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FILE - This Feb. 2, 2012 file photo shows former lobbyist
Jack Abramoff speaking
in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
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Lobbyist Abramoff charged in cryptocurrency fraud case
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS AP
PUBLISHED 9:31 PM ET JUN. 25, 2020
PUBLISHED 9:31 PM ET JUN. 25, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jack Abramoff, a once-powerful
lobbyist who spent time in federal prison for fraud and corruption, has been
charged in a San Francisco court in an investor fraud case involving
cryptocurrency and lobbying disclosure, federal authorities announced Thursday.
U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Abramoff, 61, of Silver
Spring, Maryland, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy charges and
a criminal violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act in the case involving a
cryptocurrency called AML BitCoin.
Anderson said the charges were the first brought since
Congress in 2007 amended the act to address lobbying abuses and undisclosed
influence that came to light during the early 2000s lobbying scandal involving
Abramoff.
Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2006 to a wide-ranging
influence peddling probe that involved Capitol Hill, the Interior Department
and members of President George W. Bush’s administration. He was convicted of
conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax evasion and served nearly four years in prison.
He was released in 2010.
Prosecutors said in 2017 Abramoff lobbied members of
Congress on behalf of a California-based marijuana industry client without
registering as a lobbyist.
“Abramoff was aware of the obligations to register as a
lobbyist in part because Congress amended provisions of the Lobbying Disclosure
Act in 2007 in part as a reaction to Abramoff’s past conduct as a lobbyist,”
court documents say.
The investor fraud charges stem from a separate lawsuit
filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which claimed Abramoff
and an associate, Roland Marcus Andrade, made false claims when they promoted
AML BitCoin.
Andrade, 42, of Missouri City, Texas, was charged with
fraud and money laundering in an indictment that was returned by the grand jury
on June 20 and unsealed Thursday, Anderson said.
He said Abramoff has agreed to plead guilty and could
face up to five years in prison. Anderson said Andrade is pleading not guilty.
Abramoff and Andrade could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Andrade said his cryptocurrency called AML BitCoin used
technologies that complied with the federal government's anti-money laundering
laws and announced an initial offering of AML BitCoin in the amount of $100
million, federal officials said.
In July 2017, Andrade and his company NAC Foundation
began selling AML BitCoin and raised at least $5 million through the end of
2018, prosecutors said.
"As alleged today, AML BitCoin did not have the
features claimed by the defendants,” said John Bennett, special agent in charge
of the San Francisco Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Abramoff and Andrade are accused of making a series of
false statements to potential investors about AML BitCoin, including that the
government of Panama and the Panama Canal Authority were in talks to adopt the
cryptocurrency for canal transit payments, officials said.
They also engineered a publicity stunt by saying that a
Super Bowl ad touting AML BitCoin as non-hackable had been rejected by the
National Football League on the grounds that it was too politically
controversial, the officials said.
“In truth, the defendants never intended to air the Super
Bowl ad. The defendants used paid editorials, social media and press releases
in an effort to create a false controversy and generate unearned publicity,”
Bennett said.
Court Papers
Disgraced Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Headed Back to Jail
Nathaniel Popper, NY Times, June 25, 2020
Mr. Abramoff became the first person charged with violating a law that was amended in response to his previous criminal offenses.
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