Ex-DOJ Offical Pleads Guilty to Conflict of Interest

Former Justice Department official Robert Coughlin II pleaded guilty today to accepting free concert tickets, luxury seats at sporting events, meals and golf outings from a member of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying team in exchange for helping the lobbyist's clients.

The Justice Department's far-reaching probe has snared a dozen officials, including congressmen, Hill staffers and prominent lobbyists, but today marked the first time one of the department's own admitted guilt in the affair.

Coughlin, 36, received the gifts from former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Kevin Ring, while he was in the Justice Department’s office of legislative affairs from 2001 to 2003. The documents do not include Ring's name, identying him only as "Lobbyist A." (Click here and here for some fill-in from The Associated Press and The Washington Post.)

The one count criminal information — conflict of interest — carries up to 10 months in prison and a $10,000 fine under the terms of the plea deal. Citing personal reasons, Coughlin resigned last April as deputy chief of staff in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, which is handling the Abramoff probe.

The statement of offense filed today says that Ring held Coughlin out to be among his most prized contacts at the Justice Department. Coughlin, the documents say, provided Greenberg Traurig with "information regarding the status and responsibilities of certain DOJ officials, and advised [Ring] regarding which official in various components was a 'friendly,'" or a political appointee who was inclined to help Greenberg Traurig's clients.

Among other things, Coughlin helped Ring obtain a $16.3 million grant for the Choctaw Tribe to build a jail. According to the documents, Coughlin set up meetings between the lobbyist and a political appointee in the Office of Justice Programs with grant-making authority and approached officials in the Office of Legislative Affairs with legislative materials from Ring.

During that time, Ring provided Coughlin with a steady "stream of things of value," the documents say, including 25 "occasions" at upscale restaurants and bars in the District (the Abramoff-owned Signatures among them); 20 tickets to sporting events; five concert tickets; and a round of golf. The government values the gifts at $6,180. Coughlin has calculated the total at $4,800.

The parties disagree on the value of a skybox for a Redskins game at FedEx Field, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leotta at the hearing today.

Coughlin, who said in court that he is unemployed, declined to comment after the hearing. His lawyer, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal’s Joshua Berman, said in an e-mailed statement that "Mr. Coughlin is deeply saddened by these events and looks forward to focusing his attention on his family and moving forward with his life."

A sentencing date has not been set, but U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle scheduled a status hearing for September. Leotta said that he may ask her to continue that hearing. Presumably, it would depend on Coughlin's cooperation with the government, which is promised in his plea agreement.

Prosecutors have put off Abramoff’s sentencing here in the District — on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion — several times, citing his cooperation in the ongoing investigation. He is serving prison time for unrelated charges originating in Florida.

Ring is reportedly under investigation, as is his former boss Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), who is retiring after this year. Ring was asked to resign from Greenberg Traurig along with most of Abramoff’s yeomen and later joined Barnes & Thornburg. He left after opting to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify before a congressional committee investigating the suspected exploitation of Indian tribes.

Comments

[Dr. Gene Nelson]

This writer would like to remind BLT readers about the biggest scandal inside the Abramoff Scandal. Namely, the growth of the already bloated special work visa programs such as H-1B. Microsoft, with about 1/3 of its US employees here on such visas, increases its profitability by billions annually by (ab)using such programs

Bill Gates, III used his immense wealth to personally demand huge increases in the H-1B visa program in front of the U.S. Senate in 2007 and in front of the U.S. House in 2008. Starting in 2005, Microsoft retained one of the original members of "Team Abramoff" Michael P. Smith http://www.cgagroup.com/staffContent.aspx?id=20&pid=1 (corrupt - He was forced to resign from Greenberg-Traurig). There are many more money-laden Microsoft lobbyists in our nation's capitol.

Free-market advocate and Nobel economics laureate Milton Friedman accurately labeled the H-1B visa program a "government subsidy" in a 2002 article that is readily located via Google. The intentional non-enforcement of sanctions against employers for hiring illegal aliens is a similar government subsidy because it allows employers access to many highly-skilled illegal aliens. How many? CAPS in November, 2007 published an estimate that there are up to 38 million illegal aliens in the U.S. With about half of this population being visa overstayers! (See David Seminara's March, 2008 backgrounder "No Coyotes Needed" at the CIS website.)

This huge pool of workers includes many who entered the U.S. via specialty work visas such as H-1B. The fact that they remain, contrary to law, causes employment displacement for experienced American citzen technical professionals.

If you don't believe this is important, see a "high tech" employer-interest lobbying group's February 27, 2008 letter to Speaker Pelosi. http://competeamerica.org/news/alliance_pr/Speaker_Pelosi_Letter.pdf Note that Microsoft is one of the contributors to this lobbying organization. As you will note in the last paragraph, this group opposes implementation of Heath Shuler's SAVE Act H.R. 4088.

Google on the phrase "Abramoff Visa" to learn more. There are 61 links on April 28, 2008. Abramoff Visa is a term that this author applies to the controversial H-1B visa program. Lawyer - lobbyist Jack Abramoff served as a Microsoft lobbyist starting in 1995. "Team Abramoff" played an important role in procuring legislative changes to the H-1B visa program that benefitted Microsoft in 1996, 1998, and 2000. Additional background is available via googling on this author's January, 2008 article, "The Greedy Gates Immigration Gambit." Please choose the more readable and engaging PDF version. P.S. The H-1B visa program is being used to import young lawyers, driving down wage scales....