Indicted GOP lobbyist plans to enter not guilty plea: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Curt Anderson
Associated Press Writer
Posted August 19 2005


MIAMI · Lobbyist Jack Abramoff made his first appearance Thursday before a federal judge in Miami since his indictment last week along with an associate on fraud charges stemming from a 2000 deal to purchase a casino cruise fleet.

Abramoff did not enter a formal plea at the brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Brown but will plead not guilty to the six-count indictment charging conspiracy and wire fraud, said Abramoff attorney Neal Sonnett.

Brown initially had set Abramoff's first court appearance in Miami for Aug. 29. But U.S. District Judge Paul Huck ordered an accelerated schedule so that the case does not languish.

Huck will hold a status conference on Aug. 26, at which he could set a trial date, Sonnett said.

Abramoff and Adam Kidan are charged with falsifying a $23 million wire transfer to make it appear they were putting a large cash stake into the purchase of SunCruz Casinos. Based on that transfer, two lenders provided $60 million toward their purchase in September 2000 of SunCruz from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis.

Kidan has already pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges. Both Kidan and Abramoff are free on bond.

Boulis was shot to death in February 2001 in a gangland-style murder that remains unsolved. Since the federal fraud charges were announced, Fort Lauderdale detectives said they will seek interviews with both Abramoff and Kidan about the killing.

Sonnett said that Abramoff, who, unlike Kidan, has never been questioned by police about the Boulis case, will be happy to cooperate.

"He has no information about the murder," Sonnett said.

Abramoff, a well-connected Republican lobbyist and political fund-raiser, also is under investigation in Washington by a federal grand jury and by the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee for deals in which he and an associate received at least $66 million from six Indian tribes to lobby for their casinos and other interests. The tribes question whether the charges were excessive.

Congressional Democrats have raised questions about Abramoff's ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The congressman has asked the House Ethics Committee to review allegations that Abramoff or his clients paid some of DeLay's overseas travel expenses.

DeLay has denied knowing that the expenses were paid by the lobbyist.