Abramoff's charity's claims disputed.

[Dr.Phool]

I picked up this article by way of TPM.


http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/12/15abramoff.html

Abramoff charity's claims disputed
Groups listed as beneficiaries of more than $330,000 in gifts say they never got them
By Chuck Lindell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, December 15, 2005

Capital Athletic Foundation, a charity run by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff now at the center of an influence-peddling investigation on Capitol Hill, told the IRS it gave away more than $330,000 in grants in 2002 to four other charities that say they never received the money.

"We've never received a $300,000 gift, not in our 28 years," a surprised Rabbi Burton Jaffa, P'TACH's national director, told the Austin American-States- man. "It would have been gone by now. I guess I would have been able to pay some teachers on time."

Federal investigators have not contacted P'TACH about the grant, Jaffa said. Representa- tives of three other nonprofits that supposedly received Capital Athletic money also said they have not been contacted.

The largest grant the foundation listed in its 2002 tax filing was for $300,000 to P'TACH of New York, a nonprofit that helps Jewish children with learning disabilities.


(snip) much more

The discrepancy also follows e-mails between Abramoff and members of his lobbying team that say then-House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land wanted to raise money through Capital Athletic for an unspecified purpose. In one of those e-mails, Abramoff announced a $200,000 fundraising goal.

DeLay does not recall making such a request, his lawyer, Richard Cullen, said Wednesday. Capital Athletic's tax return does not indicate whether Abramoff reached his $200,000 goal.


(snip)


Wonder why Ronnie Earle is getting involved in this? Josh Marshall says "don't automatically assume it went into Abramoff's pocket".

Gee, I wonder Who.

[redqueen]

1. Beauty!

Wonder when those federal investigators will get around to checking this out.

[Demeter]

2. Yes! Get the IRS Involved!

Way to go, Abramoff--All the Way!

[NVMojo]

3. Where's there smoke, there's fire ...

[0007]

4. Just see the name of Abramoff brings a reaction of feeling for

my wallet.

[MagickMuffin]

5. Check out this article from Newsweak

This might answer some questions!

The pitch worked especially well among a group of Indian tribes who, having opened up lucrative gaming casinos, had hired Abramoff to protect their interests in Washington. In 2002 alone, records show, three Indian tribes donated nearly $1.1 million to the Capital Athletic Foundation.
But now, NEWSWEEK has learned, investigators probing Abramoff's finances have found some of the money meant for inner-city kids went instead to fight the Palestinian intifada. More than $140,000 of foundation funds were actually sent to the Israeli West Bank where they were used by a Jewish settler to mobilize against the Palestinian uprising. Among the expenditures: purchases of camouflage suits, sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, a thermal imager and other material described in foundation records as "security" equipment. The FBI, sources tell NEWSWEEK, is now examining these payments as part of a larger investigation to determine if Abramoff defrauded his Indian tribe clients. The tribal donors are outraged. "This is almost like outer-limits bizarre," says Henry Buffalo, a lawyer for the Saginaw Chippewa Indians who contributed $25,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation at Abramoff's urging. "The tribe would never have given money for this."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7615249/site/newsweek/