Italia Federici (born August 12, 1969), the former president of the

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) was a Republican environmentalism, environmental organization founded in 1998 by Gale Norton, who in 2001 became George W. Bush's U.S. Secretary of the Interior. CREA "evolved from a group" I ...

(CREA), a greenscam organization. Federici was also a political aide to

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

and CREA co-founder

Gale Norton Gale Ann Norton (born March 11, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. A member of the Republican Party, she previously serve ...

. She pleaded guilty in June 2007 to

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

and obstructing the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

investigation into the

Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal exposed in 2005; it related to fraud perpetrated by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American trib ...

and was sentenced to four years probation.

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy

Federici founded CREA with Norton and

Americans for Tax Reform Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." According to ATR, "The government's power to control ...

president

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary ...

, a college friend of Abramoff, in 1997 with money Federici inherited; The organization was also funded by, and supported the goals of, mining and other industries.

Abramoff involvement

Federici introduced

Jack Abramoff Jack Allan Abramoff (; born February 28, 1959) is an American lobbyist, businessman, film producer, writer, and convicted felon. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction a ...

to Deputy Secretary of the Interior

J. Steven Griles James Steven "Steve" Griles (born December 13, 1947) was an American coal industry lobbyist and the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the George W. Bush administration from July 12, 2001, until his resignation on December 7, ...

in March 2001, just before Griles started at the Department of the Interior. Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to CREA, after which time she allegedly began using her connections with Griles to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors. In emails, Abramoff claimed that "she is critical" to his work with the Department of Interior, especially with regards to preventing the Jena Band of Choctaws Indian Tribe from creating a casino, that would take money away from one of Abramoff's "core tribes". A February 18, 2003, email from Abramoff to Federici said "...This will be a PR disaster as you can imagine, especially if for some reason Interior agrees to approve this deal. McCrery and Vitter (the other R's in the delegation) are furious beyond belief. This is going to get really ugly. Please let Steve know about this. Thanks so much Italia!". The email referred to Griles, who is reported to have been romantically connected to Federici. Federici also pleaded guilty to failure to file tax returns from 2001 - 2003; Furthermore, she did not pay

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

from 2001 through 2003. In December 2007, Federici was sentenced to four years probation, and $77,243 in restitution of back taxes.

External links

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy

Six Lies and Videotape
''GOPUSA'' - Article by Federici, herself, written to announce CREA's latest anti-environmentalist video.

''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'', January 12, 2006.
CREW DEMANDS FEDERICI BE REFERRED TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR PERJURY INVESTIGATION
-

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 Founded ...

Email records between Italia Federici and Jack Abramoff
from the

U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 1 ...

The greening of Italia Federici
''

salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

'', November 18, 2005.
Abramoff Witness Frustrates Panel
''

washingtonpost.com ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...

'', November 18, 2005.
Casino Bid Prompted High-Stakes Lobbying
''

'', March 13, 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Federici, Italia 1969 births Living people American people convicted of tax crimes Washington, D.C., Republicans