Every decade is tinged with cases of corruption: the familiar sight of previously respected men and women standing before a judge for sentencing, having abused someone’s trust in the name of profit. This decade was no different, except that the cases seemed to get bigger and bigger.
In Washington, lobbyist Jack Abramoff had been a wealthy and well-connected member of the Republican elite. He worked for what was then Preston Gates & Ellis and for Greenberg Traurig, representing American Indian tribes and foreign governments. But prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice, in what became a wide-ranging investigation, built a case that Abramoff defrauded his clients of millions and conspired to bribe public officials. Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2006. Then he cooperated with investigators. And before the inquiry was over, prosecutors had won convictions against Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), former top Capitol Hill aides and David Safavian, former chief of staff at the U.S. General Services Administration.
