Congressman Ney Admits To Corruption Conspiracy

LAKE GEORGE — The tentacles of public corruption in the Republican party do indeed extend from Washington all the way into Lake George as was validated Friday with Congressman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), pleading guilty to a two-county criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit multiple offenses.

Ney admitted to having accepted trips totaling more than $170,000 including a vacation trip to Lake George in August 2003, the costs paid by lobbyists exceeding $3,500.

Ney, a six term member of the House whose term expires this year, pleaded guilty to honest services fraud, making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives and of violating his former chief-of-staff’s one-year lobbying ban.

The government filed the information Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, along with an agreement signed by Ney to plead guilty to the two charges. Ney, 52, will appear before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle on Oct. 13 to enter his plea.

Ney’s attorney said Ney had begun treatment for alcohol dependency.

Based on the filed charges, Ney faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $500,000, and supervised release following his incarceration. The plea agreement with the government includes a recommendation of a sentencing guidelines sentence of 27 months in prison.

Ney’s named co-conspirators in the information include former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former public relations specialist Michael Scanlon, former lobbyist Tony Rudy, and Ney’s former chief of staff, Neil Volz. All have previously pleaded guilty in this investigation and are cooperating with law enforcement officials.

“Congressman Ney and his co-conspirators engaged in a long-term pattern of defrauding the public of his unbiased, honest services as an elected official. Congressman Ney admits that he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of benefits, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, in exchange for agreeing to perform, and performing, a series of official acts. He also admitted deceiving the public and the U.S. House of Representatives about his actions. In doing so, the Congressman was acting in his own best interests, and not in the best interests of his constituents,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher. “People must have faith in their elected representatives. The Department of Justice will enforce the laws that protect the integrity of our government.”

According to the information, Ney was a Congressman representing the 18th District of Ohio from 1995 through the present. In 2001, Ney became chairman of the House Committee on Administration, a position he held until January 2006. According to the information, Ney engaged in a conspiracy beginning in approximately 2000 and continuing through April 2004, wherein he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of things of value from Abramoff, his lobbyists, and a foreign businessman in exchange for repeatedly agreeing to take and taking official action to benefit Abramoff, his clients, and the businessman.

Ney admitted in his signed agreement that he corruptly solicited and accepted the following things of value among others from Abramoff and his lobbyists, all with the intent to be influenced and induced to take official action:

–In addition to his Lake George trip, international and domestic trips including a trip to play golf in Scotland in August 2002, with total trip costs exceeding $160,000, paid for by Abramoff and his clients; a trip to gamble and vacation in New Orleans in May 2003, with total trip costs of approximately $7,200, paid for by Abramoff and his clients

–frequent meals and drinks with total costs exceeding many thousands of dollars, primarily at Abramoff’s restaurant, Signatures, in Washington;

–tickets to concerts and sporting events using Abramoff’s box suites at venues in the Washington and Baltimore areas, such as the MCI Center (now known as the Verizon Center), FedEx Field, and Camden Yards; –tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions; and

–in-kind campaign contributions in the form of free fundraisers.
Ney admitted that during the same time period, and in exchange for the stream of things of value he received from Abramoff and his lobbyists, Ney agreed to take and took the following actions:

–supporting and/or opposing legislation at Abramoff’s request, including attempting to insert four separate, non election-related amendments sought by Abramoff and his clients into election reform legislation known as the Help America Vote Act;

–inserting two statements into the Congressional Record at Scanlon’s request;

–supporting the application of and issuing a license to one of Abramoff’s clients involving a multi-million-dollar contract to install wireless telephone infrastructure in the House of Representatives; and

– contacting personnel in federal agencies in an effort to influence the decisions of those agencies, including telling the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development that Ney’s number one priority was Native American Indian Tribal housing because that was an issue important to Abramoff’s clients.

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