After months of denials, Ney also admitted to improperly accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, meals and trips from disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partners. But what forced Ney into a plea deal with the Justice Department was hard-to-dispute evidence about the congressman’s gambling trips to London. While not identified in court papers, a senior administration official familiar with the investigation told NEWSWEEK that the businessman is Fouad al-Zayat, a Syrian-born partner in FN Aviation, a Cyprus-based firm that brokered planes and airliner parts. As NEWSWEEK previously reported , Ney flew to London twice during 2003 where he met with Zayat and his American partner, Nigel Winfield, a thrice-convicted felon who once went to jail for trying to swindle Elvis Presley. The men wanted to sell U.S.-made airliner parts to the Iranian government—a deal that would have required special permits because of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Together, according to Ney’s lawyer, the pair lobbied Ney, who once taught English in Iran and has maintained an interest in the country.
Congressional records show that Ney and a top aide first met with Zayat and Winfield during a February 2003 trip to London paid for by FN Aviation. According to Ney’s plea agreement, Zayat lobbied Ney for help in obtaining a visa to enter the United States—though it is not clear why. (A phone message left at the London offices of FN Aviation went unreturned.) During the trip, Ney says, he and the aide—who is not identified in court papers but is listed in congressional records as Chris Otillio, Ney’s former legislative aide—hit the casinos with Zayat, a prominent gambler who was known on the scene as “The Fat Man.” According to prosecutors, Ney and Otillio each received thousands of dollars in gambling chips from the businessman identified to NEWSWEEK as Zayat, which Ney never returned. Prosecutors also say that Ney returned to the U.S. with roughly £3,250 (about $5,000) that he obtained during the trip and never reported. (Otillio, who left Ney’s office in June 2006, could not be reached for comment.)
After the trip, as NEWSWEEK has reported, Ney personally lobbied Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax U.S. sanctions on Iran. According to prosecutors, he also inquired about obtaining a visa for the man identified to NEWSWEEK as Zayat. In August 2003, Ney arranged another visit to London to meet the man whom prosecutors describe as a foreign businessman and whom Ney’s attorney has previously identified as Zayat. The Aug. 29-30 trip, according to congressional records, was an official trip paid for out of the budget of the House Administration Committee, which Ney chaired until earlier this year. The trip, which was tacked onto a junket Ney and two aides took to Sweden, cost a combined $14,466, according to House records. According to the plea agreement, Ney was accompanied by two aides, one identified as “Staffer C.” Records show Ney traveled with Otillio and his former chief of staff, Will Heaton, who also resigned from Ney’s office in June. Heaton reportedly has been questioned by prosecutors in the case. (Heaton did not return a phone message left by NEWSWEEK.)
According to the Justice Department, Ney and his aides went gambling with “the foreign businessman,” who took them to the Les Ambassadeurs, a swank, members-only casino located in London’s West End. Prosecutors say this businessman purchased Ney a membership and provided him and his two aides with thousands of dollars in casino chips. It was during this trip that Ney claimed to have won $34,000 on two hands of cards. The plea agreement, however, makes no mention of a winning spree, saying that Ney by the end of the night had “received” roughly £47,000 (about $75,000).
According to the plea agreement, Ney sought to conceal his winnings by asking a staff member—it doesn’t say which one—to carry £5,000 through the U.S. Customs checkpoint on his return trip home. Prosecutors say Ney then falsely declared on his customs form winning just $34,000. But it wasn’t only Customs that was told Ney’s false story. According to one House GOP leadership aide, Ney openly talked up his London winning spree to other Republican members of Congress and aides. “He made us damn jealous,” says the aide, who declined to be named.
Last week, Ney admitted to a long-standing battle with alcoholism and entered rehab, but he did not blame his legal woes on dependency. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington on Oct. 13 where he will plead guilty to two federal corruption charges, including conspiracy and making false statements. Prosecutors will recommend a jail sentence of 27 months behind bars for the Ohio congressman, who could have faced at least 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. “I have made serious mistakes and am sorry for them,” Ney said in a statement. “I hope that someday the good I have tried to do will measured along side the mistakes I have made.”
It’s unclear when or if that day will come. Back home, word of Ney’s guilty plea stung Ohio Republicans, who had stood by the embattled congressman for months. Last Saturday, Ohio state GOP chairman Bob Bennett called on Ney (who is not seeking re-election) to resign from Congress immediately. “[After] the many months spent denying his corrupt behavior … his apology rings hollow,” Bennett said.
