"Gimme Five" Begins
According to "Gimme Five” — Investigation of Tribal Lobbying Matters, the final report of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' investigation into Abramoff, the fraud began with an email interchange between Abramoff and Michael Scanlon on June 18, 2001. After his career in the office of Congressman Tom Delay, Scanlon had briefly been a member of Team Abramoff, but had since moved on to form his own public affairs consulting firm.
“A few weeks ago you mentioned something to me — I took the concept and have put together a plan that will make serious money. We also talked briefly about it in the beginning of the year but I think we can really move it now.” -Michael Scanlon to Jack Abramoff, via email, June 18, 2001.
Scanlon described a plan by which Abramoff would help to build the client base of Scanlon's firm, Campaign Capitol Strategies, up to at least $3 million per year. At some point, Scanlon would use his contacts in the public affairs industry to get the firm acquired at a price of three times the revenue, and Scanlon and Abramoff would split up the profits. This is considered by investigators to be the beginning of what Abramoff and Scanlon would refer to as "gimme five".
Read more about this topic: Jack Abramoff Indian Lobbying Scandal
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