Cancer Diagnosis Helps ‘Casino’ Jack Abramoff Dodge Prison in $5.6 Million AML Bitcoin Case
Posted on: November 20, 2025, 02:04h.
Last updated on: November 20, 2025, 02:38h.
- Jack Abramoff gets probation, not prison, for AML Bitcoin scheme
- Prosecutors detailed fake tech claims and fabricated government adoption stories
- Case echoes earlier lobbying abuses of Native American tribal clients
“Casino” Jack Abramoff – the notorious Republican Washington lobbyist who served four years in prison for fraudulently exploiting Native American tribes’ gaming interests – has been spared a trip back to the slammer, this time for crypto fraud.
The 67-year-old convicted fraudster was sentenced to three years of federal probation Tuesday for his lobbying and marketing for AML Bitcoin, a $5.6 million pump-and-dump cryptocurrency scheme, court records show.
Judge Richard Seeborg at the sentencing hearing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, in part, cited Abramoff’s aggressive cancer diagnosis as the reason for clemency, determining there was “little prospect of reoffending.” Abramoff was ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution to the scheme’s victims.
AML Bitcoin Pump and Dump
Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2020 to wire fraud in relation to his work for AML Bitcoin and its founder, Rowland Marcus Andrade.
The pair falsely promoted the coin to investors as being technologically superior to Bitcoin, claiming that multiple government agencies were negotiating to use it, according to court documents.
Among the claims were that AML Bitcoin had anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, and theft-resistant technology built into its “privately regulated public blockchain,” which didn’t exist, according to prosecutors.
Another was that the Panama Canal Authority was close to allowing the currency to be used for ships passing through the Panama Canal when no such agreement was in place.
They also claimed to investors that a Super Bowl ad they had produced for AML Bitcoin had been rejected because it was “too political.” In fact, they simply did not have enough money to pay for it.
All this boosted the token’s trading volume and price, which allowed Andrade to divert more than $2 million in proceeds when it reached its height.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in July 2025 for wire fraud and money laundering.
Tribes Double-Crossed
Abramoff’s conviction makes him the first person to be found guilty of violating the amended Lobbying Disclosure Act, which was significantly updated in 2007 as a result of Abramoff’s own misconduct.
In the early 2000s, he was a politically well-connected, high-flying lobbyist who represented a number of Native American tribes seeking gaming-casino rights, including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Louisiana Coushatta Tribe, and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.
A federal investigation found that he and associates grossly overcharged these tribes for their services, while secretly lobbying against certain tribal clients. This allowed them to encourage or manufacture political obstacles for the tribes while presenting themselves as the solution to those obstacles.
Separately, he was involved in the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise ships, SunCruz. Abramoff used a fake wire transfer to hoodwink lenders into believing he and his co-conspirator, Adam Kidan, had made a $23 million down payment on the fleet to qualify for a $60 million loan.
Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2006 to fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion and was sentenced to six years in a federal prison.
He served 43 months before being released in 2010. His criminal misadventures were depicted in the film “Casino Jack,” starring Kevin Spacey.
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