Another Abramoff Associate Charged

ABC News’ Jason Ryan Reports:  Italia Federici, the President of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), has been charged in a criminal information for tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation.

Federici is the 11th individual charged in the corruption scandal generated by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his political dealings.

Federici moved CREA to Washington, D.C. in 1998 from Colorado with the assistance of J. Steven Griles, who was at the time working as a lobbyist. According to the charging document, "Griles took an active interest in CREA and thereafter assisted in raising funds for CREA."

Griles would later become the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Interior.

According to the criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in March of 2001 Federici introduced Griles to Abramoff. "Shortly thereafter, Abramoff, personally and through his clients, became a substantial contributor to CREA. In fact, from in or about March 2001, through in or about May 2003, Abramoff and his clients donated approximately $500,000 to CREA."

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee began investigating Abramoff’s lobbying work for Native American tribes and his links with the Interior Department in 2004.

Federici was also charged for her misleading investigators and Senators when they interviewed her in 2005. "Federici  knowingly and intentionally made a series of materially false and fictitious declarations to, and withheld material information from, Senators and Senate investigators in response to questions about the extent to which she, Abramoff, and Griles communicated about issues pending before [the Department of Interior]," the criminal information alleged.

The committee issued a report on its investigation and noted, "Abramoff apparently had his clients contribute to CREA, described by CREA president Italia Federici as a ‘mom and pop’ operation, because he believed that Federici would help him possibly influence tribal issues pending at the Department of the Interior."

The nature of how Federici handled her finances for CREA led to her tax evasion charge. The charging document noted that she "relied primarily on cash, including ATM transactions, to handle the finances of CREA. As a result, CREA failed to maintain proper financial books and records of its bank and business accounts." According to the document she failed to pay $31,178 in taxes.

A hearing on Federici’s case is scheduled for Friday, June 8, at 10 a.m. before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, the judge who has overseen many of the Abramoff related cases.