Abramoff case - Research Paper Example

These political lobbyists offered gifts and campaign donations to legislators in return for the unfair legislative support. The scandal was brought to light following the federal investigations into the business as well as political dealings of Abramoff. Indian lobbying scandal was one of the major misdeeds of Abramoff and it was resulted from defrauding native Indian tribes of millions of dollars. As noted already, the scandal represented the bribing of government officials as well. From extensive FBI investigations, Abramoff found guilty of three felony counts including conspiracy, tax evasion, and fraud.

The tax evasion charges were roughly amounted to $1.7 million whereas the loss of the defrauded tribes represented a figure of $66 million (US Senate, 2006). Abramoff was asked to cooperate with officials on the investigation of congressional corruption because he had bribed congressional representatives including Bob Ney of Ohio. The scandal also included the hiring of congressional staff with intent to influence their former employees. As Eliason (2009) points out, Neil Volz, the chief staff of Tom DeLay, was found guilty of offenses including fraud, conspiracy, and contravention of house rules and which in turn forced DeLay to relinquish his position as the chairperson of the house administration committee.

It is apparent that the political scandal perpetrated by Abramoff had many ethical consequences. The parties involved in this scandal had ethical responsibilities toward the society and general public, and therefore the scandal resulted in an ethical downturn of the parties involved. The Abramoff scandal also represented the violation of societal values because ethics is an integral element determining acceptable behaviors in a society. To illustrate, Abramoff defrauded the native Indian tribes of millions of dollars through his lobbying activities, and from a societal perspective it is just equivalent to