Todd Boulanger

Boulanger Pleads Guilty

Zachary Roth | January 30, 2009, 5:13PM

Goodbye Savile Row, hello orange jumpsuit.

Todd Boulanger, the fashion-forward former lobbyist and Jack Abramoff crony who was indicted earlier this week for bribing government aides, has pleaded guilty, reports the Associated Press.

Boulanger has been cooperating with the investigation, according to his lawyer. Under the terms of his plea deal, prosecutors are recommending that he spend 18-24 months in prison, with reduced time if he continues to cooperate.

Boulanger was an aide to Sen. Bob Smith, a New Hampshire GOPer, before working with Abramoff as a lobbyist.

Court documents suggested that Boulanger and other members of Team Abramoff had schemed to provide a staffer to Mississippi senator Thad Cochran with tickets for concerts, ice skating, and other events.

Separate court records suggested that Boulanger also helped arrange a an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2003 World Series for Trevor Blackann, a former aide to Missouri senator Kit Bond. In November, Blackann pleaded guilty to making false statements on his tax returns in an effort to conceal the gift.

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Topics: Jack Abramoff, Lobbyists, Todd Boulanger

Todd Boulanger

Boulanger: "I Work To Support My Wife's Christian Louboutin Addiction"

Zachary Roth | January 29, 2009, 10:16AM

You may not have known this, but before former Team Abramoff lobbyist Todd Boulanger got indicted for bribing government aides, he was something of a fashion icon -- at least for the staid city he lived in.

In October 2006, he appeared in Washingtonian magazine's "Men with Style" package. Some gems:

How would you describe your style? Savile Row meets Thrasher magazine.

Favorite labels? Duncan Quinn, Paul Smith, Theory, John Varvatos, and Ralph Lauren. But nothing beats a custom suit.

Biggest splurge? It probably wasn't for me--I work to support my wife's Christian Louboutin addiction.

There are a lot of places we could go here, snark-wise. Better to leave it, maybe.

Still, given Boulanger's apparent love of fine fashion, we couldn't help noticing the fact that, during his once-thriving career as a Republican talking-head on cable TV, he once opined: "Barack Obama is a total diva."

It's in this Daily Show segment (Boulanger appears at the 3:15 mark), which fingers Boulanger as one of the many no-name political pundits who appear above fancy-sounding but meaningless titles like "GOP strategist."

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Topics: Todd Boulanger

Jack Abramoff

Another Member of Team Abramoff Charged

Zachary Roth | January 29, 2009, 9:09AM

At last, the bell has tolled for Todd Boulanger.

In November, he quit his job as a lobbyist at Cassidy and Associates, amid the growing likelihood that he'd be charged in Jack Abramoff's corruption scheme.

And now he has been.

The Associated Press reports:

The government says Todd Boulanger gave government aides "a stream of things of value," including all-expense-paid travel, tickets to professional sports and concerts and nights out at expensive restaurants, to reward and influence actions that would benefit his clients. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

One of those aides, it appears, was Trevor Blackann, a former staffer for Missouri Republicans Roy Blunt and Kit Bond, who pleaded guilty last fall to having accepted an all-expenses paid trip to the 2003 World Series -- including limousine service and a visit to a strip club -- arranged by Boulanger and another member of Team Abramoff, James Hirni.

But the Associated Press has identified another of the aides who accepted gifts from Boulanger: Ann Copland, a former staffer for Sen. Thad Cochran, the Mississippi Republican.

According to the documents, in 2002 Kevin Ring, another Abramoff crony who was charged last September, forwarded to Abramoff and Hirni an email from "Staffer E" (identified by AP as Copland), above which Ring wrote: "Wow ... We already told her she was fine on McCartney, ice skating and Green Day -- although we need to let her know how many tix she can have for each. Also, please review the other requests and let me know what we can do there."

Copland was hired by Mississippi Public Broadcasting in May 2008 as deputy executive director for education.

Before working with Abramoff, Boulanager was an aide to former Republican senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire.

It looks like Boulanger will plead guilty. The AP notes:

The charge was outlined in a federal court document known as an information -- a document normally filed as part of a plea deal.

So it's possible we could we see yet more charges filed in this long-running saga...

Late Update: Boulanger says he is cooperating with the investigation. His lawyer sent the following statement to AP:

Mr. Boulanger regrets this situation and is accepting responsibility for certain past conduct.

The circumstances underlying this situation arose more than five years ago, when Todd was employed by the law firm of Greenberg Traurig as a young lobbyist working under Jack Abramoff. Mr. Boulanger is cooperating with the Department of Justice in its investigation and looks forward to its complete and swift resolution.

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Topics: Jack Abramoff, Lobbyists, Todd Boulanger, Trevor Blackann