Ann Copland

Cochran Aide Pleads Guilty In Abramoff Scheme

Zachary Roth | March 10, 2009, 3:29PM

Another day, another guilty plea in the Abramoff saga.

This time it's Ann Copland, the former longtime aide to Mississippi GOP senator Thad Cochran, who was indicted recently on charges that she accepted gifts from Team Abramoff including tickets for concerts and sports events. In exchange, Copland used her position to help Abramoff's clients, the Mississippi Choctaw Indians.

The plea was announced in a Department of Justice press release.

Todd Boulanger, the Abramoff crony who has already pleaded guilty in connection with the wide-ranging scam, once sent an email to Abramoff arguing that Copland should be kept happy because, ''she's more valuable to us than a rank-and-file House member.''

Emails suggest Copland was particularly demanding in seeking favors from Abramoff's crew.

Copland worked for Cochran for 29 years, before abruptly quitting last spring, as her name began to surface in connection with Abramoff.

Today's plea deal, which presumably involves a pledge to cooperate with the ongoing prove, will likely increase speculation that Cochran, who has not been charged with anything, could be in prosecutors' crosshairs.

Don Young

Don Young Aide The Latest To Be Indicted In Abramoff Scam

Zachary Roth | March 6, 2009, 3:30PM

Yet another indictment in the Jack Abramoff case...

The Justice Department has announced that Fraser Verrusio, the other Hill staffer who went on that 2003 Team-Abramoff-funded trip to the World Series -- including a trip to a strip club and a chauffeur-driven limousine -- has been charged with accepting an illegal gift, and failing to report it on his financial disclosure form.

Last November, Trevor Blackann, an aide to Sen. Kit Bond, pleaded guilty to failing to report that same trip.

Verusio was at the time a policy director on the House Transportation committee. According to the indictment, he accepted the trip in exchange for inserting into the Federal Highway bill amendments favorable to an equipment rental company, which had hired Abramoff's firm to lobby for it.

Todd Boulanger and James Hirni, two members of Abramoff's team, have already pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.

The Transportation committee was at the time chaired by Alaska GOPer Don Young. So today's news may bring federal prosecutors closer to Young himself, whose ties to Abramoff and his firm have been amply documented.

We're guessing it won't be long before prosecutors announce a plea deal with Verrusio, in which he agrees to cooperate fully. Hope those strippers were worth it.

Ann Copland

Cochran Aide Charged In Abramoff Probe

Zachary Roth | February 23, 2009, 9:23AM

The next domino is set to fall in the Jack Abramoff saga.

Ann Copland, a former longtime aide to Sen. Thad Cochrain (R-MS), was charged late last week with accepting gifts from, and doing favors for, the corrupt lobbyist and his cronies.

Reports the Associated Press:

Court documents filed Thursday say Ann Copland took thousands of dollars worth of event tickets and meals out in Washington from Abramoff and associates at his firm. Prosecutors say the gifts were in exchange for her favors benefiting one of their top clients, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

For weeks, there had been speculation that this move might be coming. When Team Abramoff member Todd Boulanger was charged last month, court documents referred to a Cochran staffer as having accepted gifts from Boulanger, in exchange for doing legislative favors for the Choctaw. The Associated Press quickly identified the staffer as Copland.

Then when Boulanger pleaded guilty shortly after, court documents revealed email exchanges between him and Copland, in which she complained that there were no "Hebrew National hotdogs" in the corporate suite at a Baltimore Orioles game that Abramoff's firm had provided her, and declared she was "freaking out" because no food was provided for her party at a Washington ice skating event.

Boulanger once wrote to Abramoff of Copland:

She's more valuable to us than a rank and file house member.

Copland abruptly left Cochran's office last year as Abramoff prosecutors gained more convictions of Hill aides. She had worked there 29 years.

So: Could the wide-ranging probe now have Cochran in its sights? We may be about to find out...

Jack Abramoff

Cochran Aide To Abramoff Crony: Why No Hebrew National Hotdogs?

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2009, 3:41PM

We've told you about Ann Copland, the former aide to Mississippi GOP senator Thad Cochran, who, according to court documents, accepted tickets to ball-games, concerts, and other events from Abramoff crony Todd Boulanger, in return for getting Cochran to take actions benefiting Abramoff's clients.

Well today the Associated Press offers some more great details about how things worked between Copland and Boulanger.

In June 2003, Copland emailed Boulanger from a suite a luxury suite at Baltimore's Camden Yards, where she had taken a group to watch an Orioles game:

"Ackkk. Only beer and no Hebrew National hot dogs," complained Copland.

Ackkk indeed.

That email was included in Boulanger's plea agreement last week, when he pleaded guilty to bribing several Hill aides.

Here's another good exchange. Reports the AP:

Copland apparently grew so comfortable accepting gifts that she sounded angry in one e-mail from the firm's box suite at a Washington ice-skating event after no food had arrived for her party of 14 people.

"I'm freaking out here," she wrote Boulanger.

He responded that she would be reimbursed if she had to buy food herself.

What was Copland giving in return? The AP explains:

For example, when Copland asked Boulanger for the suite at the Orioles game in 2003, he responded in part by asking whether a Choctaw provision the firm no longer wanted had been removed from an appropriations bill.

Copland assured him it had, and the final version of the bill contained an explicit statement that the provision "is no longer necessary."

Boulanger once wrote to Abramoff, of Copland:

She's more valuable to us than a rank and file house member.

Jack Abramoff

Report: Staffer Who Got Gifts From Team Abramoff Was Gregg Aide

Zachary Roth | February 4, 2009, 2:50PM

Last week, when Todd Boulanger pleaded guilty to his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, he cited a Staffer F in his plea. That staffer had received tickets to hockey and baseball games (with champagne and filet mignon provided, in the latter case) from Boulanger and Team Abramoff.

And today the Associated Press reports that Staffer F is Kevin Koonce, a former legislative director for New Hampshire GOP senator Judd Gregg.

Koonce, who has not been charged with a crime, now works at a private firm, Sorini Samet & Associates. But he told the AP he's on personal leave. Another staffer who received similar favors from Team Abramoff, Trevor Blackann, pleaded guilty last fall to failing to disclose the gifts on his tax returns.

Gregg was announced yesterday as President Obama's pick for Commerce Secretary.
Asked about that inconvenient fact by a reporter just now at a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stressed that Gregg is not a target of the investigation, and that Koonce left Gregg's office in 2004.

Some good details from the AP's rundown:

As part of the plea documents, prosecutors said Staffer F tried to help insert spending measures and add other amendments to legislation for Boulanger's clients. Later, the staffer asked Boulanger if he could "score some hockey tickets," and Boulanger got him front-row seats.

Boulanger later got the staffer box tickets to see the Baltimore Orioles, but he wanted more.

"Could you make sure there's beer this time," he wrote in an e-mail. I "mean, the red sox, crab cakes, and fillet mignon's were nice but ... haha."

Later, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff expressing confidence that the senator for whom the staffer worked would give them a favor. "Easy money," Boulanger wrote, adding that the aide "practically lives in our various suites. We are shady."

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.

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."

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.

Lobbyists

Wal-Mart Cans GOP Lobbyist After He's Charged in Abramoff Scheme

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2008, 3:10PM

Wal-Mart has fired James Hirni, the former Team Abramoff lobbyist who prosecutors on Friday charged with giving illegal gifts to two congressional staffers.

In a statement emailed to The Hill, a company spokesman wrote:

"Based on Mr. Hirni's [expected] guilty plea which relates to conduct occurring prior to and unrelated to his employment by the company, we terminated his employment."

Todd Boulanger, another former Abramoff team member implicated in the scheme resigned on Friday from the lobbying firm Cassidy and Associates. Boulanger has not been formally charged at this point.

Hirni had worked as Wal-Mart's "director of Republican outreach". He first represented the retail giant in 2004 while working with Abramoff at the law and lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig.

Jack Abramoff

Abramoff Lobbyists Wanted Measure Attached To Young's Transportation Bill

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2008, 12:29PM

So what did James Hirni and Todd Boulanger -- the former Team Abramoff lobbyists now in hot water for plying congressional staffers with undisclosed gifts -- want in return?

Both men were working for Abramoff at the law and lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig, on behalf of United Rentals, an equipment rental company. Court documents filed by prosecutors allege that in 2003, they wanted action on an amendment to a federal highway reauthorization bill that would have encouraged state public works agencies to rent, rather than buy, construction equipment. That would clearly have benefited United Rentals.

The documents further allege that immediately after they had paid for Blackann and another staffer (identified as Staffer D) to attend the World Series (and a "Gentleman's Club" in New York), Boulanger and Hinri sent drafts of the specific measure they wanted to Trevor Blackann, the staffer who just pleaded in connection with the scheme, and Staffer D.

Staffer D at the time worked for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which was then chaired by Rep. Don Young (R-AK). That committee was overseeing the larger highway reauthorization bill to which Boulanger and Hirni were seeking to attach their measure.

In November of that year, say the documents, Boulanger and Hirni prevailed on a Senate staffer to offer the amendment they wanted to the Senate version of the bill.

United Rentals hardly has a squeaky clean reputation. This September, it agreed to pay the SEC $14 million, ending a four-year probe into claims that the company fraudulently inflated its earnings and made fraudulent leasing transactions with suppliers, between 1997 and 2002. It did not admit or deny the charges.

Jack Abramoff

Another Ex-Member of Team Abramoff Charged -- And One More Could Be Next

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2008, 11:07AM

More developments in the ongoing Jack Abramoff probe...

Last week Trevor Blackann, a former staffer for Missouri Republicans Roy Blunt and Kit Bond, pleaded guilty to concealing thousands of dollars in illegal gifts he received from lobbyists who were part of Team Abramoff.

Those lobbyists were quickly identified as James Hirni, until recently a lobbyist for Wal-Mart, and Todd Boulanger, who until last week worked for Cassidy and Associates, a top DC lobby shop.

And late Friday, ABCNews.com reported that prosecutors had filed charges against Hirni, and that he's expected to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Hirni's lawyer told the site that Hirni is cooperating with prosecutors, suggesting that DOJ is working to build cases against bigger fish.

As for Boulanger, he could be next to be charged: also Friday, Cassidy and Associates announced that it had "accepted the departure" of the lobbyist that afternoon.

Todd Boulanger

Justice Docs Suggest Identities of Team Abramoff Lobbyists Who Bribed Aide

Zachary Roth | November 21, 2008, 11:09AM

Yesterday, Trevor Blackann, a former aide to Missouri Republicans Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt, pleaded guilty to concealing thousands of dollars in illegal gifts he received from lobbyists who were part of Team Abramoff.

Exactly who were those lobbyists? Today, Rollcall fingers Todd Boulanger and James Hirni as the top suspects:

According to documents provided by the Justice Department, Blackann received the majority of gifts -- valued at more than $3,100 -- in 2003 from an individual identified only as "Lobbyist D," a close Abramoff associate.

But details provided about "Lobbyist D" match the career trajectory of Todd Boulanger, a former aide to then-Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.), who later worked for the firm Preston Gates and then Greenberg Traurig.

...

Although unnamed, details about "Lobbyist E" match those of James Hirni, a former Senate aide who at one time worked for Greenberg Traurig with both "Lobbyist D" and Abramoff.

Boulanger has long been known as a key member of Team Abramoff. In 2006, TPMmuckraker published a 2002 email he sent to fellow lobbyists, asking them to contribute to the re-election camapign of Mississippi GOP senator Thad Cochran, whose office, wrote Boulanger, had "never said 'no'" to the Choctaw Indians, a casino-owning Abramoff client.

Both Boulanger and Hirni are still in the lobbying game. Boulanger works for Cassidy and Associates, while Hirni is a "director of Republican outreach" for Wal-Mart, according to Roll Call. Neither returned the paper's calls for comment.

Perhaps ominously for both, Blackann is said by his lawyer to be cooperating with prosecutors as they seek to build other cases.

As for Bond and Blunt themselves, the office of the former said yesterday he had "no knowledge" of Blackann's ilegal activities. Blunt's office has not yet commented publicly on the matter.