1. Corruption in the United States Introduction Federal Bureau of Investigation Public Integrity Section of Dept. of Justice Overview –Jack Abramoff –U.S. Congressman Bob Ney

2. Start of Investigation February 2004 – Washington Post Article –Abramoff & Scanlon defrauded Native American Indian Tribal Clients Common ways FBI initiates investigations –Public Source Documents –Confidential Human Sources

3. Start of Investigation – Jack Abramoff

4. Start of Investigation - Lobbying A Lobbyist = hired to influence legislators on behalf of a particular industry, group, or individual Lobbying Disclosure Act = lobbyists must register with Congress

5. Start of Investigation - Lobbying Native American Tribal Clients Law allows Native American Tribes to operate casinos Clients wanted to open their own casinos or prevent competitor casinos from opening

6. Start of Investigation - Allegations Abramoff committed fraud on his clients Abramoff corrupted public officials by giving things of value (trips, tickets, meals, and drinks) in return for official action

7. Start of Investigation – Public Officials

8. Investigative Team Federal Bureau of Investigation Plenary Jurisdiction Lead Agency Department of Interior Inspector General Jurisdiction over corruption of Interior Department Officials Access to witnesses on Native American Indian Reservations

9. Investigative Team (continued) IRS Criminal Investigation Jurisdiction over Tax Crimes IRS agents follow the money

11. Building the Case Public Source Documents

13. Building the Case Public Source Documents Non-public source documents –Emails

15. Building the Case Public Source Documents Non-public source documents –Emails –Financial records maintained by business

17. Building the Case Public Source Documents Non-public source documents –Emails –Financial records maintained by business –Restaurant Point of Sale System –Airline and Frequent Flyer Records

18. Building the Case (continued) Witness Interviews Other techniques: wiretaps and search warrants Cooperating Witnesses and consensual recordings –Staffer –Prosecutorial discretion

19. Building the Case (continued – recordings) Building trust with cooperating witness Convincing cooperating witness to make recordings Getting cooperating witness invested in success of recordings

20. Building the Case (continued – recordings) Script or no script. Decision Trees. Don’t trust the equipment – redundancy, “belt and suspenders.” Square Peg vs Round Hole test.

21. Building the Case (continued – recordings) Results

22. Building the Case (witness interviews – plea agreements) Plea Agreements - Will Heaton Pros for the Government: –quick resolution without a trial; –Heaton must cooperate Pros for Heaton: –avoid costly defense; –lower jail sentence through cooperation Coordination required –Attorneys evaluate whether the government has enough evidence to pursue plea agreement –Agents work to firm up weak areas of proof to ensure that government can pursue plea agreement –Attorneys negotiate agreement and Agents debrief Heaton

23. Building the Case (witness interviews - plea agreements) Corruption Charges: Bribery (15 years) or Honest Services Fraud (20 years) False Statements (5 years) –False Financial Disclosure Forms Conspiracy (5 years) Conflict of Interest Charges –Aiding and abetting one-year ban violations (5 years)

24. Building the Case (witness interviews - continued) Actual Charges

25. Building the Case (plea agreements - benefits) Made a consensual recording of Ney Provided information known only to Heaton and Ney Broke Ney’s will to fight charges Other targets have pled guilty and are cooperating

27. Building the Case (plea agreements - benefits) Other witnesses more likely to tell the truth Public has confidence that investigation is being handled appropriately Behavior of others changes –Trips –Ethics Rules