Abramoff figure told to pay $17.7M restitution to law firm

Thursday, April 21, 2011  

Michael Scanlon, one of the major figures in the Jack Abramoff scandal, must pay $17.7 million in restitution to the law firm that represented tribes, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

Scanlon pleaded guilty to defrauding his tribal clients. As part of the plea, he was ordered to pay $20.2 million in restitution.

Some of that money is to go to tribes. For example, Scanlon was ordered to pay $2 million to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and nearly $493,000 to Sandia Pueblo.

But the rest of the money must go to Greenberg Traurig, the law and lobbying firm where Abramoff worked. Judge Royce Lamberth said the total comes to almost $17.7 million.

According to Lamberth's decision, the firm is owed money because it paid the other tribes that Scanlon and Abramoff victimized. The exact amounts were not disclosed.

"All of the victims that GT compensated had sued or threatened civil litigation against GT for the same conduct in which defendant had engaged," Lamberth wrote. "In total, GT paid the victims $17,699,000 in compensation and civil settlement for losses caused by the scheme entered into by defendant and Abramoff."

Get the Story:
D.C. Judge: Scanlon Must Pay Greenberg Traurig $17.7M (The Blog of Legal Times 4/20)