Prison Time Is Urged for Griles; Ex-Interior Official Admitted Lying About Ties to Abramoff

By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 16, 2007; Page A05

Former deputy interior secretary J. Steven Griles asked lobbyist Jack Abramoff for many favors for close female friends and in exchange helped Abramoff's clients at the government agency, according to prosecutors, who urged a federal judge to give Griles substantial prison time.

Griles pleaded guilty in March to a felony count of obstructing the Senate Indian Affairs Committee's investigation of Abramoff, admitting that he lied to the panel and its investigators about his relationship with the now-convicted lobbyist. A Justice Department memo filed in court yesterday contends that Griles avidly pushed Abramoff's requests, sometimes browbeating officials who objected and advising the lobbyist how to get around them.

In a detailed 48-page memo prepared for Griles's sentencing later this month before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, prosecutors said Griles "was not shy" about asking for jobs and financial help for four women who were "his close personal friends."

Cited in the sentencing papers are the sworn statements of Italia Federici, one of Griles's former girlfriends who ran a Republican environmental advocacy group. Federici this month pleaded guilty to tax and perjury charges and agreed to cooperate with the government's wide-ranging Abramoff probe.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501607.html