Prosecutor in DeLay case subpoenas Abramoff
documents
Houston Chronicle
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
January 3, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The prosecutor in the Texas money laundering case against Rep.
Tom DeLay issued subpoenas today looking for links between lobbyist Jack
Abramoff and fundraising by the former majority leader.
District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued the subpoenas in Austin the same day
that Abramoff pleaded guilty in Washington to federal charges of conspiracy,
tax evasion and mail fraud.
Abramoff's plea came in a wide-ranging corruption investigation that is
believed to be focusing on as many as 20 members of Congress and congressional
aides, including DeLay and one of his former aides. Investigators allege
Abramoff and his ex-partner Michael Scanlon defrauded several Indian tribes of
tens of millions of dollars in a lobbying scheme that also involved bribery of
public officials.
In the Texas case, Earle sought records from Abramoff's former employers,
legal firms Greenberg Traurig LLP and Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds,
LLP. He also subpoenaed records from a lawyer for the Mississippi Band of
Choctaw Indians, a former Abramoff client, and from a representative for the
Barona Band of Mission Indians, a California tribe.
DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said Earle "goes where the fish bite."
"Ronnie Earle is an opportunist," DeGuerin said. "He issues subpoenas to try
to make a connection between his case and the latest scandal, whatever it
happens to be. The Abramoff thing is the latest he's doing. It has nothing to
do with the case in Texas. Nothing. Zip."
DeLay is facing money laundering charges stemming from corporate
contributions to a fundraising committee he formed for 2002 state legislative
elections. Texas law bans using corporate or union contributions for election
or defeat of a candidate.
DeLay is accused with two associates of funneling corporate money through
Texans for a Republican Majority, TRMPAC, and the Republican National Committee
to several state legislative campaigns in 2002.
DeLay has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and labeled the investigation
political.
He was forced to step aside as majority leader after he was indicted on
money laundering and conspiracy charges in September. No trial date has been
set because of pending appeals filed by Earle and DeLay.
Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds contributed $25,000 and the Barona
Band, $5,000 to TRMPAC in 2002. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
contributed $1,000 in 2001, according to TRMPAC records.
In his subpoenas, Earle asks for correspondence between the subpoenaed
parties and TRMPAC; Americans for a Republican Majority, DeLay's national
fundraising committee; David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief
procurement official indicted in the Abramoff case; Abramoff, former Christian
Coalition director Ralph Reed and DeLay's co-defendants.
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