WASHINGTON - Michael Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to bribe public officials and agreed to cooperate in a widening criminal investigation of members of Congress.
He has been cooperating with the Justice Department since June, one of his attorneys, Plato Cacheris, said after the plea.
Scanlon entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle and was ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to Indian tribes that he admitted had been defrauded.
In an eight-page statement of facts, he agreed that he and an unidentified person referred to as Lobbyist A "provided a stream of things of value to public officials in exchange for a series of official acts."
The items to one unidentified congressman or his staff included all-expense-paid trips to the Northern Marianas Islands in 2000, a trip to the Super Bowl in Tampa., Fla., in 2001, and a golf trip to Scotland in 2002.
Based on information already placed on the public record by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Lobbyist A is Jack Abramoff and the congressman is Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio.
On Friday, Scanlon was charged with conspiracy. On Monday, the Justice Department's statement of facts that he signed revealed that trips, tickets to sporting events and campaign contributions went to other public officials besides Ney in exchange for official acts.
The statement of facts said Scanlon and Lobbyist A provided items of value to public officials in exchange for "agreements to support and pass legislation, agreements to place statements in the Congressional Record, agreements to contact personnel in the United States Executive Branch agencies and offices to influence decisions of those agencies and offices."
The court documents said a senior staffer for "Representative No. 1" traveled to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands in January 2000 to assist Abramoff and others in maintaining lobbying clients, and placed a statement in the Congressional Record calculated to pressure the then-owner of a Florida gaming company to sell on terms favorable to Abramoff.
It also said that as the co-chairman of a conference committee of House and Senate members, Representative No. 1 would introduce legislation that would lift an existing federal ban against commercial gaming for an Indian tribe.
"Guilty, your honor," Scanlon told the judge when asked how he was pleading. He could face up to five years in prison.
DeLay, who relinquished his post as House majority leader after a separate indictment in Texas last month, is among those facing scrutiny for his associations with Abramoff.
The Texas Republican is due in court today in Austin for a hearing in which he seeks dismissal of state conspiracy and money laundering charges.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
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