From the New York Times:

Lobbying Cases Shine Spotlight on Family Ties
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, April 8 — On Dec. 3, 2003, Aeneas Enterprises opened for
business in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, and
judging by its bank records, the small consulting company with no
listed telephone number was an instant success. Within a month, its
records show, Aeneas had taken in $2.3 million from a single client.
Aeneas is under scrutiny by the Justice Department and Congressional
investigators. Its founder, Robert Abramoff, a lawyer and sometime
Hollywood movie producer, is the brother of Jack Abramoff, the
Republican lobbyist at the center of a Washington influence-peddling
scandal involving several members of Congress.
The company's records show that the $2.3 million was received from
another consulting firm, GrassRoots Interactive of Silver Spring, Md.,
which was established by Jack Abramoff and where he directed some of
his huge lobbying fees. Billing statements prepared by Aeneas do not
show what service Robert Abramoff provided to warrant millions of
dollars in payments from his brother's company.
Robert Abramoff did not return phone calls for comment. His apparent
entanglement in his brother's business is an example of what
investigators say is something remarkable about the criminal inquiry
centered on Jack Abramoff and his Washington lobbying network.
To a surprising degree, the spouses and other family members of the
investigation's central targets are being caught up in the inquiry,
dealing with subpoenas and interviews with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, with at least the possibility that some of them could
face civil or criminal charges themselves.
Lawyers with detailed knowledge of the Justice Department's
investigation, who were granted anonymity because of rules barring
public discussion of grand jury evidence, say that so many of the
wives of lawmakers and lobbyists have become tied up in the
investigation that F.B.I. agents have begun referring to them as "The
Wives Club."
The lawyers said the scrutiny of the families would increase the
leverage of prosecutors, since the targets might be willing to plead
guilty and incriminate others to spare family members from being
charged.
At least one of the wives, Julie Doolittle, who is married to
Representative John T. Doolittle, Republican of California, has been
subpoenaed in the investigation of Mr. Abramoff and questioned by the
F.B.I. The June 2004 subpoena sought information about Mrs.
Doolittle's marketing and events-planning work for Mr. Abramoff's
lobbying firm and for his Washington restaurant, Signatures, which he
later sold. Her lawyer, William L. Stauffer, said Mrs. Doolittle was
contacted by the Justice Department again last year and asked for
additional records.
Mr. Stauffer said that Mrs. Doolittle's consulting firm, Sierra
Dominion Financial Solutions, has "complied fully with the subpoena."
Lisa Rudy, who is married to Tony Rudy, the former deputy chief of
staff to Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, received
$50,000 in consulting fees as a result of what her husband has
acknowledged was a corrupt scheme with Mr. Abramoff to influence the
workings of Mr. DeLay's office and promote the concerns of Mr.
Abramoff's clients on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Rudy pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges last month. The
Justice Department has said that Mrs. Rudy has agreed to cooperate
with the investigation and will sign her own agreement with
prosecutors. The Rudy family's lawyer, Laura A. Miller, did not return
phone calls for comment.
Christine A. DeLay, Mr. DeLay's wife, received $115,000 in consulting
fees from 1998 to 2002 from a lobbying firm set up by her husband's
former chief of staff, Edwin A. Buckham, who is also under scrutiny by
the Justice Department because of his lobbying contacts with Mr.
DeLay's House office.
Although there is no suggestion of any criminal investigation focused
on Mrs. DeLay, lawyers involved in the investigation say prosecutors
have asked about the circumstances of her hiring by Mr. Buckham and
whether it was an effort to influence Mr. DeLay, the former House
majority leader. Mr. DeLay announced this week that he was resigning
from Congress, saying he wanted to avoid an "ugly" re-election fight
this fall that might focus on ethical issues.
A lawyer for the DeLays, Richard Cullen, said Mrs. DeLay had been
employed by Mr. Buckham's firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, to
gather information on the favorite charities of members of Congress.
"Christine DeLay is a very talented woman with a keen political mind,
and the project she was working on was one that had substance and
added value to Alexander," he said.
The phone records of the couple's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, a
political organizer for her father, were formally requested last year
by a grand jury in Travis County, Tex., where Mr. DeLay is under
indictment, accused of violating his home state's election laws.
Mr. Buckham's wife, Wendy, shared more than $1 million in consulting
fees with her husband from the U.S. Family Network, a nonprofit group
tied to Mr. DeLay. The group has drawn the scrutiny of law enforcement
officials because so much of its income was directed to the Buckham
family and appears to have come from Russian businessmen eager to
court favor from Mr. DeLay. The Buckhams did not return phone calls
seeking comment.
Jack Abramoff's wife, Pamela, was tied to at least some of her
husband's activities that he has now acknowledged were crimes.
Although there is no suggestion by the Justice Department that Mrs.
Abramoff was aware of her husband's criminal acts, she and her husband
were the sole directors of a nonprofit group, the Capital Athletic
Foundation, which Mr. Abramoff used illegally to channel millions of
dollars from his clients to pet projects that had nothing to with the
charity's supposed mission: sports programs for needy children.
Most of the charity's money was spent to underwrite a Jewish school in
Maryland that was founded by Mr. Abramoff and where the couple
educated two of their sons. The foundation also underwrote a 2002 trip
to Britain for Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican who is under
investigation by the Justice Department for gifts he received from Mr.
Abramoff. Mr. Ney has denied wrongdoing, saying he was duped by Mr.
Abramoff about the financing of the $150,000 trip, which included
rounds of golf at the fabled course at St. Andrews in Scotland.
There are also references to Mrs. Abramoff's activities in the
indictment of a former senior White House budget official, David F.
Safavian. The Justice Department has accused Mr. Safavian of lying
about his ties to Mr. Abramoff, who sought Mr. Safavian's help in
trying to buy government land for himself and clients. Mr. Abramoff
has acknowledged that he sent his wife to inspect the properties,
instructing her not to reveal her real name to government officials to
avoid scrutiny.
A spokesman for Mr. Abramoff's defense team, Andrew Blum, had no
comment when asked whether Mrs. Abramoff had obtained separate counsel
in the investigation. Mr. Blum also would not comment on Mr.
Abramoff's involvement with GrassRoots Interactive, the Maryland
consulting firm, and the lobbyist's business ties to his brother
Robert.
The Abramoff brothers have been doing business together for years.
They co-wrote — and Jack Abramoff produced — a poorly reviewed 1989
action-adventure movie called "Red Scorpion."
State business records in California show that Robert Abramoff, who
went on to produce other little-known films, is a director or
registered agent for almost 100 companies, many of them with colorful
names, including FilmSoup, Deliberate Ink, It's Pawfect,
Knot-2-Much-2-Ask and Make-Up Your Mind Inc.
He is also the registered agent for Nicole Richie Inc., an umbrella
company for the business activities of the young Hollywood celebrity.
Ms. Richie's spokesman, Cindy Guagenti, said that Mr. Abramoff had
been hired to deal with the logistics of the company's incorporation.
She said Ms. Richie "has never met him, never talked to him."
Robert Abramoff appears to have been drawn into his brother's
Washington lobbying network through Aeneas Enterprises, which shared
its offices and phone number with Robert Abramoff's law office.
Documents gathered from Jack Abramoff's files by government
investigators and provided to The New York Times show that Robert
Abramoff sent an e-mail message to his brother's accountant on Dec.
19, 2000 — 16 days after Aeneas was incorporated — that provided
instructions on wiring money to Aeneas's bank account.
An Aeneas billing statement sent later that month to GrassRoots
Interactive shows that $1.4 million was received from GrassRoots on
Dec. 26. A January statement shows that an additional $900,000 was
received by Aeneas on Jan. 2, 2004.
The one-page statements make no reference to what service, if any, was
performed by Robert Abramoff's company in exchange for the payments,
nor do they indicate how Aeneas disbursed the money.