Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleads guilty in AML BitCoin fraud case

Political lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of conspiracy and violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act in his involvement with the AML BitCoin scam.  Abramoff admitted to misleading investors about AML BitCoin in a teleconference call with a federal judge in San Francisco as he answered questions related to his plea deal.

In his plea, Abramoff admitted he was aware that information from AML BitCoin’s founder Marcus Andrade and others that the development and financial condition of the NAC Foundation and AML BitCoin project was incorrect. 

“Despite this knowledge, I continued to help draft and disseminate press releases and promote AML BitCoin. I also directly solicited individuals to purchase tokens knowing the AML BitCoin project was short of funds for operations,” Abramoff said in the plea agreement.  

The charges brought against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Abramoff deceived investors when he promoted the digital token AML BitCoin as “a new and improved version of bitcoin.”

Abramoff, 61, will serve five years in prison for each count according to the filing. 

The details of the plea agreement were made public last month when the case was opened by San Francisco U.S. Attorney David Anderson, when Abramoff was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and lobbying disclosure violations, according to the SEC statement. 

Having pleaded not guilty a week ago, Andrade is currently fighting criminal charges for wire fraud.

Previously, Abramoff served more than three years in prison before he was released in 2010 for his involvement in a corruption case.