Fraud, Racketeering Filed Against Abramoff

Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas has filed a federal civil suit Wednesday against ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and their associates stating that the characters were involved in fraud and racketeering, moves that shut down the tribe's casino.

The tribe alleged that the defendants defrauded the tribe, the people of Texas and the Legislature to benefit a rival casino tribe, the Louisiana-Coushatta tribe. The said tribe is Abramoff's client.

The tribe accuses the defendants of fraudulently mobilizing religious Christian groups against their casino, all the while being secretly bankrolled by another casino.

"They pitted christian against christian, tribe against tribe and cousin against cousin," the tribe said.

"Ultimately, the defendants' greed and corruption led to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe permanently shutting its casino. The funding for economic programs evaporated, over 300 jobs were lost in Polk County and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe has spent years struggling to recover and revitalize its economy through other means," the tribe said in its lawsuit.

The lawsuit also names Abramoff's ex-business partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Neil Volz, a former aide to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio; and Jon Van Horne, Abramoff's former colleague at his law and lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.

The Alabama-Coushatta's casino sitting on its reservation north of Houston, was closed in 2002 by a federal court ruling in a 1999 lawsuit former attorney general, John Cornyn, now a U.S. senator.