The investigation surrounding superlobbyist Jack Abramoff has been Washington’s biggest public corruption scandal in years. In case after case, public officials and lobbyists have pleaded guilty to giving or accepting lavish gifts in connection with official acts.
The crimes in the Abramoff scandal sound like textbook bribery or gratuities: paying off public officials to influence their actions or to reward them for actions already taken. But of the more than a dozen defendants convicted — including Abramoff himself and Congressman Robert Ney, the only member of Congress charged thus far — almost no one has been charged with violating the bribery or gratuities statute.
