Hours after he agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges likely to land him in prison, Ohio Republicans yesterday called on Rep. Bob Ney to resign his seat.
In court documents made public yesterday, the congressman from Heath admitted accepting thousands of dollars in gambling chips from a Syrian businessman and free trips, drinks and food from now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff....
...The plea agreement painted a portrait of Ney eagerly willing to do official favors for those who provided him with free trips, cash and other benefits. The agreement shows how Ney used his connections with Abramoff and the Syrian businessman to enjoy a lifestyle that he could not afford on his $165,200 annual congressional salary.
"Congressman Ney admits that he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of benefits, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, in exchange for agreeing to perform, and performing, a series of official acts," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher. "He also admitted deceiving the public and the U.S. House of Representatives about his actions."
...The agreement provided startling new details of Ney’s two trips to London in 2003 to meet with Syrian-born businessman Fouad al-Zayat, who wanted Ney’s help in ending a U.S. government ban on doing business with Iran. Al-Zayat, known in London gambling circles as the "Fat Man," wanted to sell airplanes and airplane parts to Iran and, according to the plea agreement, Ney promised to ask the State Department to lift the ban and grant a visa for al-Zayat.
The Dispatch has reported that Ney had dinner in February 2003 with al-Zayat at a posh London casino where al-Zayat held a membership. In August 2003, Ney returned to the same casino, where he reported on his House financial disclosure records winning $34,000 from an initial $100 bet on a game of chance.
But according to the plea agreement, al-Zayat actually supplied Ney and at least one unnamed Ney staff member with thousands of dollars in gambling chips and allowed Ney to pocket the winnings. The plea agreement said Ney returned to the United States in February 2003 with $3,250 in winnings and $47,000 more in August of that year.
The plea agreement shows that Ney undertook extensive precautions to hide the amount of gambling money he brought back into the United States. Prosecutors said that during the August 2003 trip, Ney handed $5,000 to the unnamed staff member and asked him to carry the money through U.S. customs.
Ney admitted in the plea documents that he "intentionally concealed his receipt of the things of value from Abramoff and the foreign businessman," including filing a false U.S. Customs disclosure form where he stated his winnings, false congressional travel-disclosure forms and false congressional annual financial-disclosure forms.
In addition to casino-related money, the plea agreement said that Ney accepted three free trips from Abramoff — an August 2002 golfing junket to Scotland on a private jet, valued at $160,000; a gambling and vacation outing in New Orleans in May 2003, valued at $7,200; and a trip to Lake George, N.Y., in August 2003, at a cost of more than $3,500.
Ney also accepted "frequent meals and drinks," mostly at Abramoff’s then-Washington restaurant, Signatures, with total costs exceeding "many thousands of dollars," according to the Justice Department. Ney also took tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.
In return, Ney did such legislative favors as helping an Abramoff client to win a lucrative contract to install wireless telephone service in the House and promised Abramoff that he would insert into an election reform bill a provision that would have benefited a Texas tribe that wanted federal permission to re-open a casino...
