Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Friday to criminal fraud charges as part of the government’s ongoing public corruption probe stemming from the business deals of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
In the two-count plea, filed in the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit, Ney, 52, admitted to making false statements and to being part of a conspiracy to violate congressional gift bans by accepting handouts and free trips from Abramoff and his clients in exchange for pushing their legislative agenda beginning in 2000 until April 2004.
