Legal News

Abramoff in Leniency Letter to Judge: ?I am Not a Bad Man?

By Ashby Jones

I am not a bad man (although to read all the news articles one would think I was Osama Bin Laden), but I did many bad things. I lied to clients, even while working to get them the results they expected. I cheated my law firm and took advantage of public officials. And, while I gave millions of dollars to charities, I thought I could then skirt the rules in paying the right amount of money to the government in taxes. Jack Abramoff, in a recent letter to U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle

It seems like just yesterday that Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to a scheme to corrupt Congress, but today he’s back in the news, asking a district judge in Washington for leniency in her sentence. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for today. Continued Abramoff, currently doing time in Maryland for an unrelated case involving fraud connected to cruise ships in Florida: “So much that happens in Washington stretches the envelope, skirts the spirit of the law and lives in the loopholes. But even by those standards, I blundered farther than even those excess would allow.” Here are stories from the NYT and the WaPo.

Abramoff faces up to 11 years in the Congressional corruption case, though prosecutors have already asked for a reduction, citing Abramoff’s assistance in other investigations. If the judge accepts a Justice Department recommendation regarding his sentence, Abramoff could be out of prison after another three years and three months.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 04, 2008 (boomark / email).