MIAMI --Sporting a beige baseball cap, disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff blew into Miami for a few hours yesterday to plead guilty to federal fraud charges stemming from his controversial purchase of a South Florida fleet of gambling ships.
Abramoff wore the cap as he arrived in a black Lincoln Town Car accompanied by his two lawyers. He took it off during his plea hearing, then donned it again as he dashed out the side door of the Miami federal courthouse.
Abramoff's brief court appearance followed his guilty plea Tuesday in a separate Washington corruption case - a widening Justice Department investigation in which he is the star witness.
The lobbyist, once close to former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, is expected to name several lawmakers who received millions of dollars in campaign donations, luxury trips and gourmet meals from him and others allegedly in exchange for legislative favors.
At his plea hearing in a Washington federal court, Abramoff invoked God as he apologized for his conduct while representing Indian tribes that own casinos.
In Miami, Abramoff was mostly silent. He answered U.S. District Judge Paul Huck's questions politely but did not express any remorse for conspiring with a business partner to defraud lenders in their $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos in 2000.
After the short hearing, Abramoff zipped out of the courthouse with his Washington lawyer, Abbe Lowell, to catch a flight back to the nation's capital.
Abramoff and a New York businessman, Adam Kidan, were charged last summer with lying to lenders about putting down $23 million to qualify for a $60 million loan to seal the SunCruz deal. They never made the down payment, though they sent bogus documents to the lenders that showed they had.
The SunCruz deal allowed the partners to pay themselves $500,000 salaries and to divert $310,000 in SunCruz money for Washington-area sports sky boxes for GOP fundraisers orchestrated by Abramoff.
"He will face the consequences of his actions," said interim U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, crediting South Florida prosecutors Lawrence LaVecchio, Paul Schwartz and Guy Singer along with FBI agent Susan Sprengel.
In the SunCruz case, Abramoff faces up to seven years in prison and must repay the lenders, but he is expected to get a stiffer sentence in the Washington case - up to 11 years. His deal with federal prosecutors allows him to serve the time concurrently.
Abramoff, 46, is free for now on a $2.25 million bond. A sentencing hearing is set for March 16. Kidan, 41, also out on a $500,000 bond, pleaded guilty last month. He faces up to seven years in prison at his March 1 sentencing.
