Scamfluencers - Jack Abramoff: Bringing Down the House Part 1

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Jack Abramoff got his start bending the rules while he was still in elementary school… and never stopped. At first, he works to advance right-wing causes he believes in. Jack’s principles start to fade once he finds his true calling: using pay-to-play politics to amass wealth and power for himself and his friends. Years before calls to drain the swamp, Jack Abramoff was The Swamp Thing.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple podcasts. [♪THEME MUSIC PLAYING WONDERY PLUS SONG PLAYS WONDERY PLUS SONG PLAYS WONDERY PLUS SONG PLAYS Sarah, do you know what a lobbyist is by chance? You know, you'd be surprised to know that I do.

It's like a representative of a private interest, and their job is to push government officials to pass laws and they use money to do it. They promise certain things. It's like an exchange so that whatever they're representing gets funded or legalized or whatever. I am actually surprised that you know what a lobbyist is and you knew so fast. Because it is one of those jobs that's like distinctly American. Like you and I never heard really about lobbyists that much growing up. It's like, what's a comptroller?

What's a district attorney? I don't really know what these words mean. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure we have some form of lobbying in Canada, but it is one of those things that is a bit vague and I think kind of on purpose, you know? Well, Sarah, here's the good news. Today, you're gonna learn so much about lobbying that you're gonna wish that you could forget it.

It's June, 2001, and Michael Scanlon is sweating hard as he runs across a fancy racquetball court in Washington, D.C. Michael is a fair-haired guy in his early 30s. He used to be a press secretary for a member of Congress and currently has his own PR firm. So he normally wears suits and ties. Today, he's in shorts and sneakers,

but he's still definitely working. Michael's opponent is a super successful lobbyist named Jack Abramoff. Jack is about a decade older than Michael. He's broad-shouldered and bulky with hawk-like features. Michael and Jack are both athletic and hyper-competitive. The two are furiously battling it out, chasing down shots and slamming them back as hard as they can.

Neither of them wants to lose, particularly Michael. Michael looks up to Jack and he wants to impress him. He knows this isn't just about playing well. It's about the essence of lobbying, talking shit. And Jack has a legendary way with words. Sarah, can you read this example from an old email that Jack once sent Michael before a racquetball game? Yeah, it says, I love this bitch talk, you punk ass bitch. As soon as I get yo ass on court,

you be crying like a baby. I feel like this is someone who should not be talking that way. I don't like when people like this type in a black sentence, you know? Right. There's several issues chief amongst them that, yes. Well, Sarah, here's the thing.

Jack actually talks like this all the time. He works hard and he plays hard. He quotes the Godfather in business meetings. He regularly sends emails at 3 a.m. Michael wants to emulate Jack, and he's hoping that his friendship with Jack will be his ticket to the top. Right now, things between them are at an inflection point. Michael left his job working for a powerful Republican

in the House of Representatives to work for Jack at his lobbying firm. But Michael wasn't bringing in much new business, so the firm let him go after only six months. And while his new PR business is supposed to create grassroots political campaigns, they only seem to have one client. A company Michael found through Jack. Michael is looking for an infusion of quick cash. He has a history of credit card debt and owes a good chunk every month

in child support payments. So instead of trying to grow his business long-term, he's looking to sell. And that's what he and Jack are supposed to talk about today. At the end of the match, the two men walk over to the bench to wipe their faces and chug some water. And then they get down to business.

Michael says that if Jack can help him land new clients and make the company look more successful, they can sell the business without having to actually do any work on the client's behalf. He thinks that if they can get $3 million a new business, Michael can sell the firm for $9 million, and the two of them can split the profits. Jack says he's game,

and he has the perfect clients in mind, indigenous tribes. For years, Jack's lobbied on the tribe's behalf to keep their casinos open. The money they make from gambling subsidizes things like health care and school costs. But states are always threatening to tax their income or ban gambling altogether.

And since indigenous people haven't exactly had the best track record with the US government, they've hired lobbyists who know how the political game is played to help them out. Michael knows that Jack has made millions through his questionable lobbying tactics. But he and Jack have just hatched a scam that will eventually land them both in prison.

It'll unwind Jack's decades-long streak of shady dealings and take some of Washington's biggest political players down with him. I'm Raza Jafri and in the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Willie Carlin, the spy who sold peace to the IRA. When Carlin, the spy who sold peace to the IRA. When Carlin quit the British army to return to Northern Ireland during the troubles, he received an unusual job offer to spy on his own community. He would quickly find himself deep within the Irish Republican movement, having to choose between preserving his cover or his conscience.

having to choose between preserving his cover or his conscience. For 30 years, paramilitary groups from both sides murdered, maimed and bombed, while British intelligence waged a dirty war in the shadows. Follow the Spy Who on the Wondery app, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of The Spy Who Who Sold Peace to the IRA early and ad-free with Wandery Plus. Alice and Matt here from British Scandal. Matt, if we had a bingo card, what would be on there? Oh, compelling storytelling, egotistical white men and dubious humour.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, you will love our podcast, British Scandal, the show where every week we bring you stories from this green and not always so pleasant land. We've looked at spies, politicians, media magnates, a king, no one is safe. And knowing our country, we won't be out of a job anytime soon. Follow British Scandal wherever you listen to your podcasts.

From Wondery, I'm Sachi Cole and I'm Sarah Haggi and this is Scamfluencers. Years before people started talking about draining the swamp, Jack Abramoff was the swamp thing. He got to start bending the rules while he was still in elementary school. And he never stopped. He started out as an ideologue willing to bend the rules to benefit the right-wing causes he believes in. But Jack's principles start to fade once he finds his true calling, using pay-to-play politics to amass wealth and power for himself and his friends.

You may have heard of him, but we promise you don't really know Jack. I'm calling this Jack Abramoff bringing down the house, part one. Jack Abramoff is born in Atlantic City in 1959, and he starts learning about money and power early. When he's 10 years old, his dad becomes the president of a credit card company, and the family moves from New Jersey to Beverly Hills. Jack later says that they travel there in the private jet

of his dad's friend and former employer, the golfer and beverage inventor Arnold Palmer. Jack is also the rare person who gets more religious and conservative after coming to Hollywood. His parents are Republican and secular Jews, but when he's 12, his dad takes him to see the movie Fiddler on the Roof. Now, Fiddler is about how sometimes you have to let go of tradition and embrace change. But that is not the message that Jack takes from it.

Instead, he leaves the theater determined to become an Orthodox Jew. I do love when someone gets the opposite message from an important piece of media. That is one of my all-time favorite things people we cover do. Yeah, really delightful when people just don't get it. Jack also says he spent his childhood in the 60s, quote, watching in disgust each evening as the news showed hippies attending rock concerts and radicals burning the American flag. Jack's political career begins in the eighth grade when he runs to be student council president. According to an old classmate, Jack throws a party as a way to win votes.

But when the school's principal finds out, he disqualifies Jack for exceeding the $15 campaign spending limit. But, and you're going to hear me say this a lot during this episode, Sarah, that's not how Jack tells the story. In his book, Capital Punishment, the hard truth about Washington corruption from America's most notorious lobbyists, Jack claims that actually it was his dad

who threw the party. Jack says he got a concussion playing flag football just one day before the election, and his dad organized the party to cheer him up. According to Jack, he didn't know until a few days later that the party, and the hot dogs they served, counted towards campaign spending. Jack also says that his civics teacher, Mr. Forgis, is the one who disqualifies him from the election rather than the principal, and he paints quite a scene of how it all went

down. Sarah, can you read how Jack describes this moment? He says, I broke the rules and I'm going to withdraw from the race. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I don't want to continue. Forges grabbed me and gave me a hug. I needed one. Jack, one day you will be very proud of what you did here today, said Mr. Forges. I mean this obviously didn't happen and it's kind of sad that he's reimagining his childhood this way.

We've all done stupid things as kids, but that he is creating this scenario to me is so depressing. Yes, his version of reality is upsetting. Well, the next year, Jack moves on to high school where he takes up weightlifting and plays football. At this point, he looks like a jock and he acts like one too. One of his classmates is future Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jonathan Gold, and Jonathan later describes Jack as, quote, the sort of person who would walk across the street to be unpleasant to

somebody. He actually went on This American Life to tell a story about a high school encounter with Jack. In my most notable instance, I was walking down the hall to history class and he hip checked me. I was carrying my cello. I went sailing down the stairs with my cello. You'd be surprised how many times a cello in its case can bounce.

This is really textbook bully. It's like he read a guidebook on how to like target a nerd and did it. Like it's something you see in a cartoon or on the Disney Channel. Well, Sarah, Jack again disputes that the incident ever happened. Either way, he's going to keep leaning into that domineering alpha male energy.

And he's already looking past the low stakes high school power plays that he's been involved in. Now he's looking onto where the real influence is. National politics. that he's been involved in. Now, he's looking onto where the real influence is. National politics. In college, Jack gets involved with the young Republicans. He goes to Brandeis University, a historically Jewish college outside of Boston.

He's elected as a state college Republican chairman, and in his senior year in 1980, the state Republican party even gives him an office in their building downtown. Through his work there, he meets a fellow Republican party member named Grover Norquist. Grover is also in his early 20s, and he's a student at the Harvard Business School. He's intense and dorky, with a square jaw and square wire-framed glasses.

And he refuses to call their political opponents Democrats. Instead, he refers to them as Bolsheviks. You know, it's cool when people start being horrible so young. Well, together, Jack and Grover organize for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential run in the state of Massachusetts. And according to Jack, they're actually responsible for Reagan winning the state. Jack is fired up, but he thinks the GOP isn't conservative or aggressive enough, and he wants to change that. So he decides to run for national chairman of the college Republicans. Jack thinks that the race is going to be hotly contested.

So the first thing he does is go to his dad for help. He has his dad hold a big Beverly Hills fundraiser and invite all of his wealthy and well-connected friends. Jack wins the race and quickly brings on another student to help him. 20 year old Ralph Reed. He'll also become an important figure in Republican politics, especially with conservative Christians. Ralph is a boyish looking Southern Navy brat, and he's just as intense as Jack and Grover.

Ralph will describe his approach to political strategy by saying, quote, I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know what's over until you're in a body bag. As a part of their work with the college Republicans, Jack, Grover, and Ralph do a lot of what Jack calls guerrilla theater. They stage protest rallies outside the Soviet embassy, and every year they build a mock version of the Berlin Wall

in a park across the street from the White House. And then they smash it with sledgehammers. These demonstrations are relatively cheap, but other things they do are much more expensive. They launch a direct mail campaign that massively flops, and then they buy thousands of copies of an anti-Soviet spy novel that they like. They're constantly running up bills that they can't pay. So to fund their antics, Jack and Grover decide to bend the law

just a little bit. They set up nonprofits with names like the USA Foundation. Nonprofits aren't supposed to be political, but according to the documentary, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, Jack and Grover use these organizations to accept donations that they then launder and give directly to the college Republicans.

Yeah, I mean, it's pretty obvious they think they're not doing anything wrong because it's helping their cause and they see it as the greater good, which I feel like will be a through line of the story. Oh, just you wait. These stunts are a little ridiculous, but they do capture people's attention, including people at the very top of the Republican Party. In 1981, Jack gets invited to brief President Reagan on what's happening on America's college campuses. After that, he becomes something of a regular at the White House.

By 1984, he's invited to speak at the Republican National Convention for Reagan's re-election campaign. The night of his speech, Jack stands on stage at the Dallas Convention Center wearing a dark suit with a bright red tie. Party higher-ups have tried to get him to tone down his rhetoric. They've even written a pre-approved speech for him to deliver, which is up on the teleprompter. But Jack ignores it and launches into a red meat, inflammatory speech going after his favorite target. Today's students know that support of anti-Soviet freedom fighters and victory over communism

guarantees us security for our nation. Thank you. Ugh, shut up. Have you heard that before? Yeah, I mean, you could just plug in different words, and it sounds like something someone would say yesterday. Today. An hour ago. Well, according to Jack, the audience loves his speech. But the party big shots still think he's too radical.

They tell him that he'll never be invited to speak at the convention again. But Jack is certain that he and his friends are the future of the party. And if no one stateside can see that, well, Jack will look outside the country to exert his influence. It's the spring of 1985,

about a year after Jack's speech at the convention. He's now 26, and for the past five months, Jack has been working as the executive director of an anti-communist organization called Citizens for America. He's already been given assignments like campaigning for a gigantic defense missile project and aiding the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

And with this position, Jack has had access to a real budget for the first time. So of course, one of his buddies comes to him with a big idea for how to spend that money. This friend is a guy known as the Indiana Jones of the right. He's a globe trotting adventurer in his early forties who's got a history of working alongside anti-Soviet groups

he calls freedom fighters. They become friends after Jack told the guy about how he liked to go to the gym in a shirt that says, I'd rather be killing communists. Now, knockoff Indiana Jones here thinks that he and Jack should gather a bunch of his freedom fighter pals from all over the world together in person so that they can meet, network, and share strategies for how to destroy communists.

Jack loves the idea, and eventually the CFA agrees and greenlights an event that becomes known as the Democratic International. They decide that the conference will be held in Angola and hosted by a local anti-communist revolutionary named Jonas Savimbi. Jonas has been accused of burning his enemies at the stake, and an American diplomat later describes him as, quote, the most articulate, charismatic, homicidal maniac I've ever met. Of course, Jack says he doesn't believe that. He later tells a reporter that he's pretty sure the worst stories about Jonas are Soviet

disinformation. Jack also invites a who's who of far-right leaders, including representatives from the Afghani Mujahideen and Nicaraguan Contras. The military of apartheid South Africa provides security for the event. This event is chaotic. Various leaders give long speeches

and they don't always use translators. Around 1 a.m., Jack's boss hands out framed copies of the Declaration of Independence, and he reads a letter from Ronald Reagan, which told the group, quote, your cause is our cause. According to Jack, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. This is probably the most evil gathering

that's been featured in an episode of ours. I can't imagine a shittier group of people coming together and crying. For me, the Ronald Reagan letter is kind of the icing on the cake. Yeah, Sarah, this is the most cursed party I've ever heard of, that's for sure. But Jack's triumph is short-lived.

When he gets back to the US, he's fired for spending too much money on the event. Of course, that's not the way Jack tells it. He says that his boss was being manipulated by other Republican leaders to think Jack was doing a bad job. He also maintains that, actually, he wasn't fired. He quit.

Jack is sick and tired of people in politics getting mad at him over money. But he's still on a mission to keep changing hearts and minds. So he sets out to do it in a place that values exuberance, excess, and poor management. Hollywood. In 1986, at 27, Jack moves back to Los Angeles. He's just graduated law school and has started a production company.

Jack is eager to use movies as propaganda for his mega conservative ideals. So he comes up with an idea to make an action movie about a Soviet soldier sent to assassinate the leader of a group of anti-communist freedom fighters. But the soldier sympathizes with the rebels and defects to join them. It sounds suspiciously similar to the situation in Angola, and the rebel leader is clearly based on Jonas Savimbi. But Jack sets the movie in a fictional African country. And then he does what he always does when he needs help with a new project.

He turns to his family. His brother used to work at Warner Brothers, so Jack asks him to help find some potential producing partners. They connect Jack with a screenwriter and help him find some funding. And his star, Dolph Lundgren, hot off Rocky IV. That is incredible because no one on Earth could portray that kind of white guy other than Dolph Lundgren, like just chiseled, blonde.

I see the vision for sure, and I can't imagine how offensive this movie will be. Well, Jack is able to convince Warner Brothers to give him a six million dollar distribution deal, and the crew starts looking for a place to shoot. Initially, the plan is to use Swaziland, but the film and gets moved to Namibia instead, which is a problem because Namibia is occupied by apartheid South Africa. Congress recently passed a law making it clear that working with South Africa or its proxy nations is very frowned upon. The UN even protested the move. So Warner Brothers, which was supposed to distribute the film, drops

out. In his book, Jack claims that he had to ditch Swaziland because the government there revoked their permits. What he neglects to mention is that at the time he was also working as the chairman of a lobbying group that did anti-anti-Apartheid activism. Sarah, would it surprise you to learn that his employer was basically a thinly veiled front for the apartheid South African government? Honestly, he's so cartoonishly evil. I feel like if someone created a character of him for TV or whatever,

you'd kind of be like, all right, you're laying it on a little thick, you know? Apartheid South Africa propaganda? I don't know. Yeah, it does sound like something a supervillain would do, but Jack later claims that he didn't know anything about where his lobbying paychecks were really coming from, and that his decision to move filming to a South African-controlled territory had nothing to do with the fact that he was working for a company funded by their government. Jack takes out a $50,000 loan from a friend to finance the movie, but multiple actors

and crew members allege that they were never paid for their work. Jack blames the director for going over budget. The movie does get finished. It's called Red Scorpion, and you know what? It is an absolute bomb. Sarah, can you read what the New York Times said in a review? Yeah, it says, The movie's reflective moments belong to Mr. Lundgren's sweaty chest. Okay, maybe I will watch it. Suddenly you're on board for Dolph Lundgren, I see. Suddenly. Well, Jack sticks around Hollywood for almost eight years.

But by the early 90s, he still doesn't have much to show for it. His only big credit is producing a direct-to-video sequel to Red Scorpion called Red Scorpion 2, The Spear of Destiny. But then his luck starts to change. In 1994, a huge red wave in the midterm elections gives Republicans control of both houses of Congress. The new leaders are the same ultra conservatives that Jack has been rubbing elbows with for years.

Jack's ready to leave Hollywood and start his second act in politics. And this time, he won't allow anyone to dilute his message or question his spending. The World of Tanks I'm Ennis James. And I'm Colin Murray. And we are the hosts of Everything to Play For. And our next two-parter is all about the mighty Leicester City and their rise to become Premier League Champions in 2016. They defied the odds. Well, 5,000 to 1 to be precise.

We're talking Mourinho versus Ranieri, we're talking Thai monks in the dressing room, we're talking dilly-dings and dilly-dongs. And let's not forget Andrea Bocelli singing Nessendoma at the King Power Stadium. No word of a lie, my favourite part of the whole story. Better than anything a Leicester City player managed to do, and they managed to do a lot.

None more so than Jamie Vardy and his infamous party. The crisps and dips were on him. Follow everything to play for on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can binge seasons early and ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Hey podcast listeners, have you heard you can listen to your favorite podcasts ad free? Plus. or go to amazon.com slash ad free podcasts. That's amazon.com slash ad free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. And I feel like a legend.

On New Year's Eve in 1997, Tom DeLay wakes up to a beautiful view in a luxury hotel room on the northern Mariana Islands. Crystal clear water laps at a white sand beach, palm trees sway in the breeze, but Tom can't stay in bed admiring it. This is a work trip, and soon he'll be meeting up with his business contact for the day, Jack Abramoff. Tom is in his early 50s with dark hair and blue eyes. He looks like an AI-generated Republican politician, which makes sense because he's been in politics for a long time.

He's a congressman from Texas, and for the past couple of years, he's been the House majority whip. That makes him one of the most powerful conservative leaders in Washington. But it wasn't always clear that Tom was destined for glory. As a Texas state legislator, he used to party hard enough to earn himself the nickname,

Hot Tub Tom. Then, during his first year as a congressman, he sobered up and became a born-again Christian. But his faith doesn't keep him from using hard-driving political tactics. He's so intense that he's earned himself even more nicknames in Washington. The Hammer, the Exterminator,

and sometimes the meanest man in Congress. Someone with that many nicknames because they go so hard in whatever direction they're in is a scary person. Yeah, all the extremes are bad on this guy. But Tom has come to know Jack, who's working as a lobbyist now. And while Jack and Tom don't get along on a personal level, they're both religious men and committed conservatives. Tom and Jack share hard-line Republican values like a deep love of the free market, which is what they've come to the islands to protect. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is Jack's first major lobbying client. He's

been hired to protect the Commonwealth's trade agreement with the U.S. And guess what? Like most of his other career opportunities, Jack got this one through his daddy. The Mariana Islands is a U.S. territory in the Pacific, a couple hundred miles away from Guam. Because of their status as a territory, clothes that are manufactured here can have a Made in the USA label. But they aren't subject to certain U.S. laws, like the minimum wage. It's a free market heaven. But you're never going to certain U.S. laws, like the minimum wage. It's a free market heaven.

But you're never going to believe this, Sarah. It seems like some employers have taken advantage of the lack of regulations to underpay and mistreat their employees. Yeah, that's kind of what I expect happens with U.S. territories. It's like, hey, this is where we can do the purge all the time. Well, it gets even darker than wage violations. There have also been many reports of sex trafficking going on in the Commonwealth. In response, Jack reportedly had a powerful friend of his insert a statement into the congressional record,

discrediting a teenager who had come forward about her experiences of abuse. Jack is also playing offense by arranging trips like this one. All expenses paid visits to the islands so that politicians like Tom can see for themselves how great everything is here. Well, to be clear, these expenses are being paid, but just by someone else, the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.

These trips cost them around 5,500 per attendee. So Tom follows Jack on a couple of tours around the local factories. And then, later that day, he meets with a governor and a local bishop. Here's what he has to say to officials afterwards. — You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party. And you represent everything that is good about what we're trying to do in America and leading the world in the free market system. That audio is from an ABC 2020 special about Jack.

And after a long couple of days praising the free market system, Tom gets to relax by snorkeling and playing golf. The following year, the Senate hears testimony about workers' lives on the islands. A couple of years after that, they unanimously pass a bill extending labor and wage protections to them. But the House never votes on a similar bill. Tom won't allow it to be brought to the floor. Tom gets to go on beach vacations

and use his political power to protect the free market. He loves working with Jack. And it turns out, so do a lot of people in the Republican establishment. When Jack first started working as a lobbyist, he wasn't sure it would be the right job for him. He told his new bosses that he wouldn't advocate for causes that he didn't believe in. But as Jack's lobbying career progresses, there's one cause that seems to outweigh all the others. Making himself and his friends as wealthy as possible.

One early client of Jack's is the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. They initially heard about Jack, you guessed it, through his dad, and they come to him because they're concerned about some proposed federal legislation that would tax tribal business, including their hotel and casino, which are just a couple of years old. Jack hates taxes, so he's happy to help. And in an amazing coincidence, he has an old friend who would be perfect for the campaign. Grover Norquist has become one of the most prominent anti-tax activists in the country. So Jack, Grover, and Grover's Nonprofit team up to make sure the law doesn't pass.

They get to push their principles, and the tribe pays Grover's nonprofit $60,000. Three years later, in 1999, the Choctaw approached Jack again. This time, the tribe is worried about a proposed law in the neighboring state of Alabama that would allow some forms of gambling, potentially siphoning off some of their customers. As a true free market capitalist, you might think that Jack would tell them to welcome

the competition. But instead, he agrees to help them shut the law down. And once again, he tells the tribe to hire one of his friends. This time, it's Ralph Reed. You might remember Ralph from that time he helped Jack get elected to lead the college Republicans. But since his early days with Jack, Ralph has had a meteoric rise. Ralph found Jesus in a bar called Bullfeathers

and became a born-again Christian. He served as executive director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. And in 1995, he was on the cover of Time Magazine with the headline, The Right Hand of God. It's really interesting how all these guys become super religious and instead of being like I'm going to dedicate my life to being good, they're like how much worse can I get?

Let's find out. By now, Ralph is one of the most connected Christians in the country. And Christians are very opposed to gambling. So Jack suggests that the Choctaw pay Ralph to organize a protest around the proposed Alabama law. Ralph asks for a $20,000 monthly retainer, and the Choctaw agree. What Jack doesn't tell the tribe is that Ralph's connections aren't as strong

as they used to be. Last year, Ralph left the Christian Coalition to open a consulting firm to support pro-family candidates for office, but almost none of his candidates won. Since then, he's been asking Jack for help drumming up new business. But Ralph doesn't want to be caught taking casino money

while lobbying against gambling. So Jack hires him as a subcontractor through his firm. They also use other fronts to essentially launder the money. Groups with names like the Faith and Family Alliance. It's just like their college Republican days. Ralph leads a crusade. He sets up phone banks and writes scripts for radio spots. He arranges rallies and church bulletin inserts. And the law doesn't pass. For Jack, it's a big win. He's straight up crushing it in the political world. But to really make the big bucks,

Jack's gonna look into a more recreational industry. He's about to go fishing. Around the same time that Jack and Ralph are making a mint off the chalk-taw, Jack hears about another business opportunity. His firm is helping to find a buyer for a company called Sun Cruise. Sun Cruise owns and operates a bunch of boats in Florida and South Carolina. They basically function as floating casinos. They take day trips out to international waters where customers can spend their day gambling.

Sun Cruise is apparently pretty successful, but its owner is facing a dilemma. His name is Konstantinos Boulos, better known as Gus. Gus is a Greek immigrant and not an American citizen. He was recently indicted for violating U.S. shipping code, which forbids foreign nationals from owning commercial boats. And the government is forcing him to unload his shares in the company. After hearing about Gus's problem,

Jack decides that he wants to buy Sun Cruise for himself. He knows the same firm can't represent the buyer and the seller in a transaction, so he calls up an old friend to ask him to be the face of the deal. The guy's name is Adam Kedan. Adam is in his mid-30s with a round balding head. Like most people Jack pals around with, Adam is an old friend from his college Republican days. But unlike the rest of Jack's college buddies, Adam has been struggling since graduating law school. In the early 90s, he opened a couple of bagel shops with his sister's boyfriend,

a guy who the NYPD said is a known associate of the Gambino crime family. The business did not do very well, but it did put Adam in the general orbit of, let's say, connected guys. Adam sold the business at a loss and moved to DC to start a franchise of a New York area store called 1-800-DIAL-A-MATROS. Oh, and somewhere in there, he was accused

of stealing $100,000 of his stepfather's money. That got him to spartan both New York and New Jersey, though he claims that he voluntarily surrendered his law license as a, quote, business tactic. Jack later denies that he brings Adam into the deal and instead says it was Adam's idea to buy Sun Cruise. But working with Adam helps Jack avoid the conflict of interest his firm would be in and it gives him the chance to help out an old buddy. As they start negotiating with Gus, they soon find out that buying the company under their

terms won't be as easy as they thought. Gus starts demanding more than just money. So to pressure him, Jack repeats his move from the Mariana Islands campaign. He gets a member of Congress to criticize Suncruise's business practices in the congressional record, just to show Gus that he can create problems for the company

and potentially hurt its value. It works. In June of 2000, Gus agrees to sell for $147 million. Jack and Adam don't have that kind of money, so they start looking for a lender. Jack turns his schmoozing up to 11 and takes some bankers from Foothill Capital out to his private suite to watch Washington Football Games. I realize you are saying Washington Football Games to avoid saying the team name as it was at this time.

And it is just so on brand for Jack to be like, oh, I have a private suite at this football team stadium because you know what, they align with my views. I bet they did align with his views. After that, Foothill and another firm agreed to give Jack and Adam $60 million in loans. Later, a reporter asks a Foothill Capital representative why they took a chance on Adam, despite him being an obvious risk. The rep replies, quote, You'd have to be there at the time. Then, to sweeten the deal for themselves, Jack and Adam convince Gus to accept more than 67 million dollars in IOUs.

In exchange, they allow him to secretly keep 10% of the company through a shell corporation. And to be clear, none of this is legal. Adam moves to Florida to run the company, while Jack stays in D.C. They both pay themselves salaries of half a million dollars. They also hire their pal, Michael Scanlon, to be their public affairs specialist. Do you remember Michael from the racquetball game at the beginning of the episode?

His firm only had one client at the time, and it was Sun Cruise. Adam, Michael, and Jack should be in the clear. But after their secret side deal with Gus, they still have a fourth partner to worry about. It's December 2000, and Adam is in the SunCrew's offices near Fort Lauderdale, and he is desperately fighting off Gus,

who's holding a pen to his throat. It's been about six months since the deal closed, but Adam and Jack defaulted on their loans, and they haven't paid Gus a penny of the millions of dollars they owe him. Even worse, Adam recently fired a bunch of people who had been working for Gus, including some of Gus's girlfriends, which obviously really pissed Gus off. When the two men try to talk it out, the conversation turns into a full-on brawl.

We don't know for sure what happened next, but soon after their fight, Adam files a police report alleging that Gus punched him in the face and stabbed him in the neck with a pen. The fight even makes it to the front page of the local paper. Adam is spooked. He suspects that Gus has mob ties.

So along with his police report, he calls in his own mob connection, a guy named Big Tony. He's an old friend from Adam's bagel era and allegedly an unofficial bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family. Adam hires Big Tony to be a food and beverage consultant for Sun Cruise.

And naturally, Adam will later claim he has no idea about Big Tony's mob ties. Adam also hires three bodyguards, buys an armor-plated Mercedes, and gets a restraining order against Gus. Sounds like a lot of protection and another insane detail in these weird people's lives. Well, he might need it, because shortly after the fight, Adam files multiple lawsuits against Gus. The complaints accuse Gus of stealing slot machines from Sun Cruise and of conspiring to kill Adam.

Gus countersues Adam that same day, accusing him of stealing his money and driving Sun Cruise towards bankruptcy. And then, later that same day, Adam's bodyguard gets a call. Gus was shot to death in his BMW in what appears to be a Gangland-style hit. The cops have questions for Adam, but he says that he doesn't know anything about the killing, and they let him go. And then he and Jack put the company in bankruptcy and relinquished their interest to Gus's estate.

So now, no one will ask any questions about the millions in IOUs to Gus that they still haven't paid, and they are free to move on to other scams. For Adam, Life with Jack is like a high stakes action movie. And like any good action movie, there's only one way to keep people interested. You gotta go bigger.

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You can binge all episodes of the rise and fall of Ruby Franke early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. And I feel like I let you know By 2001, Jack is living larger than ever and finding new ways to make and hide his money. Shortly after walking away from Sun Cruise, he starts working at a new lobbying firm, Greenberg Torek. He makes sure to bring half of his old firm's clients with him, some of them paying over $100,000 a month. That's around the time Michael Scanlon proposes inflating the value of his PR company and selling it off. Jack is in immediately, and he knows just the clients to send Michael's way — the

Mississippi Choctaw Tribe. The tribe recently came to Jack with a request. A prominent state senator has been talking about trying to tax the Choctaw's casino income, and since Jack has been so helpful trying to tax the Choctaws' casino income. And since Jack has been so helpful in getting them results, they ask for his help again. He tells them about Michael, who he says used to work for Tom DeLay, as his, quote, dirty tricks guy. Jack tells the tribe that Michael is the only person he trusts in this role. Michael promises the Choctaw that he'll turn them into a political powerhouse.

The tribe is hesitant about some of his fees, but they ultimately agree to go ahead. And over the next two years, the Choctaw pay Michael more than $5 million. But they don't always pay Michael directly. Jack sometimes interjects and has them route money through nonprofits, like the one he creates in 2002 called the Capital Athletic Foundation. It's supposed to help underserved youth get into sports, but really, Jack uses it to do his favorite thing, under money.

Capital Athletic pays for advertising for the school Jack's kids go to, a thermal imager for the Israeli Defense Fund, and to send Jack and some of his politician buddies on a golf trip to Scotland. The foundation takes in millions of dollars and spends about 1% of its budget on its supposed mission. The Choctaw also pay more than two million dollars to a think tank. But if the Choctaw had tried to visit the address it's registered to, they would have wound up at a

beach house in Delaware where one of Michael's buddies lives. Around this time, Jack also starts two restaurants. One is a kosher deli called Stax, and the other is a non-kosher spot called Signatures. Signatures is where Jack wines and dines with clients and friends in D.C. Its tagline? Liberal portions in a conservative setting. I never really think of restaurants

as liberal or conservative, really, but I do love those liberal portions. I do love a liberal portion, it's true. Well, of course, Jack uses money from the Choctaw, routed through his charity, to help pay for all of it. It seems like a perfect scam, and soon Jack and Michael are running it with several other tribes. All the while, Jack claims that he really cares about the tribes, that he's passionate about the work that he's doing for them. And he says that he only ever takes on clients whose values he believes in. But at this point, it's clear that Jack's wallet outweighs his conscience.

In 2002, he even picks up a gig arranging a meeting between President George W. Bush and the Prime Minister of Malaysia. This is a prime minister who once famously wrote that, quote, the Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively, which makes him a pretty questionable client for an Orthodox Jewish man like Jack. Jack has become a full-on swamp creature at this point.

He's making lots and lots of money. And if he ever cared about how he did it, he certainly doesn't seem to anymore. But his clients are about to notice how high his bills are, and they'll start asking questions that Jack does not want to answer. The next year, in 2003, Bert Langley has just lost an election. He's a tall, handsome man with dark hair and almost always wears tinted aviator sunglasses. He served two terms on the tribal council of the Louisiana Cachata, but now he's just been unseated and he's pretty sure he knows why. Burt and the Cachata started working with Jack in 2001,

when the tribe was about to renegotiate their gaming agreement with the state. Louisiana's governor was in the middle of a reelection campaign, and they were afraid he was going to give them trouble. So they hired Jack and his friend Michael to lobby on their behalf. They were able to secure a new agreement. Then, Michael and Jack warned the tribe that Texas was about to legalize gambling. New casinos right across the state line would eat into the Cachara's customer base. So the tribe started paying Michael and Jack to make the problem go away.

Burt was not aware of all of the spending. Even though he was just one of five people on the council, he wasn't part of the decision-making on the tribe's budget, including what it paid political lobbyists. But over the next year, he started noticing invoices here and there for large amounts, much bigger than anything discussed at the full council meetings. And then in this last tribal election, something fishy happened. Way more people than usual ran for office, including some candidates from the same families.

Usually, families get together and decide who will represent them so they don't siphon off each other's votes. The whole thing was really weird. And when the votes were counted, Burt had lost his seat. He wasn't sure, but he suspects that Jack and Michael may have been manipulating the election behind the scenes,

probably because they were trying to pack the council with members loyal to them. So Burt goes to the tribe's comptroller and asks for a full accounting of how much they've been spending on lobbying and political contributions. When he sees the number, Burt is stunned. The tribe has paid a staggering $34 million to Jack and Michael alone.

There have also been significant contributions to various politicians that Jack clearly directed them to make. Most of this money was taken from tribal funds that were earmarked for health, education, and housing. There is no clear plan to repay it. Burt is off the council now, so he no longer has any power over what they do. But if Jack and Michael are ripping off his tribe, he's hell-bent on proving it and finding a way to make it stop. Burt's crusade to protect his tribe will take him from Louisiana to the halls of power in Washington D.C. And it will start to unravel Jack's epic, decades-long string of scams.

And it'll take a lot of powerful people down with him. That's next time in the finale of our two-part series. If you like Scamplincerz, you can listen to every episode early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. This is Jack Abramoff bringing down the house part one. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagge.

If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at Wondery.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Heist, Super Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies, and The Buying of Washington by Peter H. Stone, Jack Abramoff, The Fall and Rise of a True Believer by Barry Yeoman for Mother Jones, and Alex Gibney's documentary,

Casino Jack and the United States of Money. Zan Romanoff wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hagee. Eric Thurm and Olivia Briley are our story editors. Fact-checking by Meredith Clark. Sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrienne Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freeze On Sync. Our managing producers are Matt Gantt and Desi Blaylock. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. Janine Cornelow and Stephanie Jens are our development producers. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peary. Our producers are John Reed, Yasmin Ward, and Kate Young. Our senior producers are Sarah Enney and

Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Aaron O'Flaherty for Wondry. Laundry. I do three weekly shows with celebrities on Monday, experts on Wednesdays, and crazy stories from listeners on Fridays. It's got an ample dose of irreverence, humor, and vulnerability. We regularly get sides of our guests that were previously unknown, and it is a celebration of all the messiness that makes us human. We like it here. We love it here. We're chatterboxes and it's a good excuse to talk.

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