Abscam

ABSCAM

Abdul Scam

"Everybody was laughing at what was happening. It was like guys coming out of the bush, saying, 'Hey, give me some of the money/They'd pay one guy and the next day five guys would be calling them, guys they didn't even know. The tapes are hilarious." This was how a reporter described a statement by a former federal prosecutor in an undercover operation known as Abdul scam, or Abscam, named after a fictional sheikh named Kambir Abdul Rahman. During the course of twenty-three months, about one hundred Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents became involved in a series of undercover operations targeting public officials, including members of Congress. By the time the sting operation was over, two dozen state and local officials, one U.S. senator, and seven U.S. representatives were implicated in offering services for cash.

Swindled by a Swindler

Prior to Abscam the FBI had been involved in a series of sting operations as a result of its increasing emphasis on white-collar crime. The FBI approached convicted swindler Mel Weinberg for his assistance in setting up fake fencing operations to get high-level art and securities thieves to sell their stolen property to the fake fence. During the course of this operation, Weinberg named two associates who had allegedly bribed Angelo Errichetti, the mayor of Camden, New Jersey. With the approval of FBI director William Webster, the FBI began in March 1978 laying the groundwork to help Weinberg lure public officials into engaging in criminal behavior. The irony was that the officials caught in the web were set up by a convicted, although admittedly expert, swindler.

The Operation

The first quarry was Mayor Errichetti, who was informed that Sheikh Abdul Rahman was interested in investing money in Camden and might want to open a casino as well. Errichetti was videotaped saying that he would help the sheikh for a fee of $400,000 and accepting a $25,000 down payment for his services. Errichetti later showed up at a meeting with Rahman with U.S. senator Harrison Williams (D-N.J.). Williams agreed to help Rahman with his attempts to invest in the United States and his wish to open a casino. The senator was provided with shares of stock in a titanium mine for his assistance. This was also filmed for later courtroom use. Errichetti also introduced the sheikh's aides to Howard Criden, a lawyer from Philadelphia who was involved in real estate. Criden passed the word of available cash to several members of Congress, who were filmed accepting cash or otherwise acknowledging on tape receipt of the funds through intermediaries. One congressman, Rep. Richard Kelly (R-Fla.), was filmed stuffing $25,000 in cash into his suit, pants, and coat pockets and then asking, "Does it show?" He later stated that he took the money (most of which was later returned to the FBI) as part of his own investigation into what was obviously something "crooked" going on.

The Fallout

One of the problems with the sting operation was that it tested the thin line between entrapment and legally capturing those who were already disposed to commit the crime of bribery. While the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1973 that sting operations were legal only as the means to capture certain kinds of criminals, the Court has also held that law enforcement agencies may not pressure or induce the victim of the sting to commit the crime. To do so would be entrapment, and the criminal defendant would probably go free. Although all of those caught in the Abscam sting pleaded entrapment, they did so to no avail as the videotapes spoke volumes about the greed of which some public officials were capable. Six congressmen and numerous other state and local officials were subsequently convicted on bribery charges. Weinberg has since stated that when the operation was shut down because of possible news leaks, he had at least nine more congressmen lined up whom he believes would have taken the bait.

Source:

United States Congress, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Undercover Activities of Components of the Department of Justice, to the U.S. Senate (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1983).

ABSCAM FALLOUT

The end of the Abscam scandal, which resulted in convictions of a U.S. senator and several congressmen, also brought calls for the regulation of undercover operations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On 6 January 1981 the Justice Department issued guidelines to govern such operations.

AUTHORIZATION OF THE CREATION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

1. Entrapment should be scrupulously avoided. Entrapment is the inducement or encouragement of an individual to engage in illegal activity in which he would otherwise not be disposed to engage.
2. In addition to complying with any other requirements, before approving an undercover operation involving an invitation to engage in illegal activity, the approving authority should be satisfied that:
   1. The corrupt nature of the activity is reasonably clear to potential subjects;
   2. There is a reasonable indication that the undercover operation will reveal illegal activities; and
   3. The nature of any inducement is not unjustifiable in view of the character of the illegal transaction in which the individual is invited to engage.
3. Under the law of entrapment, inducements may be offered to an individual even though there is no reasonable indication that the particular individual has engaged, or is engaging in the illegal activity that is properly under investigation.

   Nonetheless, no such undercover operation shall be approved without the specific written authorization of the Director, unless an Undercover Operations Review Committee determines…that either:

   1. there is a reasonable indication based on information developed through informants or other means that the subject is engaging, has engaged, or is likely to engage in illegal activity of a similar type; or
   2. the opportunity for illegal activity has been structured so that there is reason for believing that persons drawn to the opportunity, or brought to it, are predisposed to engage in the contemplated illegal activity.
4. In any undercover operation, the decision to offer an inducement to an individual, or to otherwise invite an individual to engage in illegal activity, shall be based solely on law enforcement considerations.