Tyco Acknowledges $1.6M Link to Abramoff ("Company A")

WASHINGTON - Tyco International, whose former CEO became a symbol of corporate corruption, acknowledged Thursday it is the Jack Abramoff client referred to as "Company A" in court documents describing the lobbyist's scheme to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying fees to himself.

Tyco hired Abramoff in 2003 to lobby for it on a tax issue, said company spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff. She declined to comment further on the New Jersey-based company's relationship with Abramoff or on the lobbyist's activities.

Abramoff pleaded guilty this week in Washington to mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with his lobbying activities and in Miami to conspiracy and wire fraud in a 2000 business deal in which he and a partner purchased the SunCruz Casinos fleet of gambling boats.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060105/ap_on_go_co/lobbyist_fraud_tyco

Maybe Tyco will send Abramoff a $6,000 shower curtain for his prison cell ...

"Unlike some of the Indian tribes Abramoff acknowledged defrauding, Tyco was not a newcomer to Washington politics."

the guys we send to Washington will line their pockets with what should have gone to the treasury.

Sounds like toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike pocketing half the toll. Hey who does it hurt?

A Fascist takeover funded by a Corporation - Naw it can't happen here. Probably what Krupp et. al. were saying in 1930 Germany.

with another crime? Oh, please say yes!

I mean repukes are for sale. It is clear they will do anything for money. Maybe what US citizens need to do is hire lobbyists to start pushing Impeachment of Crazy King George. Congress wont listen to the middle class. The pResident is off in his imaginary world and wont listen to the middle class, the judiciary is about as corrupt as DeLay and wont stand up for the middle class. So we get us some lobbyist and get them to push Congress toward Impeachment. And while we are at it, we get them to raise minimum wage, and give us nationalized health coverage.

We can just bribe the sh*t out of everybody until we get results we like.
OK, who has the billions$ that we will need?
:rofl:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html

Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A06

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.)

Abramoff later said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue, according to the statement by Flanigan, who oversaw Tyco's dealings with Abramoff and his firm and received reports from Abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign. Flanigan's statement is the latest indication that Abramoff promoted himself as having ready access to senior officials in the Bush administration.

A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said Rove "has no recollection" of being contacted by Abramoff about Tyco's concerns.

...more...

Did Rove help Tyco lobbyist?
Report: Tyco exec tells Senate its indicted ex-lobbyist bragged Rove could help him fight law.
September 23, 2005: 7:52 AM EDT

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/23/news/midcaps/tyco_abramoff/?section=cnn_allpolitics

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove to fight a move to crackdown on firms which used offshore headquarters to pay lower U.S. taxes, according to a published report.

The Washington Post reported Friday that boast by Abramoff, who is facing wire fraud and conspiracy charges on another matter, was revealed by Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International (Research) in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Flanigan is a Bush administration nominee to be deputy attorney general, and the statement to the committee was part of his confirmation process.

Flanigan's tie to the controversial Abramoff has caused troubles for his confirmation chances, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, which earlier had reported some details of the statement.

Flanigan has told the committee he would recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation or action against Abramoff if he is confirmed.

Tyco is one of the companies that would have been hurt by a legislative proposal in 2002 to deny federal contracts to companies largely based in the United States but incorporated in tax havens. It hired Abramoff and his law firm, Greenberg Traurig, as it faced both the legislative threat and fallout from the indictment of CEO Dennis Kozlowski on charges he improperly used company assets for himself and avoided paying sales taxes on high-end purchases.

...more...

Abramoff Probe Again Brushes Ehrlich Aide
Lobbyist Sought to Direct $9 Million to Miller's Former Company, Papers Show

Friday, November 11, 2005; Page B03

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001903.html

The Silver Spring company once owned by a top aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has surfaced again in disclosures about the federal investigation into Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Documents recently released by a U.S. Senate committee investigating Abramoff offered evidence that Abramoff attempted to direct millions of dollars in fees to Grassroots Interactive, a firm founded in May 2003 by Edward B. Miller, who later became deputy chief of staff to the Republican governor.

The documents, as reported yesterday in the New York Times, showed that on Aug. 7, 2003, Abramoff drew up a draft contract with the African nation of Gabon that called for $9 million in fees to be paid to Grassroots Interactive. The contract was never signed.

This disclosure comes after the September testimony of a former Tyco International Ltd. official, who revealed that Abramoff asked client Tyco to send Grassroots Interactive a $2 million payment, purportedly for lobbying work.

...more...

Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting

Published on Thursday, November 10, 2005 by the New York Times

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1110-04.htm

The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.

The African leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, met with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004, 10 months after Mr. Abramoff made the offer. There has been no evidence in the public record that Mr. Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon.

White House and State Department officials described Mr. Bush's meeting with President Bongo, whose government is regularly accused by the United States of human rights abuses, as routine. The officials said they knew of no involvement by Mr. Abramoff in the arrangements. Officials at Gabon's embassy in Washington did not respond to written questions.

<snip>

The documents also show that Mr. Abramoff and his colleagues drew up a draft contract that called for $9 million in fees to be paid to GrassRoots Interactive, the small Maryland lobbying company that his former colleagues say he controlled.

<snip>

In a draft agreement with Gabon dated Aug. 7, 2003, Mr. Abramoff and his associates asked that $9 million in lobbying fees be paid through wire transfers - three of them, each for $3 million - to GrassRoots instead of the Washington offices of Greenberg Traurig, the large lobbying firm where he did most of his work. The agreement promised a "public relations effort related to promoting Gabon and securing a visit for President Bongo with the president of the United States."

...more...

Seems Casino Jack knows EVERYBODY.



Small world. And very, very bad.

...here's a odd story from a DU thread with more possible tangled Abramoff web-working.

But...who knows?

Seems Kath had thin but odd enough links to Tyco and other "players." And the story defies logic a wee bit.

The DU Thread:
Suicide Pictures Spark Complaints


A SUCCESSFUL Rolls-Royce corporate lawyer leapt
100ft to her death from an hotel in a public suicide.

The Times
January 05, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1970806,00.html

Mystery of leading lawyer's suicide leap from hotel
By Steve Bird and Jonathan Richards

Friends of a woman who had a nearby flat are stunned by her sudden death. Katherine Ward, a 52-year-old lawyer for Rolls-Royce, fell 100ft from the fourth floor of a four-star hotel as horrified onlookers watched

Friends and neighbours of Katherine Ward, 52, were mystified last night why the vivacious, talented and wealthy solicitor took her own life.

The woman, who was originally from America but became a British citizen five years ago and was working as a senior executive at Rolls-Royce, was clearly seen to be distressed as she clambered on to the ledge outside the fourth-floor hotel bedroom that she had booked into the night before.

Miss Ward was a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and had attended a recent IBA conference in the Mexican resort of Cancún as an expert on corruption.

ENRON is Company "e"? :evilgrin:

Abramoff has had his fingers in alot of cookie jars. What other corporate connections does he have? Do they extend as far as Cheney's "secret" energy meetings? Prescription drugs? Bankruptcy group? and other corporate written legislation that republican congress just rubber-stamped through?

that we can unravel the whole contaminated garment?
That would be so nice.
:9

every spring around the summer soltice a group of us get together in the Shenandoah National Park for a few days of camping and relaxing... It's called the Space Festival...

One of the "catch phrases" that circulates widely at the Festival is "..it's all connected..."

we already know that Abramoff is a "bush pioneer" and well connected with alot of WASHINGTON INSIDERS and it's highly probable he's also well connected to the White House....

Meanwhile - when Ken Lay's name hit the papers regarding Enron and his connection to bubble-boy - bubble-boy denied knowing Kenny-boy

when DeLay's troubles hit - bubble-boy denied his connections to DeLay

now bubble-boy has denied knowing Abramoff beyond a brief chit-chat at a hannukah gathering...

All I can say is "keep pulling on that thread....."

If Abramoff and Delay are keystones, the entire house of cards could topple. Actually Rove is perhaps a better keystone.

There is no way that the knuckster in chief didn't know his pioneers. Don't they get photos and time together?

of knowing Kenny-boy, DeLay and Abramoff -- I keep flashing on the biblical passages of Peter denying knowing Jesus 3 times...

all that is missing is a Rooster crowing 3 times...

He will have to search for new friends. The old ones are falling fast.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12416-2005Apr23.html

DeLay Airfare Was Charged To Lobbyist's Credit Card

Sunday, April 24, 2005; Page A01

The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.

DeLay's expenses during the same trip for food, phone calls and other items at a golf course hotel in Scotland were billed to a different credit card also used on the trip by a second registered Washington lobbyist, Edwin A. Buckham, according to receipts documenting that portion of the trip.

<snip>

Buckham, a former chief of staff to DeLay, was at the time a registered lobbyist for AT&T, Enron Corp., and the Nuclear Energy Institute. DeLay's wife was employed, at the time of the trip, by Buckham's lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, and was receiving a salary from it, according to DeLay's personal financial disclosure statement for that year, on file with the House clerk.

...more...

Buckman/DeLay/Abramoff have been joined at the hip for years.

and why is Ed Buckman part of Tom DeLay's "non-profit"?

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/11/9/15581/1958

excerpt from approx 3/4 down the page:

The mission of the DeLay Foundation For Kids is to address the significant needs of abused and neglected children. The vision of the DeLay Foundation For Kids is to stop the cycle of child abuse and neglect.

<snip>

Statement 4 Part V - List of Officers, Directors, Trustees and Key Employees (number of hours per week devoted to position after title)

<snip>

Ed Buckman
2929 Briarpark
Houston, TX 77042-3703
Director
4

...more...

Is that why they set up and fund this organization?

http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=721&pubid=483

excerpt:

DeLay, Inc.

Alexander

Former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham founded Alexander Strategy Group, a lobby firm that represented TRM PAC donors AT&T and Questerra Corp. in 2002. Other Alexander lobbyists include ex-DeLay aides Tony Rudy and Karl Gallant, the former director of TRM’s federal cousin: Americans for a Republican Majority (ARM) PAC. Enron helped launch Alexander in 1998, when it agreed to pay DeLay staffers Buckham and Gallant $750,000 to fund a “grass-roots” campaign for electricity deregulation called “Americans for Affordable Electricity.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in 2002 that DeLay’s personal financial disclosures for Congress reported that Alexander Strategy Group paid DeLay’s wife $40,000 a year. A DeLay spokesperson told the Star-Telegram that Christine DeLay actually was paid for running ARM PAC—an Alexander Group client.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alexander_Strategy_Group

excerpt:

Enron

Enron was ASG's biggest client; they received at least $411,000 from Enron between 1999 and 2001. <8>

"Ed Buckham and ASG were involved with a "secret 'grassroots' campaign -- spearheaded by Enron -- to deregulate energy markets... An outline for the plan was faxed to Tom DeLay's Washington office. It was printed on Alexander Strategy letterhead complete with Ed Buckham's name in print. The only problem was that Alexander Strategy's CEO was still in the employ of the federal government at the time... Alexander Strategy Group was, as Enron promised, awarded the $750,000 contract to drum up support for electric power deregulation -- a goal that Enron believed would open the $300 billion a year electric markets to Enron. The stealth campaign would operate out of an energy consortium dubbed, 'Americans for Affordable Electricity' -- a name that Californians would find bitterly ironic just three years later." <9>

Blackwater USA

The North Carolina-based private military contractor Blackwater USA hired ASG for crisis management, public and media relations as Blackwater - and private military contractors in general - came under increased public scrutiny following the public killing and mutilation of four employees in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004. <10>

On September 20, 2005, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reported: <11>
Anne Duke, a senior associate for ASG, has been serving as a media contact for of late. Yesterday she issued a statement about the company's mourning of three Blackwater employees and a State Department official who were killed near Mosul, Iraq, by a suicide bomber on Sept. 18. Twenty-one Blackwater employees have been killed in Iraq.
Duke has not returned an inquiry from O'Dwyer's about the Blackwater/ASG relationship. Her job description on the ASG website says she implements PR plans, manages accounts and serves as a media contact for clients, in addition to legislative work.

...more with embedded links...

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050620&s=judis062005

excerpt:

Since the late '90s, 29 DeLay alumni have acquired major lobbying positions on K Street. (That dwarfs any other leadership office. Speaker Dennis Hastert, for instance, has six former staffers on K Street.) Together, they represent around 350 firms and institutions, including the bulk of the country's energy firms, the giants of the finance and technology sectors, the airlines, the auto manufacturers, the tobacco companies, and the country's largest health care and pharmaceutical companies. Former DeLay staffers also represent 13 of the biggest trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, and the Information Technology Industry Council. Microsoft, for instance, has retained a host of DeLay alumni, including nine lobbyists from the Alexander Strategy Group, which former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham founded in 1998 with a huge initial contract that DeLay secured from Enron. (The group also paid DeLay's wife a salary for several years.)

A few former staffers went to work for other House members or senators before leaving for K Street and are more clearly identified with them than DeLay. But most DeLay alumni trumpet their association with the majority leader. The Alexander Strategy Group's website sports a quotation from "Ed Buckham, partner, former chief of staff, Majority Leader Tom DeLay." The former staffers call themselves "Team DeLay," and, after DeLay's legislative director, Drew Maloney, quit to join the Federalist Group in 2002, he convened a meeting of ex-staffers every six weeks. One attendee, former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Rudy, who is now with the Alexander Strategy Group, told National Journal, "There is a lot of discussion about how we can help Republican candidates and expand the majority." As for DeLay, Rudy added, "As long as he wants me, I'll be there for him." (DeLay, as well as Buckham and Rudy, did not respond to interview requests for this story, and former staffers who were interviewed insisted on not being quoted.)

DeLay's former staffers have also migrated to conservative Republican organizations. These include several high-powered communications firms. Former Press Secretary Michael Scanlon heads Capital Campaign Strategies, which is known as the partner of former lobbyist and DeLay crony Jack Abramoff in bilking American Indian tribes. Former DeLay Director of Communications Jonathan Baron's Red Sea LLC handles polling and media relations for armpac, Republican candidates, and the Club for Growth. DeLay alumni also occupy key positions in the Christian Coalition, the International Republican Institute, the National Right to Life Committee, the Home School Legal Defense Association, the Traditional Values Coalition, and Concerned Women for America.

...more...

I hope the FBI or whoever is going after this gang has pictures of the rah rah Delay events hosted by cheney and others to collect money for his defense. Always seems that members of this administration side with the criminals and not the law enforcement side. See dubya and cheney kissing libby's ass.
I'm sick of that. The FBI should have a record and eavesdropping from one of those get togethers like the misadministration would have of peaceful protesters or dissenters.

Thanks for the research and the postings.