Kidan is expected to admit to fraud (SunCruz/Abramoff)

[seafan]

Friday, December 9, 2005

BY WANDA J. DeMARZO AND JAY WEAVER

Adam Kidan, the New York businessman who teamed up with a powerful Washington, D.C., lobbyist to buy SunCruz Casinos, has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding lenders in the $147.5 million purchase five years ago, according to sources familiar with the federal criminal case.
Kidan, 41, indicted along with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is expected to enter his plea next Thursday before a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale.

...

Abramoff, 46, is also discussing a possible plea deal with federal prosecutors, sources say.
But Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, said he is preparing to defend his client at trial, which is set for Jan. 9 before U.S. District Judge Paul Huck. Sonnett declined further comment.

...

According to an indictment returned in August, Abramoff and Kidan lied to lenders to qualify for a $60 million loan to buy the Broward County casino fleet from Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis. He was the former SunCruz owner, gunned down in February 2001 just five months after the sale.

...

Law enforcement sources say, however, that correspondence between the two men and a Washington lobbyist who worked with Abramoff incriminates the SunCruz partners in the alleged scheme. The lobbyist, Michael Scanlon, recently cut a plea deal with Washington prosecutors in an influence-peddling investigation that parallels the SunCruz criminal case.
Scanlon is cooperating with Washington prosecutors as well as those in South Florida, according to his plea agreement.

...

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/13364243.htm

[stepnw1f]

1. GOP Culture of Corruption

being exposed....!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. What will Abramoff give the prosecutors in exchange for a deal?

Will it be simply more lobbyists, or will he give up some conmen?

[seafan]

4. Now that Kidan already cut a deal, it seems more likely that

Abramoff could talk about some of his "other" highly placed buddies like Delay, Reed, Norquist, a few Congresspeople perhaps, some Senators, what's going on in the Mariana Islands, Guam, etc.

And we already heard Tom Delay talk about how close he and Abramoff are (were).

It will all be very interesting to watch.

[seafan]

5. More interesting facts from another source:

With a federal corruption case intensifying, prosecutors investigating Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist, are examining whether he brokered lucrative jobs for Congressional aides at powerful lobbying firms in exchange for legislative favors, people involved in the case have said.

The attention paid to how the aides obtained jobs occurs as Mr. Abramoff is under mounting pressure to cooperate with prosecutors as they consider a case against lawmakers. Participants in the case, who insisted on anonymity because the investigation is secret, said he could try to reach a deal in the next six weeks.

...

Investigators are said to be especially interested in how Tony C. Rudy, a former deputy chief of staff to Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, and Neil G. Volz, a former chief of staff to Representative BobNey of Ohio, obtained lobbying positions with big firms on K Street.
The hiring pattern is "very much a part of" what prosecutors are focusing on, a person involved in the case said. Another participant confirmed that investigators were trying to determine whether aides conducted "job negotiations with Jack Abramoff" while they were in a position to help him on Capitol Hill.

Prosecutors are trying to establish that "it's not just a ticket to a ballgame, it's major jobs" that exchanged hands, the participant in the case said. Also under examination are payments to lobbyists and lawmakers' wives, including Mr. Rudy's wife, Lisa Rudy, whose firm, Liberty Consulting, worked in consultation with Mr. Abramoff, people involved in case said.

What began as an inquiry into Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Abramoff's lobbying has widened to a corruption investigation centering mainly on Republican lawmakers who came to power as part of the conservative revolution of the 1990's.

...

http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/ManageArticle.asp?C=380&A=16046

[OregonBlue]

3. Who are the prosecutors? Are they going to be told to go easy

or are they like Fitzgerald? My guess is that they will only go so far and then back off. Political pressure will be enormous.