As an undergraduate at Brandeis University, Abramoff was Chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans. That group organized student volunteers for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. He graduated with a B.A. in English in 1981. He took six years to finish his degree. Abramoff got his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.
After graduating from Brandeis, Abramoff ran for election as chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC). His campaign cost over $10,000 and was managed by Grover Norquist. Abramoff won the election after his main competitor was persuaded to drop out. Norquist was executive director of the committee under Abramoff. He later recruited Ralph Reed, a former president of the University of Georgia College Republicans chapter, as an unpaid intern. Reed was invited to sleep on Abramoff’s couch. At the CRNC, Abramoff created political alliances with College Republican chapter presidents across the nation. Many of these people later had key roles in state and national politics and business. Some of them would later work with Abramoff as a lobbyist. Some of those relationships were a main part of the federal investigation.
In 1984, Abramoff and other College Republicans formed the "USA Foundation". It was a non-partisan tax-exempt organization that held two days of rallies on college campuses around the United States. These rallies celebrated the first anniversary of the invasion of Grenada. In a letter to campus Republican leaders, Abramoff said:
In 1985, Abramoff joined Citizens for America. It was a pro-Reagan group that helped Oliver North build support for the Nicaraguan Contras. Citizens for America had a meeting of anti-Communist rebel leaders known as the Democratic International in Jamba, Angola. This conference included leaders of the Mujahedeen from Afghanistan, UNITA from Angola, the Contras, and opposition groups from Laos. Out of this conference came the International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff helped to organize, and also went to the conference. Abramoff's membership ended badly when Citizens for America's sponsor Lewis Lehrman, a former New York gubernatorial candidate, said that Abramoff had spent his money carelessly.
In 1986, Reagan made Abramoff a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
Abramoff became a full-time lobbyist and used his CRNC friends to gain access to members of the Bush Administration. He represented indian tribes and on-line gambling interests. To get the gaming interest to hire him to fight against new laws to control gambling, Abramoff had his friends start efforts against gambling. Abramoff bought a restaurant in Washington, D.C. He used it to impress clients and government officials. Abramoff got press coverage and was known for wearing a fedora hat. Abramoff started a charity called the "Capital Athletic Foundation". In 2002, Abramoff started an Orthodox Jewish school in Maryland called "Eshkol Academy".
The lawmakers, lobbyists, Bush administration officials, congressional staffers, and businessmen in the Jack Abramoff public corruption probe were:
Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon (a former Tom DeLay aide) conspired to bilk Indian casinos of about $85 million. The lobbyists also created lobbying against their own clients to force them to pay for lobbying services. These actions were the subject both of criminal prosecution and hearings by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. On November 21, 2005, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials.
On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony counts (conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion) involving his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. Abramoff and other defendants had to pay back at least $25 million that they took from clients. Abramoff also owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.7 million because of the tax evasion. In the agreement, Abramoff said he bribed public officials, including Ney. Also included: the hiring of congressional staffers and conspiring with them to lobby their former employers. This included members of Congress.
Later in 2006 Abramoff lobbyists Neil Volz and Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. In September 2006, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements.
On August 11, 2005, Abramoff and Kidan were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on fraud charges from a 2000 deal to buy SunCruz Casinos from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Abramoff and Kidan were said to have used a fake wire transfer to make people believe that they had made a $23 million down payment needed to qualify for a $60 million loan. Kidan received the same sentence as Abramoff — 5 years, 10 months — which he began serving at Fort Dix Federal Penetentiary, in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on October 23, 2006. Ney also was implicated in helping to make the deal.
After the partners bought SunCruz in September 2000, the business relationship with Boulis got bad. It ending in a fight between Kidan and Boulis in December 2000. In February 2001 Boulis was murdered in his car. The murder is currently not solved. SunCruz is now owned by Oceans Casinos Cruises.
On March 29, 2006, Abramoff and Kidan were both sentenced in the SunCruz case to the minimum amount of 70 months. They also had to pay US$21.7 million in restitution. The judge, U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck, got over 260 pleas for leniency from people. These included "rabbis, military officers and even a professional hockey referee." The defendants are still helping with federal investigators and will be sentenced later in the Indian lobbying case.
In 2002, Guam Superior Court hired Abramoff to lobby against a bill wanting to put the Superior Court under the authority of the Guam Supreme Court. On November 18, 2002, a grand jury issued a subpoena demanding that the administrator of the Guam Superior Court release all records dealing with to the contract. On November 19, 2002, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black, the chief prosecutor for Guam and the person who caused the indictment, was removed from the office he had held since 1991. The federal grand jury investigation was quickly ended and took no more action. In 2005 Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks started a new investigation of the Abramoff contract.
In 2006 California attorney and Marshall Islands lobbyist Howard Hills, and Tony Sanchez, a former administrator of the Guam Superior Court, were indicted for unlawful influence, conspiracy for unlawful influence, theft of property held in trust, and official misconduct. It is believed that they allowed 36 payments of $9,000 in connection with a contract between Hills and the Guam Superior Court. These payments were written out to Hills, but went to Abramoff. Hills trusted Sanchez as a court official. Hills believed that this was temporary and agreed to help with the transition for what he thought was a standard government contract between Abramoff and the court. For this Hills got nothing. Before indictments or investigations were started, Hills ended his temporary contract with Abramoff and reported what he thought was unusual behavior to public officials when he thought that something may be wrong. In 2007, indictments were issued against Hills and Sanchez. In 2008 more indictments were handed down against Abramoff and Abramoff's firm at the time, Greenberg Traurig. The charges against both attorney Howard Hills and Greenberg Traurig have since been dismissed.
On November 15, 2006, Abramoff began serving his term in the minimum security prison of Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland, Maryland, as inmate number 27593-112. The Justice Department asked that he serve his sentence there so that he would be closer to agents in Washington to help with the investigations of his associates.