Abramoff Is Sentenced For Casino Boat Fraud

In addition to their prison terms, Huck ordered Abramoff and Kidan to pay $21.7 million in restitution and to serve three years' probation upon their release.

He also agreed to allow them at least 90 days before beginning their sentences so they can continue to cooperate with investigators looking into government corruption and the gangland-style killing in 2001 of former SunCruz owner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, with whom Abramoff and Kidan quarreled.

Three men have been charged with the killing, one of whom -- allegedly connected to the mafia in New York -- was hired by Kidan to provide catering and security services for SunCruz.

Abramoff and Kidan have denied any involvement in the death.

Abramoff's notoriety is more closely associated with his Washington influence, however. Among the congressmen whose names have come up in the investigation are Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), former chairman of the House Administration Committee, and Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the former House majority leader.

Ney has been identified as the "Representative #1" who, according to court documents, received bribes from Abramoff in exchange for official acts, including statements in the Congressional Record that promoted the SunCruz deal.

Mark Tuohey, an attorney for Ney, said he and Ney have recently been seeking to persuade prosecutors not to bring charges in Washington or Florida. An agreement Ney signed last fall that waived the five-year statute of limitations on possible charges in Florida will expire in late April. Tuohey said his client will not accept any plea deal.

DeLay, who once described Abramoff as "one of my closest and dearest friends," took three overseas trips with the lobbyist and received more than $70,000 in political contributions from him, his associates and his Indian tribal clients. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Before the sentencing, Abramoff's attorneys sought to portray him as a man who had been unfairly caricatured by newspaper reporters and late-night comics.

They submitted a memo that amounted to a biography, opening with his childhood in Atlantic City; his embrace of Orthodox Judaism at age 13 -- despite his parents' concern that he may be shunned by mainstream society -- the family's move to Beverly Hills and his standing as an All-Conference high school football star there.

The memo followed his career path from national chairman of the College Republicans to his days as a movie producer who forbade foul language, and his work as a lobbyist. Noting his efforts to start a Jewish school, Eshkol Academy in Columbia, Md., and a kosher restaurant, the biography suggests Abramoff's life was more often guided by religion than greed.

Among the court submissions were supportive letters from more than 260 of Abramoff's friends, relatives and associates -- including one from his 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, who wrote that she burst into tears after hearing actor George Clooney joke about her father during the Golden Globe awards ceremony.

"Our five children, all teenagers, love and need their dad," his wife wrote. "I cannot imagine the pain and suffering we would all endure should Jack be incarcerated."

Staff writer Susan Schmidt contributed to this report from Washington. Branigin reported from Washington.