Guilty Plea in Abramoff-Linked Case

April 22, 2008— -- A former Justice Department official pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to a federal conflict of interest charge for his connections with a friend and former lobbyist tied to Jack Abramoff.

Robert E. Coughlin II pleaded guilty to participating in matters with lobbyist Kevin Ring who is identified as "Lobbyist A" in court records.

According to the court documents outlining the offense, Coughlin did not have substantive contacts with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has been identified as "Lobbyist B" in the court records.

The conflict of interest violations all took place before Coughlin was appointed as deputy chief of staff at the department's criminal division, a position he held until last year. Previously, he had also worked in the Justice Department's office of legislative affairs and later as the deputy director of the office of intergovernmental and public liaison.

Joshua Berman, Coughlin's lawyer, said in a statement after the hearing, "Mr. Coughlin is deeply saddened by these events and looks forward to focusing his attention on his family and moving forward with his life."

According to court documents filed at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Coughlin accepted numerous things of value from Ring while he worked at the Justice Department, including "meals and drinks at upscale restaurants in Washington, D.C., including Signatures, a restaurant owned by [Abramoff].

"These items of value also included rounds of golf and stadium and luxury-suite tickets to concerts and sporting events at the MCI Center, Camden Yards and FedEx Field," the documents continued.

"Coughlin understood that, in general, Lobbyist A [Ring] did not pay for these meals, tickets or golf outings with his personal funds. Coughlin believed that, in general, The Law/Lobbying firm [Greenberg Traurig], rather than a particular client, was paying for these costs. Coughlin did not know that Lobbyist A billed the hours he spent socializing with Coughlin as lobbying activities," the court records noted.