Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was once at the center of one of Washington’s most notorious lobbying scandals, has received a new sentence: three years of federal probation for his role in a cryptocurrency fraud.
Forced to Pay $2.2 in Restitution
The case had nothing to do with his earlier involvement with tribal casinos, but it brought his name back into court and renewed questions about how he ended up in another scheme after his past conviction.
Along with probation, Abramoff has been ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution to people who lost money in the AML Bitcoin project. Prosecutors said the effort, run by cryptocurrency CEO Rowland Marcus Andrade, misled investors with big claims about government deals and anti–money laundering technology that didn’t actually exist.
During the hearing in federal court in San Francisco, Judge Richard Seeborg said he struggled with the idea that Abramoff had returned to criminal activity after serving almost four years in prison for the 2006 lobbying scandal, which was one of the biggest of its era and reached officials in the George W. Bush administration as well as members of Congress.
“Not Physically Capable”
Still, Seeborg agreed that the circumstances around this case called for a lighter sentence. Abramoff had pleaded guilty early, cooperated with prosecutors, and has been fighting aggressive cancer.
“There’s very little prospect of reoffending here,” Seeborg said.
Abramoff, who appeared by Zoom, told the court he felt deep regret about getting involved.
He said he was “embarrassed and devastated” to find himself back in trouble after his previous conviction and added, “As for going forward, I’m just not physically capable of engaging in the kind of business activities that I did even during that period that I stupidly got myself into.”
Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2020 to wire fraud tied to the AML Bitcoin rollout. He also admitted to violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act in a separate matter involving unregistered lobbying work. That charge was notable on its own, marking the first criminal case brought under the LDA since it was strengthened by the 2018 JACK Act, legislation partly inspired by Abramoff’s original scandal.
His earlier case involved overbilling Native American tribes by tens of millions of dollars as they sought help developing casino projects. Abramoff received a six-year sentence but was released in 2010 and later wrote a memoir criticizing Washington’s lobbying culture.
In the AML Bitcoin case, his cooperation was key, as he testified against Andrade, who was convicted in March of defrauding investors with a series of false claims, including a supposed $5 million Super Bowl ad purchase that never existed. Andrade has since been sentenced to seven years in prison.