Abramoff: Defense Says He's a Victim
Indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's lawyer, Neal Sonnett, tells the Daily Business Review that his client is a victim in the charged fraud.
Miami attorney Neal Sonnett, who represents Abramoff, said the longtime Republican lobbyist who formerly worked for Greenberg Traurig, the Miami-based law firm, was a "victim." "All I can tell you is that Jack understood that he was involved in a legitimate business deal, and he was not involved in the negotiations, was not even present at the closing," Sonnett said in an interview Friday.
"He only signed documents that were faxed to him with assurances that everything was in proper order," Sonnett said. "So I think Jack was as much as victim as anybody else in this case, perhaps more because now he has to defend himself against criminal charges for something that he did not do."
Sonnett also says that Abramoff is not cooperating with the feds in the Indian tribes investigation:
The lawyer appeared to rule out any cooperation deal in the Florida case in exchange for assistance in the investigations surrounding Abramoff's lobbying activities in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Indian tribes.
"Nobody has offered that, and I have not requested that, and as far as I'm concerned my job is to defend Jack on these charges and to help ensure a verdict of not guilty," Sonnett said.
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