J. Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Interior Department, has been told that he will likely be indicted for lying about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Griles was told of possible charges by letter and by a meeting with federal prosecutors last Friday. "We are shocked and disappointed at this turn of events," his lawyer said.
The charges center over Griles' testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2005. He denied doing any favors for Abramoff's tribal clients but was contradicted by a former colleague and by other evidence that suggested he was overly concerned about gaming, land-into-trust and federal recognition issues.
Griles left Interior in December 2004 and started a lobbying firm whose clients include the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma. He has been dating Sue Ellen Wooldridge, a Justice Department official who oversaw the defense of the tribe's trust mismanagement case and a settlement.
At Interior, Griles said in a court declaration that he was in "charge" of all Indian trust matters. Wooldridge, who used to be the top lawyer at Interior, suddenly resigned on Monday.
Get the Story:Former Official Is Said to Be a Focus of Lobbyist Inquiry (The New York Times 1/11)
pwnyt Senate Finance Committee Democratic Report:
Text Only | Response to Democratic Staff | Investigation of Jack Abramoff�s Use of Tax-Exempt Organizations (October 12, 2006) Note: 18.3MB file may be slow to load. Senate Finance Committee Materials:
Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy | Americans for Tax Reform | National Center for Public Policy Research | Citizens Against Government Waste | Toward Tradition | News Article Clippings House Government Reform Committee Documents:
Report | Billing Records Spreadsheet | Attachment 1 | Attachment 2 | Press Release Senate Indian Affairs Committee Abramoff Report:
�GIMME FIVE�� INVESTIGATION OF TRIBAL LOBBYING MATTERS (June 2006) Exhibits:
Pre-2001 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Undated | Finance Related Stories:
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