Republican Aide Pleads Guilty In Abramoff Lobby Scandal
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WASHINGTON – A former congressional chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney, a Republican of Ohio, pleaded guilty yesterday in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, admitting he participated in a conspiracy to corrupt Mr. Ney and other members of Congress and their aides with trips, free tickets and meals.
Neal Volz, 35, admitted he engaged in the conspiracy for more than four years, both while he was Mr. Ney’s chief of staff and after he left to go to work for Abramoff.
Volz’s admissions during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle comes amid a widening influence peddling and public corruption investigation involving lawmakers and their aides.
Mr. Ney’s office issued a defiant statement saying “the congressman is more confident than ever that he will be vindicated” in the investigation. “The Department of Justice has now appeared in federal court four times and has been unable to even allege that Congressman Ney was bribed,” said Ney spokesman Brian Walsh.
Volz faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The penalties could vary, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said, depending how helpful Volz is in the government’s ongoing investigation of influence-peddling involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was for defendant Volz and his co-conspirators to unjustly enrich themselves by corruptly receiving, while public officials, and providing, while lobbyists, a stream of things of value with the intent to influence and reward official acts and attempting to influence members of Congress in violation of the law,” according to a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Two former aides to Rep. Tom DeLay, a Republican of Texas, the former House majority leader, already have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy that was centered on the work of Abramoff, once a powerful Republican lobbyist.
Mr. Ney has not been charged, but his lawyer has acknowledged that he is Representative #1, described in court papers as the recipient of gifts and travel from Abramoff.
