Capital Athletic Foundation

The Capital Athletic Foundation (CAF) is a 501(c)(3) organization started by Jack Abramoff "in 2000 with only $12,850," according to a heavily-documented March 1, 2005, letter from Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Sloan's information was taken from R. Jeffrey Smith's September 28, 2004, Washington Post article "Foundation's Funds Diverted From Mission. Records Detail Spending By GOP Lobbyist Abramoff."


 * In 2001, CAF received $1 million from the Coushatta and $177,415 from Foxcom.
 * The Coushatta apparently believed that the donation was for a sky box from which Abramoff would lobby Members of Congress during Redskins games.
 * In 2002, CAF collected $2.56 million from 9 donors including 3 tribes.
 * In 2003, CAF collected $2.15 million from tribes, Michael Scanlon and an internet casino client of Abramoff’s. $2.13 million of the money went to the Eshkol Academy, a school started [in 2001] by Abramoff.
 * In a February 2003 email, Abramoff told Scanlon to make sure that his share of money went to Eshkol directly – 'using school as conduit for some of our activities . .. If that won’t fly with them, use CAF.'
 * CAF also paid $120,000 in August 2002 for Abramoff, Robert W. Ney, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., and then-General Services Administration Chief of Staff David Safavian "to St. Andrews to play golf with a stop in London on way back. Ney later claimed that the trip’s purpose was to raise money for a foundation, but there were no fundraising events during the course of the trip."

On April 17, 2005, Tax Analysts reported that in a March 16, 2005, letter, Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking minority member Max Baucus (D-MT) had "asked lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his wife, Pamela, for various financial and organizational data regarding the Capital Athletic Foundation (CAF), a charity the Abramoffs founded," and "requested information about three other organizations Abramoff has had ties to: Eshkol Inc., the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), and Kaygold LLC, a consulting service owned by Abramoff. (For the Finance Committee letter, see Doc 2005-5551.)"


 * "The committee opened the investigation following allegations that Abramoff used NCPPR and CAF to pay for overseas trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other Republican lawmakers and that he attempted to influence lawmakers with large donations from various American Indian tribes."

"The committee had asked Abramoff to provide a list of the foundation’s employees and their compensation packages, an accounting of the travel and conferences attended by the foundation’s employees, and details of the foundation’s investments, among other information."

As of April 20, 2005, The Hill reported that Abramoff had not been "responsive" to the Committee's request that the documents be provided by April 15, 2005. 

"Interactive Spy Game Gala"
On March 5, 2003, Paul Bond of The Hollywood Reporter announced the March 26, 2003, celebrity fundraiser "Interactive Spy Game Gala" to be held at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, "to raise about $300,000 for the Capital Athletic Foundation."
 * "Daniel Greenberg, who works as creative director for the J.R.R. Tolkien franchise for Universal Interactive, has tapped his brother Andrew, also an award-winning video game designer, and theatrical director Patti Woolsey for the Spy Game Gala. About 30 teams of about 10 people each are to interact with 15 actors who will reveal clues for solving puzzles that will eventually reveal the mystery Greenberg has created. The competition will last about an hour, and the winning team will get $50,000 in prizes."
 * "Being honored at the gala with the Capital Athletic Foundation's first lifetime achievement award is full-time philanthropist James Kimsey, the founding chairman of America Online."
 * "The gala is to be chaired by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, so the NFL will be well-represented. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis will be there, and record-setting Philadelphia Eagles return man Brian Mitchell has signed on as event spokesman."
 * "Fox News Channel's Tony Snow is master of ceremonies, and Fox's Brit Hume and MSNBC's Chris Matthews are aboard. Opera great Placido Domingo is an event committee member. But, this being Washington, the event will be mostly populated by powerful lawmakers, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif."
 * Also named in the announcement was the "foundation's director of community relations," Julie Doolittle, the wife of Representative John Doolittle (R-California).

Contact Details
The following may or may not be active information : Capital Athletic Foundation Trustees: Jack Abramoff, Pamela Abramoff (formerly National Institute of Torah Foundation) c/o Jack Abramoff 1101 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Ste. 600 Washington, DC 20004 E-mail: capathletic AT capathletic.org URL: http://www.capathletic.org (inactive January 4, 2006)

SourceWatch Resources

 * Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal
 * Jack Abramoff: External Links

Data

 * "Top 40 DC Foundations that Give Grants," The Grantsmanship Center, undated. CAF listed as number 28.
 * "Top 50 District of Columbia Foundations by Total Giving, circa 2002," The Foundation Center. CAF is listed as number 29.
 * "Top 50 District of Columbia Foundations by Total Giving, circa 2003," The Foundation Center. CAF is listed as number 25.

Documents

 * Statement of Amy Moritz Ridenour At the Hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Lobbying practices Involving Indian Tribes, June 22, 2005 (pdf).

2003

 * Paul Bond, "Celebs team to play spy for a capital good cause," The Hollywood Reporter, March 5, 2003.

2004

 * Eric Fingerhut, "Eshkol teachers: We weren't paid full salaries for school year. Defunct school is considering claims, says Abramoff," Washington Jewish Week, July 15, 2004.
 * R. Jeffrey Smith, "Foundation's Funds Diverted From Mission. Records Detail Spending By GOP Lobbyist Abramoff," Washington Post, September 28, 2004.
 * "Ex-Lobbyist's Assets Frozen," Washington Post, November 13, 2004.
 * "K Street Croupiers. How Two of Tom DeLay's Players Beat the House at the Grand Coushatta Casino," The Texas Observer, November 19, 2004.
 * E.J. Kessler, "Senate Probe Of Lobbying Puts Heat On DeLay Ally," Forward, November 26, 2004.

2005

 * James V. Grimaldi, "Probe of Abramoff and Nonprofits' Money Opens. Senate Finance Committee Seeks Records on Trips by Reps. DeLay and Ney, Donations to Indian Tribes," Washington Post, March 17, 2005.
 * "Senate Launches Abramoff Probe," Houston Democrats, March 17, 2005.
 * Doug Abrahms, "Probe of lobbyist expands to charity. Senate committee wants to know why tribes paid into sportsmanship charity," The Desert Sun, March 18, 2005.
 * Josephine Hearn, "Abramoff 'not responsive' to Finance Committee," The Hill, April 20, 2005.
 * "Investigators Probing Abramoff's Finances Have Found That Some Money Meant for His Charity Went to Fight the Palestinian Intifada," PR Newswire, April 24, 2005.
 * Joshua Frank, " Scandal of Irony. Abramoff Used DeLay to Fund Anti-Intifada Militia," Counter Punch, April 26, 2005.
 * Michael Isikoff, "Fund-Raising: Take It to the (West) Bank. Money meant for the inner city went to fight the intifada. What donors to Jack Abramoff's charity didn't know," Newsweek, May 2, 2005 (issue).
 * Ellen Gamerman, "How lobbyist's troubles felled Columbia school. Jack Abramoff promised much at Eshkol Academy. But corruption allegations would crumble his empire," Baltimore Sun (CREW), May 18, 2005.
 * Rick Cohen, "Nearsighted Ethics," Tom Paine, June 14, 2005.
 * "Live Blog of SCIA hearing," Indianz.com, June 22, 2005.
 * Susan Gamboa, "Abramoff ran tribal money through tax-exempt groups, documents indicate," Associated Press (Clarion Ledger), June 22, 2005.
 * Josephine Hearn, "Indian Affairs panel hears 'tale of betrayal'," The Hill, June 23, 2005.
 * "sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, camouflage suits, thermal imagers," John's Place, September 25, 2005.
 * Philip Shenon, "DeLay Asked Lobbyist to Raise Money Through Charity," New York Times (The Randi Rhodes Show/Air America), November 4, 2005.
 * "Lobbyist's fundraising linked to DeLay," UPI, November 4, 2005.
 * Ellen Miller, "'I'm sensing shadiness. I'll stop asking.'," TPM Cafe, November 4, 2005. Scroll down to comments for multiple entries for "IRS Form 990-PF for Capital Foundation Athletic Foundation, LLC for 2003, 2002 and 2001."
 * "DeLay Asked Abramoff for Funds Through Foundation, E-mails Show," Bloomberg News, November 4, 2005.
 * ReddHedd, "Abramoff: The E-mails That Keep On Giving," Fire Dog Lake, November 4, 2005.
 * "Jack Abramoff, political 'values' parable for our time," Sisyphus Shrugged, November 13, 2005.
 * "Watch Your Wallet, Casino Jack," The Stakeholder, November 16, 2005.
 * Julie Kay, "Greenberg Traurig Executive Describes Misconduct by Abramoff, Other Lobbyists," Daily Business Review (Law.com), November 17, 2005.
 * Ellen Miller, "Another Shoe Drops On Rep. Ney," TPM Cafe, November 22, 2005.
 * "Abramoff probe broader than thought," from Wall Street Journal (AMERICAblog) and reported by Reuters, November 25, 2005.
 * Joshua Frank, "Abramoff used DeLay to fund anti-intifada militia," Online Journal, November 25, 2005.
 * Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi, "Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist. Ney and DeLay Among the Members of Congress Said to Be a Focus of Abramoff Investigation," Washington Post, November 26, 2005.
 * Andrew Stephen, "Pssst. How much to buy Washington?" New Statesman (UK), December 12, 2005.
 * Chuck Lindell, "Abramoff charity's claims disputed. Groups listed as beneficiaries of more than $330,000 in gifts say they never got them," American Statesman, December 15, 2005.
 * Andrew Ferguson, "A Lobbyist's Progress," The Weekly Standard, December 20, 2005 (issue): "Jack Abramoff and the end of the Republican Revolution."
 * Words Have Power, "Doolittle, Delay, Abramoff - Family Ties," MyDD, December 27, 2005.

2006

 * Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi, "Lobbyist had meteoric rise and fall," Washington Post (Seattle Times), January 2, 2006 (updated from December 30, 2005, original article).
 * "Abramoff Pleads Guilty, Will Help in Corruption Probe (Update3)," Bloomberg News, January 3, 2006: "Congressional staff members are also likely to be ensnared in the probe. The Justice Department identifies one Abramoff lobbying colleague as 'Staffer A,' a former congressional employee. Staffer A allegedly solicited a $25,000 contribution in June 2002 for an Abramoff charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation, from a distilled beverage maker, which was one of their firm's clients. Abramoff then used the money for 'personal and professional benefit' to help pay for a Scotland golf trip, the government alleges. ... Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation gave $25,000 in 2003 to the DeLay Foundation for Kids, one of the Texas lawmaker's charities."
 * National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy press release, "Abramoff indictment ignores misuse of the Capital Athletic Foundation: IRS should have led investigation of illicit dealings of CAF all along, philanthropic watchdog charges," January 4, 2006.
 * Juan Cole, "Abramoff and al-Arian: Lobbyist's 'Charity' a Front for Terrorism," Informed Comment, January 4, 2006.
 * Anthony Wade, "Chris Matthews Tied to Jack Abramoff, Credibility in Tatters," OpEd News, January 5, 2006. Wade's article references the Daily Kos which references this SourceWatch article.
 * E.J. Kessler, "Felony Plea of GOP Lobbyist Sets D.C. Players Scrambling," Forward, January 6, 2006: "The Eshkol Academy and a charity Abramoff started to help fund it, the Capital Athletic Foundation, have received repeated scrutiny in lawmakers' probes of Abramoff's alleged tax evasion and money laundering."