Abramoff Details Ties To Bermuda Firm
Disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff once bragged he was in contact with former White House political strategist Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation which wanted to avoid incurring some US taxes and to continue receiving federal contracts
According to a 2005 written statement by President George W. Bush’s one-time nominee to be deputy US Attorney General, Mr. Abramoff also boasted he could help Tyco — then based in Bermuda — fend off a special liability tax because he “had good relationships with members of Congress,” including then House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Timothy E. Flanigan, then counsel for multi-national conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., later withdrew his name from consideration to serve as deputy Attorney General for the Bush White House.
Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, Mr. Abramoff was at the centre of an extensive corruption investigation which led to the conviction of White House officials, a US Congressman and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides.
He served three years, six months of a six-year sentence in federal prison before being released early to a Baltimore halfway house in 2010.
Mr. Abramoff — who is now blowing the whistle on his industry’s unsavoury pratices — details his ties to the Bermuda-based company in his new bestselling memoir “Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist.”
Describing Tyco as one of the most ”reviled and corrupt” corporations in the world, Mr. Abramoff said he still decided to lobby on behalf of the defense and security firm to try and persuade Washington lawmakers from retroactively taxing the company more than $4 billion.
Tyco relocated its corporate headquarters to Bermuda in 1997 although the company’s main business interests continued to be run out of Exeter, New Hampshire and New York.
Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski – jailed for eight years in 2005 for defrauding the company of tens of millions of dollars — became notorious for his extravagant lifestyle supported by the booming stock market of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Allegedly, Mr. Koslowski — who spent considerable time in Bermuda when the firm was headquartered here — had Tyco pay for his $30 million New York City apartment which included $6,000 shower curtains and $15,000 “dog umbrella stands.”
Tyco redomiciled to Switzerland from Bermuda in 2009.
60 Minutes Interview With Jack Abramoff
