Breaking News: Abramoff Gets Four Years

[WSJ_law_blog]

This just in: erstwhile lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday by judge U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. Here’s the AP report.

Abramoff pleaded guilty in early 2006 to three criminal felony counts in a Washington, D.C., federal court related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials. The following day he pleaded guilty to two criminal felony counts in a separate federal court, in Miami, related to his fraudulent dealings with casinos. He’s served time on the latter charges; the sentence handed down today related to the Washington charges.

”I come before you as a broken man,” Abramoff said at his sentencing on Thursday. ”I’m not the same man who happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption.”

According to the AP, Abramoff appeared “crestfallen” as the judge handed down a sentence lengthier than prosecutors had sought. Abramoff faced up to 11 years in the Congressional corruption case, though prosecutors had asked for a reduction, citing Abramoff’s assistance in other investigations. Had U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle accepted the Justice Department recommendation regarding his sentence, Abramoff could have been out of prison after another three years and three months.