Criminal Defense News

Former GSA Chief Of Staff Convicted Of Obstruction, Making False Statements

WASHINGTON – A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted David H. Safavian, the former chief of staff for the General Services Administration (GSA), of obstructing a GSA proceeding and making false statements, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

The jury convicted Safavian today of four charges stemming from an October 2005 indictment, following an eight-day trial and four days of jury deliberation. The jury found that from May 16, 2002 until January 2004, Safavian made false statements and obstructed investigations into his relationship with former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The investigations focused on whether Safavian, the chief of staff at the GSA from May 2002 until January 2004, aided Abramoff in his attempts to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C. In August 2002, Abramoff took Safavian and others on a golf trip to Scotland.

The jury heard evidence at trial that Safavian made a false statement to a GSA ethics officer claiming that Abramoff had no business with GSA at the time Safavian was planning to travel with the lobbyist to Scotland. He repeated the same statements to a GSA Office of Inspector General special agent, again concealing the fact that Abramoff had business before the GSA prior to the August 2002 golf trip and that Safavian was aiding Abramoff in his attempts to do business with GSA.

The jury found Safavian not guilty of a fifth count of the indictment, a charge of attempting to mislead the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs by falsely claiming to the committee during its investigation that Abramoff had no business before GSA at the time of the Scotland trip. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January 2006 to charges of conspiracy, aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud and tax evasion, and agreed to cooperate with investigators in an ongoing criminal investigation.

“Today a jury found David Safavian, a former federal official, guilty of lying to Congress and GSA investigators about his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. “The message of this verdict is clear: in answering questions posed by Congress and by federal agencies, public officials have the same obligation as does the public for which they serve – to tell the truth. No one is above the law.”

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	Did You Know?
	There are 3 basic types with standard of proof There are essentially three standards of proof applicable in most court proceedings. In criminal and delinquency cases, the offense must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard. In civil cases and neglect and dependency proceedings, the lowest standard applies by a mere preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). In some civil cases, and in juvenile proceedings such a permanent termination of parental rights, an intermediate standard applies: proof by clear and convincing evidence.