Closing Cooperation

Since pleading guilty in February in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandal, Will Heaton, the former chief of staff to now-convicted Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), has been yapping to investigators about any misdeeds of his one-time colleagues.

Heaton, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, attended the notorious Scotland trip in 2003 (a junket that included more golf and fine scotch than political exchange) and helped Ney smuggle unreported casino wins back into the United States.

He is one of many former Abramoff allies now cooperating with the federal probe. But in a recently filed document in D.C. federal court, lawyers on both sides indicate that Heaton's cooperation, like that of his predecessor in Ney's office Neil Volz, is coming to a close. 

The pleading, however, gives no indication of who Heaton has dished about other than noting that his cooperation is now "substantially complete." He is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Ellen Huvelle September 6