Washington – Italia Federici, the president of a Republican environmental group who came under Senate scrutiny last year because of her ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Federici, 37, is president of a nonprofit group founded in 1997 by Gale Norton – before she became interior secretary – and conservative anti-tax activist Grover Norquist.
Federici also worked on Norton’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate race in Colorado in 1996.
Abramoff and his Indian tribal clients donated $500,000 to Federici’s group between 2001 and 2003 in an effort to influence J. Steven Griles, the Interior Department’s deputy secretary at the time, with whom Federici was romantically involved.
Federici withheld information and “made a series of materially false and fictitious declarations” in 2005 testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, according to documents filed Wednesday in federal court. She has admitted she misled the committee “about the extent to which she, Abramoff and Griles communicated” about pending Interior Department issues “that directly affected Abramoff’s clients.”
Federici has agreed to cooperate in the wide-ranging public corruption investigation arising from Abramoff’s lobbying activities, which, with her plea, has resulted in a dozen convictions of lawmakers, lobbyists and others.
Documents filed Wednesday also said that Federici and the vice president of her group, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, “relied primarily on cash, including ATM transactions, to handle the finances of CREA.”
Instead of taking salaries, the two “obtained funds from CREA by directly withdrawing cash from CREA’s bank account through ATM and teller transactions.” The council took in $723,000 in tribal and corporate donations between 2001 and 2003. Federici received $233,955 of that in taxable income and failed to pay $77,243 in taxes.
Each offense carries a possible penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, but prosecutors are recommending 10 to 16 months in prison.
