{"id":443802,"date":"2010-03-18T15:30:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T19:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firedoglake.com\/?p=73646"},"modified":"2010-03-18T15:30:39","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T19:30:39","slug":"doj-serves-subpoenas-in-ensign-sexworkinfluence-peddling-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/443802","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Serves Subpoenas in Ensign Sex\/Work\/Influence Peddling Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Apparently what happens in Las Vegas doesn't stay there after all…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Department of Justice has served subpoenas on six Las Vegas businessmen with ties to Nevada’s favorite GOPlayboy — the guy who put the “fun” in being a fundamentalist Christian, Senator John Ensign.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Now<\/a><\/em> reports that on March 8 a two-person team — a special agent from the FBI and a prosecutor from the Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice — descended on Sin City<\/p>\n

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to interview several prominent business and political figures in what appears to be a wide-ranging and deadly-serious criminal probe….<\/p>\n

A parallel investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee has also generated subpoenas to Nevadans. Most of those subpoenaed by the grand jury were also subpoenaed by the Ethics Committee, but a few served by the Senate were not served by the DOJ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The investigations center around scenario wherein various business were asked hire Doug Hampton, husband of Ensign’s sweetie, Cindy, because, in theory, a job would make Doug keep his mouth shut about the senator’s affair with Cindy. Additionally, it appears at least one company was asked to make a nice financial donation to the GOP in exchange for Senator Ensign helping them out regarding pending legislation. Sleazy!<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Now<\/em> breaks it down:<\/p>\n

Mike and Lindsay Slanker were hired by Ensign to run the fundraising effort for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Mike was also helping Doug Hamilton get a job as a lobbyist while Lindsay arranged contributions to the GOP from eComm, a Nevada based prepaid credit card company:<\/p>\n

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Senator Ensign’s then-Chief of Staff John Lopez welcomed the opportunity to help a Nevada company. But sources say Ensign’s office quickly seized on the opportunity to get something in return.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the situation say Ensign’s office warned eCommLink and others about pending prepaid card regulation and that donations and support could make those troublesome rules go away.<\/p>\n

Ensign’s office wanted a lunch meeting and a fundraiser. Then he planned an office visit a few weeks later. Then the big push — more protection from regulation in exchange for a $28,000 contribution to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Majority Makers…Ensign’s people wanted someone, anyone, to hire Hampton as a lobbyist. Many companies declined.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ensign, of course, says he has done nothing wrong legally or ethically.<\/p>\n

Tags: Cindy Hampton<\/a>, Doug Hampton<\/a>, investigation<\/a>, John Ensign<\/a>, John Lopez<\/a>, Majority Makers<\/a>, Nevada<\/a>, NRSC<\/a>, scandal<\/a>, Senate Ethics Committee<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Share <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently what happens in Las Vegas doesn't stay there after all… The Department of Justice has served subpoenas on six Las Vegas businessmen with ties to Nevada’s favorite GOPlayboy — the guy who put the “fun” in being a fundamentalist Christian, Senator John Ensign. Las Vegas Now reports that on March 8 a two-person team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-443802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}