A former US House of Representatives staff member was convicted on corruption charges in a probe linked to disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, the US Department of Justice said Thursday. A federal jury in the US capital convicted Fraser Verrusio, 41, on charges relating to accepting an all-expenses-paid trip to a baseball game from a lobbyist in 2003.
Verrusio was former policy director for the US House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, a committee responsible in the House for the federal highway bill.
Verrusio "accepted an all-expenses-paid trip to Game One of the 2003 World Series from a lobbyist working for an equipment rental company interested in inserting three amendments into the Federal Highway Bill. "The trip was funded by the equipment rental company and the lobbyist's firm," read the statement.
Trial evidence showed "that one of the lobbyists who helped arrange for the trip worked with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and that the equipment rental company was a client at Abramoff's firm."
Abramoff became one of Washington's leading lobbyists during the Republican rise to power in Congress in the 1990s, and expanded his influence when George W. Bush was elected to the White House.
Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for wire and mail fraud in 2006. He also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to corrupt public officials, mail fraud and tax evasion in a lobbying operation that involved providing large amounts of money and favors to the offices of Republican members of Congress.
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