumb gus who managed to get away with a lot of stuff...for a while.

It's looking more and more like the gig is up folks! And to all those "top leaders"...you really don't have the friends you thought you did! The old addage "If it comes down to YOU or ME...it sure isn't gonna be ME!" is really true. You really should have paid more attention to that a long time ago.