Family members may be dragged into Abramoff corruption scandal

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday April 8, 2006

Family members and spouses of "central targets" in the Abramoff corruption scandal may be dragged in, according to a story set for Sunday's edition of the New York Times, RAW STORY has learned.

Excerpts from the article written by Philip Shenon.

#
To a surprising degree, the spouses and other family members of the investigation's central targets are being caught up in the inquiry, dealing with subpoenas and interviews with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with at least the possibility that some of them could face civil or criminal charges themselves.

Lawyers with detailed knowledge of the Justice Department's investigation, who were granted anonymity because of rules barring public discussion of grand jury evidence, say that so many of the wives of lawmakers and lobbyists have become tied up in the investigation that F.B.I. agents have begun referring to them as "The Wives Club."

The lawyers said the scrutiny of the families would increase the leverage of prosecutors, since the targets might be willing to plead guilty and incriminate others to spare their family members from being charged.

At least one of the wives, Julie Doolittle, who is married to Representative John T. Doolittle, Republican of California, has been subpoenaed in the investigation of Mr. Abramoff and questioned by the F.B.I. The June 2004 subpoena sought information about Mrs. Doolittle's marketing and events-planning work for Mr. Abramoff's lobbying firm and for his Washington restaurant, Signatures, which he later sold. Her lawyer, William L. Stauffer, said Mrs. Doolittle was contacted by the Justice Department again last year and asked for additional records. Her work has become a central issue in her husband' s difficult re-election bid this November.

....

Christine A. DeLay, Mr. DeLay's wife, received $115,000 in consulting fees from 1998 to 2002 from a lobbying firm set up by her husband's former chief of staff, Edwin A. Buckham, who is also under scrutiny by the Justice Department because of his lobbying contacts with Mr. DeLay's House office.

#
FULL ARTICLE AT NEW YORK TIMES WEBSITE

Raw Story Link