Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) Expected to Plead Guilty

ABC’s Jason Ryan Reports: Bob Ney is expected to plead guilty to counts of conspiracy and false statements before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle for federal corruption charges tomorrow morning.

Ney will admit to receiving international and domestic trips, frequent meals and drinks with costs exceeding thousands of dollars (primarily at Lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s restaurant), tickets to concets at Baltimore/Washington area venues, tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and in-kind campaign contributions in the form of free fundraisers all in exchange for political favours.

One example… in February 2003 Ney and a staffer traveled to London to meet with Fouad al-Zayat a Syrian-born businessman known as "Big Money" because he enjoys gambling.

Shortly after the February 2003 trip, ABC News has confirmed from law enforcement sources, that Ney was seeking to get a State Department exemption for Zayat’s business allowing his firm to sell commercial aviation parts in Iran. Court documents filed in the case note, "Following the February 2003 trip, on behalf of the Foreign Businessman, Ney contacted the State Department to inquire about the status of U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of U.S.-made airplanes and airplane parts to a foreign country."

Ney and other staffers took an August 2003 trip back to London to meet with Zayat, once again the businessman furnished them with gambling chips.

On this excursion Ney kept the chips, totaling about $47,000 worth of British pounds and gave one of his staffers $5,000 in pounds to carry through US Customs so Ney could report a lower dollar amount as he returned to the US.Supporting and/or opposing legislation at Abramoff’s request, including attempting to insert four separate, non election-related amendments sought by Abramoff and his clients into election reform legislation known as the "Help America Vote Act".

Click Here to Read the Actual Court Document

ABC’s Dan Beckmann contributed to this story.