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Abramoff investigation leads to another guilty plea |
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By Mike Soraghan
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Posted: 07/14/07 10:17 PM [ET] |
Another Republican environmental activist has pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges uncovered as part of the investigation of now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Jared Carpenter was the vice president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), which derived from a group founded by former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and Italia Federici.
Federici pleaded guilty last month to tax evasion and obstruction charges and is to be sentenced Nov. 14.
Carpenter pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion on July 6 in a plea that was not publicized by the Justice Department and was first reported Friday by Greenwire.
He must pay $74,241 in back taxes by the date of his sentencing Nov. 1. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Court documents state that CREA‘s two staffers didn’t separate CREA’s finances from their own, simply withdrawing money from the CREA accounts rather than taking a salaries. Carpenter, the documents say, did not file income tax returns for 2001, 2002 or 2003.
During that time, he had an income totaling $236,135 according to court documents. From March 2001 to May 2003 CREA got $723,500.
According to court documents, “Contributors to CREA included, among others, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Native American tribes via Abramoff and the former clients of J. Steven Griles.”
Griles, a lobbyist and former deputy secretary of Interior under Norton, was sentenced last month to 10 months in prison for lying to the Senate committee investigating Abramoff.
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