Column: Love sent J. Steven Griles to prison

"Love is a many-splendored thing -- unless you're under investigation by the feds. Then it can be quite a nuisance.

Had J. Steven Griles not been busy with so many lady friends while serving as the No. 2 official in the Interior Department, he probably wouldn't have scored a date yesterday with another woman: Judge Ellen Huvelle of U.S. District Court, who sentenced Griles to 10 months in prison for obstructing an investigation into the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Griles asked Abramoff for favors for the women in his life, prosecutors said, and in exchange helped Abramoff's clients with their government business. One of Griles's girlfriends, Italia Federici, got $500,000 for her nonprofit from Abramoff's Indian tribes.

"I concealed the nature and extent of my true relationship with Italia Federici," Griles confessed to the judge yesterday in a statement interrupted by stifled sobs. Choking out the words, a burly, red-faced Griles told Huvelle that "this has been the most difficult time in my life. My guilty plea has brought me great shame and embarrassment."

And the shame wasn't about to end. "Even now, you continue to minimize and try to excuse your conduct," the judge told him, giving him twice as much time behind bars as prosecutors had recommended. "You went far beyond keeping your relationship with Ms. Federici a secret."

Some romantics shower their women with wine and roses. Griles did better than that. Prosecutors said he asked Abramoff to fund a charity proposed by one woman he was dating. They said he asked Abramoff to get his law firm to hire two other women he was dating. And then there was all that Abramoff tribal money that went to Federici. Two decades Griles's junior, she was the one who introduced the two men and eventually helped with the Abramoff probe after pleading guilty to tax and perjury charges.

When the Interior Department's inspector general looked into his dealings with lobbyists, Griles, a former mining lobbyist, sought the counsel of Sue Ellen Wooldridge, another woman in the department. Wooldridge, who later joined the Justice Department, became Griles's third wife in March, three days after his guilty plea."

Get the Story:
Dana Milbank: Abramoff, Prison and a Crazy Little Thing Called Love (The Washington Post 6/27)
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Selected Letters:
Elouise Cobell | Bill Anoatubby | Jim Cason | Donald Hodel | Neal McCaleb | Gale Norton | Ross Swimmer

More Letters:
Exhibit Volume 1 (PDF 266 pages)

Griles Calendars:
July 2001 - February 2002 | February 2002 - July 2002 | July 2002 - December 2002 | December 2002 - July 2003

Relevant Documents:
DOJ Sentencing Memorandum | (June 15, 2007) | Griles Sentencing Memorandum (June 8, 2007) | Criminal Information (March 23, 2007)

Other Documents:
Federici Charge (June 5, 2007) | Federici Factual Information (June 5, 2007)

Senate Indian Affairs Committee Abramoff Report:
“GIMME FIVE”— INVESTIGATION OF TRIBAL LOBBYING MATTERS (June 2006)

Exhibits:
Pre-2001 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Undated | Finance

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