Black Timeline

Black/Guam Timeline

This time line was created using the OIG Report.

	1970s
Date	Description	Page No.
1975	Black started his legal career in 1975 as a Public Defender in Guam	8
1978	... in Guam and became an [Assistant U.S. Attorney] there in 1978.	8
	1980s
Date	Description	Page No.
Early	According to Black, the task force, which was created in the early 1980's to combat public corruption in Guam, was comprised of a variety of federal law enforcement agencies. The FBI was the lead agency, and the U.S. Attorney's office participated as well. At various times, DOI, the IRS, and Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel participated in the task force.	30
1981	In 1981, [Black] moved to Oregon and worked as the Deputy Federal Defender	8
1982	⁴ In 1982, [Lobbyist who helped recommend Rapadas] Fred Radewegan founded Pacific Islands Washington Office, Inc., a Washington, D.C-area governmental relations firm that specializes in strategic planning, international relations, and political affairs.	11
1984	[Black] then returned as an [Assistant U.S. Attorney] in the Guam USAO in 1984 to lead a federal public corruption investigation.	8
1989	In 1989, Black became the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Guam	8
	Rapadas had worked for the Office of the Attorney General of Guam from August 1989 until 2003. During his 13 years at the Attorney General's Office, Rapadas served as the head of the Violent Crime Unit for 18 months and as Chief Prosecutor for 3 years, in addition to working as a line attorney.	10
	1990s
Date	Description	Page No..
1991	Black had served as the interim United States Attorney for Guam and the CNMI since 1991	1
	Between 1991 and 2001, DOJ made repeated attempts to find a suitable candidate for the President to nominate as U.S. Attorney for Guam.	8
	1993
	Black also told the OIG that once, in approximately 1993, he was considered for Presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney or for a federal judicial appointment on Guam (he could not recall which). He stated that he never learned why his interview did not lead to a nomination.	9
	According to [long-time Associate Deputy Attorney General David] Margolis, who has been involved in the U.S. Attorney selection process for Guam since 1993 ...	9
	[Start of Delia's work] The DOJ official responsible for handling U.S. Attorney nominations from June 1993 to January 2001, Bernie Delia, told the OIG that the White House and DOJ made repeated attempts to find a candidate for the position.	8
	1995
MM/DD	Abramoff had represented the CNMI government since 1995 and worked to prevent federal immigration and minimum wage laws from being applied in the CNMI.¹²	18
01/12	... the Gutierrez letter, which was addressed to President Clinton and dated January 12, 1995. In the letter, Gutierrez had referred to Black as a good Democrat and recommended that he be "reappointed" to the position of U.S. Attorney for Guam.¹⁴	19
	1998
MM/DD	¹³ Abramoff told the OIG that, in connection with this work on the CNMI minimum wage issue, he had taken some action that could have affected the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney in Guam. He said that in 1998 he learned that money had been appropriated by Congress to fund an office that would handle complaints from garment workers on CNMI. Abramoff said he opposed this appropriation as harmful to the economy in the CNMI. Abramoff said that because it was too late in the appropriations process to remove the funds from the bill, he sought to have them designated instead for a separate U.S. Attorney for the CNMI, a position that did not exist.	18
	1999
MM/DD	[start of FBI Special Agent's work] Third, the FBI Special Agent who has led the public corruption task force on Guam since 1999 told the OIG that the U.S. Attorney's office on Guam as not shifted its focus away from public corruption matters since Rapadas's appointment.	34
	2000s
Date	Description	Page No.
	2001
MM/DD	[David] Sablan told the OIG that when he was elected chair of the Guam Republican Party in 2001, Radewegan reached out to him and offered his assistance in helping Sablan understand the national political system. Sablan said he accepted the offer.	11
01/DD	Abramoff told the OIG that it took some time for Williams to obtain the name of a candidate who was favored by both Gutierrez and Abramoff's main contact on Guam, Guam Democratic Senator Mark Charfouros.¹⁵ ¹⁵ We found one January 2001 e-mail from [Guam Democratic Senator Mark] Charfouros to Abramoff stating that Governor Gutierrez would be unofficially "funneling" his candidates for U.S. Attorney and judiciary appointments through Abramoff's office.	19
01/20	Sampson told the OIG that once President Bush was inaugurated in 2001 there was a general decision to replace Clinton-era U.S. Attorneys and that the Bush Administration wanted to "get a fresh team in."	9
01/25	[Not in OIG report; From the 2006 12 12 indictment of Sanchez and Hills (PDF) ] On or about the period January 25, 2001, through December 30, 2002, inclusive in Guam, ANTHONY P. SANCHEZ and HOWARD L. HILLS did: ... 2. HOWARD L. HILLS accepted checks in the amount of Nine Thousand Dollars ($90000.00) from ANTHONY P. SANCHEZ to pay Jack Abramoff for lobbying fees, after being informed by ANTHONY P. SANCHEZ that the series of Nine Thousand Dollars ($9000.00) payments were to avoid established procurement procedures.	NA
02/DD	In February 2001, Black wrote to EOUSA requesting a "security assistance visit" due to a recent security incident and other threats to his district.	22
Summer	Rapadas told the OIG that the Speaker of the Guam Legislature, Antonio Unpingco, first contacted him to discuss the U.S. Attorney position in the summer of 2001.	10
10/DD	⁹ Black has also cited press reports which state that Abramoff sent an e-mail to a client in the CNMI in October 2001 in which he discussed his concerns about a federal takeover of immigration law in CNMI, and in which he claimed to have access to Attorney General Ashcroft and his Chief of Staff, David Ayres. Black speculated that Abramoff or his colleagues may have asked Ayres or Ashcroft to take action against Black. However, Abramoff denied taking any actions to have Black replaced until February 2002, as discussed in Section IIIF of this report, and Abramoff stated that the contacts with DOJ officials related to Black that took place at that time were undertaken by his colleagues, not by him personally. [Repeated on page 18 without mention of colleagues, or these earlier contacts. And not in a footnote]	15
11/21	During this process, Black expressed interest in being considered for the U.S. Attorney's position. On November 21, 2001, he wrote to Sablan asking to be considered for the position.	16
12/11	Sablan subsequently forwarded [Rapadas's] name to Radewegan. Sablan and Radewegan also received the concurrence of Republican Party officials in the CNMI and American Samoa regarding Rapadas.⁵ Radewegan then forwarded Rapadas's name to the White House as a candidate for the U.S. Attorney position. ⁵ Sablan stated that one of the things that Radewegan advised him was that a one person recommendation does not carry enough clout, so Sablan might want to submit recommendations for federal appointments that have the backing of several Republican Party officials in the CNMI and American Samoa, which would carry more weight.	12
12/11	Rodriguez received an e-mail from Radewegan on December 11, 2001, recommending Rapadas as the candidate for U. S. Attorney.⁷ ⁷ The e-mail states, "Here is another copy of the resume of Leonardo Rapadas, the candidate of the Republican and Bus[iness] leadership on Guam for U.S. Attorney for Guam/CNMI, which has the full backing of the parties in CNMI and American Samoa. Originally transmitted to Clay Johnson's shop [the White House Personnel Office] by Amata [Radewegan's wife] on Sept. 12 but no acknowledgment ever was received.	12
12/11	Rodriguez said that he forwarded the e-mail the same day to Sampson, the White House Associate Director for Presidential Personnel.	12
12/11	E-mail records show that Sampson received the e-mail and forwarded it to EOUSA, also on December 11	12
12/17	EOUSA subsequently sent the online application to Rapadas, who completed the application on December 17, 2001.	13
12/18	DOJ records reflect that the DOJ panel interviewed Rapadas on December 18, 2001, one week after Sampson sent his name to EOUSA as a candidate for the Guam U.S. Attorney's position. ... The interview panel for Rapadas consisted of Sampson, Margolis, [DOJ Deputy Associate Attorney General and White House Liaison David] Higbee, [Associate Counsel to the President H. Christopher] Bartolomucci, and Ken Wainstein, then the Director of EOUSA.	14
	2002
early	The CNMI security report was written in early 2002 by Robert Meissner, a DOJ Regional Security Specialist who advised the Guam U.S. Attorney's Office regarding building security and other security-related issues.¹⁸	22
	[earliest possible date of leak to Abramoff; e-mail records only indicated that Abramoff has obtained the copy by late June 2002 ] Abramoff's e-mail records indicate that by late June 2002 he had obtained a copy of the report from an official at the Department of the Interior.	22
	Abramoff told the OIG, and documents confirm, that prior to 2002 Abramoff was aware that Black, as the interim U.S. Attorney for Guam and the CNMI, took the position that federal immigration law should apply in the CNMI. However, Abramoff told us that he did not recall attempting to influence who held the position of U.S. Attorney in Guam prior to 2002, and we found no evidence to the contrary.¹³ [How about his colleagues?]	18
01/07	Black responded to Margolis that Rapadas was "unsuitable" and that he had had only limited contact with the other candidate. Black also attached to his response a letter dated January 7, 2002. In the letter, which was addressed to the Attorney General, Black asserted that "the local power brokers" had proposed Rapadas in an "attempt to neutralize" the U.S. Attorney's office regarding public corruption matters. He raised concerns about Rapadas's family connections and raised the likelihood of a recusal of Rapadas or the entire office from a major corruption investigation if Rapadas was appointed. Black also stated that the Guam Attorney General's Office, where Rapadas worked, had "impeded federal investigations."	17
01/15	These records also show that DOJ seriously considered one other candidate for the Guam position, an Assistant United States Attorney who had worked in Hawaii. That prosecutor was interviewed by the panel on January 15, 2002. However, according to Sampson, the prosecutor declined to pursue the position after the interview.	14
01/16	On January 16, 2002, Margolis sent Black an e-mail stating that DOJ was considering two "very serious candidates" for the Guam U.S. Attorney position. Margolis told the OIG that he wanted to find out early on what Black's position would be with respect to the potential candidates, given Black's repeated, strong opposition to previous candidates ...	17
01/17	In a second letter, dated January 17, 2002, which was also addressed to the Attorney General, Black stated that he was a Republican Party member and "would like to apply to be the Presidentially appointed United States Attorney" for Guam and the CNMI.	17
	The DOJ did not provide a written response to Black's January 17 letter. Rather, according to DOJ records, the matter was "handled via telephone" by an EOUSA official.	17
02/DD	However, Abramoff denied taking any actions to have Black replaced until February 2002, as discussed in Section III F of this report, and Abramoff stated that the contacts with DOJ officials related to Black that took place at that time were undertaken by his colleagues, not by him personally. [Isn't this an admission of some sort?]	15
02/06	An e-mail Sablan sent to Rapadas on February 6, 2002, stated that "word has come back that so far the background investigation on you is going along fine."¹¹ ¹¹ Sablan told the OIG that his reference to "background investigation" in this e-mail was a reference to the general vetting process, rather than the portion of the process in which the FBI conducts interviews for a formal background investigation. As discussed in section H, it was not until June 3, 2002, that DOJ and the White House Counsel's office requested the FBI to begin its background investigation work on the Rapadas nomination.	16
02/DD	... in February 2002. At that time, Abramoff was pursuing a $1.3 million contract with the government of Guam to represent its interests, including attempting to increase airplane flights to and from Guam.	18
02/17	On February 17, 2002, Sablan wrote an e-mail to Rodriguez and Mehlman stating that Radewegan had informed him that Rapadas "got the nod from all concerned."	16
02/25	Abramoff's e-mails confirm that in late February 2002 he became involved on Gutierrez's behalf in a plan to oust Black from the interim U.S. Attorney position. According to the e-mails, on February 25, 2002, Abramoff obtained the Gutierrez letter, which was addressed to President Clinton and dated January 12, 1995.	19
02/26	On February 26, 2002, Williams sent Abramoff an e-mail stating that [Tony] Rudy [of Greenberg Taurig] was ready to speak to the White House about "killing the US Attorney candidate [Black]," but that Williams [of Greenberg Taurig] thought they should be prepared to suggest a good Republican alternative.	19
03/04	Abramoff's e-mails reflect that by March 4, 2002, Williams had learned that Gutierrez and Charfouros favored an attorney from the Washington, D.C. law firm Patton, Boggs for the Guam U.S. Attorney position. Abramoff told the OIG that the attorney had worked with Gutierrez's son-in-law on a business matter.	19
	On March 4, 2002, Williams reported to Abramoff in an e-mail that he had spoken with the attorney and the attorney was on the candidate list but had yet to be interviewed. However, the OIG found no record this attorney's name was forwarded to EOUSA as a candidate and there is no record that he was ever interviewed for the position.	19, 20
03/06	On March 6, 2002, Williams sent a follow-up e-mail to Ring and Rudy stating that he needed them to "talk with the political folks" at DOJ and the White House to make sure that Black was ousted as soon as possible and to push the Patton, Boggs attorney for the position.	20
	Ring responded in an e-mail on March 6, 2002, to Abramoff, Williams, Rudy, and Boulanger: "Just to be clear, we are lobbying in favor of the Dem[ocratic] Gov[ernor]'s choice against the White House's and local GOP's pick?" Abramoff responded, "We are opposed to Black. He has been screwing us for years on the CNMI, so this is good payback. I don't care if they appoint bozo the clown, we need to get rid of Fred Black."	20
03/08	Other documents reflect that the White House approved the nomination of Rapadas, pending the successful completion of the background investigation process on March 8, 2002. [Without the background investigation, Rapadas would have been eligible for appointment on this date]	16
	On March 8, the same day EOUSA [The Executive Office of the United States Attorney] was informed by the White House that the President had made the decision to nominate Rapadas, Williams sent an e-mail to Abramoff reporting that he had just learned about Rapadas's nomination from Rudy, who had spoken to Carl Thorson, then Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ Office of Legislative Affairs.	20
	In response to Williams's March 8 e-mail, Abramoff instructed Williams to tell their contacts in Guam the "good news" that "Black is gone." He told Williams that he should "play it" as though Black had been under consideration for the position but their lobbying efforts had "killed" Black's nomination. Abramoff also told Williams he should say that Black and Rapadas had been the final two candidates when they "killed Black," so Rapadas would probably get the nomination. Abramoff added in the e-mail that they should tell them that the that they should tell them that the Patton, Boggs attorney was "out of the process already. Spin spin spin."	20
03/11	On March 11, 2002, EOUSA sent the background investigation forms to Rapadas.	16
Spring	Abramoff told the OIG that in the spring of 2002, after a Congressional hearing was scheduled on the Guam court legislation, he was contacted by Hills [who would receive the multiple $9,000 'smurfing' checks, and who would use the money to hire Abramoff], met with Hills and Judge Lamorena [who appears to have been in on the 'smurfing'], and agreed to lobby against the bill.	27
05/02	On May 2, 2002, Rapadas sent a letter to EOUSA enclosing a copy of the forms he had been asked to complete in connection with his background investigation.	23
05/06	[ellipsis in original] On May 6, 2002, Meissner sent a letter to Black attaching a 34-page report summarizing the results of his security review. In the report, Meissner wrote that the federal government did not maintain control of customs and immigration on Guam and the CNMI. He stated that the lack of such control, "coupled with a long history of deliberate territorial indifference to corrective action," fostered "criminal activity and public corruption ..." Meissner also stated that a complete, in-depth review of policies concerning the relationships between the U.S., Guam, and the CNMI governments was urgently needed.	22
06/03	On June 3, 2002, the DOJ and the White House Counsel's office both sent paperwork to the FBI requesting that the background investigation be initiated.	23
06/18	FBI records reflect that Rapadas's initial FBI interview took place on June 18, 2002.	23
06/22	The FBI interviewed Black in connection with the Rapadas background investigation on June 22, 2002. In the interview, Black provided his assessment of Rapadas's qualifications. According to FBI records, Black stated that if the issue does not involve local politics, then Rapadas can be fair. However, Black said that politics in Guam is controlled by essentially a criminal enterprise. He said that the Guam Attorney General's Office is the facilitator for much of the procurement fraud on the island, which makes Rapadas a witness to almost all public corruption cases being investigated. Black said that the appointment of Rapadas would hinder the only effective prosecutors on Guam, namely the federal prosecutors.	23
06 late	Abramoff's e-mail records indicate that by late June 2002 he had obtained a copy of the report from an official at the Department of the Interior.¹⁹	22
07/11	On July 11, 2002, Black wrote to the Deputy Attorney General. stating that he was "recently informed" of congressional interest in the Meissner report. Black stated that he recently provided the report to the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior (DOI). He summarized the issues in the report that he believed should be addressed, and he requested working-level meetings to address short- and long-term solutions to the security issues.	22
08/28	By August 28, 2002, the FBI had completed most of this background investigation work, and on that date, the FBI's Office of Special Investigations and General Background Unit (SIGBU), the unit responsible for coordinating FBI background investigations, sent a memorandum to DOJ enclosing the partial results of the background investigation on Rapadas."	24
Aug or Sept	DOJ records reflect that in August and September 2002 EOUSA attempted to determine what actions had been taken on the recommendations, and the director of EOUSA met with [Department of Interior] officials to discuss the report.	23
09/06	Abramoff's e-mails reflect that in September 2002, he received an e-mail from a DOI official stating that Meissner's report, which the official noted had been requested by Black, was being used to promote the application of federal immigration law in the CNMI.	23
	Abramoff sent an e-mail to a Greenberg Traurig colleague on September 6, 2002, stating that they would have to "activate" on the CNMI very soon. Abramoff also told the colleague in the e-mail that he would be "leading the charge" to "assault" Black in the press, and that Black was a "villain" who was hated by "our Guam friend" [Guam Democratic Senator] Charfouros. In a separate e-mail that same day, Abramoff stated, "we have to makes sure this Black guy is smeared into the ground." In response, the colleague stated that he would "get someone on it right away."	23
09/20	On September 20, 2002, the FBI field office in Honolulu, which handled part of the background investigation, sent a memorandum to SIGBU describing the interviews of Rapadas's co-workers and other investigative steps taken to resolve the outstanding issues. The memorandum stated that the investigation had concluded that the allegations regarding Rapadas's personal conduct "could not be used to coerce" Rapadas.	24
09/24	On September 24, 2002, EOUSA submitted a memorandum to DOJ White House Liaison Higbee summarizing the Rapadas background investigation. The memorandum stated that all the law enforcement agencies recommended appointment, flagged the derogatory information contained in the background investigation, and summarized other results of the investigation.	25
10/DD	[Black's trip may not have happened. Also, the DOI was the source of the leaked security report to Abramoff] The e-mail [to Abramoff from a DOI official] also mentioned that Black would be traveling to Washington, D.C., in October 2002 to promote the expansion of federal immigration law to CNMI	25
10/11	[Not in OIG report; From this 21 March 2007 article at TheHill.com: Demoted U.S. attorney protested office shutdown, loss of resources] Years before Abramoff was sent to jail, the Department of the Interior ignored an October 2002 letter from Frederick Black, then the acting U.S. attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and had shut down the territories' Inspector General's office by the summer of 2003... Sent to Earl DeVaney, Interior's inspector general, on Oct. 11, 2002, Black's letter stated that "the loss of [the Inspector General's office in Guam] would remove effective federal supervision over the local government's expenditure of federal dollars, and would substantially handicap our investigations of official corruption.	13
10/23	On October 23, 2002,[White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA) staff member Leonard] Rodriguez sent an e-mail to Abramoff, with a copy to Ken Mehlman, in which Rodriguez stated that he had tried to reach Abramoff by telephone to introduce himself. Rodriguez also stated that he oversaw the U.S. territories for OPA and invited Abramoff to "feel free to contact me directly for any requests from Guam." The OIG found only one e-mail, dated November 19, 2002, between Rodriguez and Abramoff regarding the Rapadas nomination. [But were there any about the removal of Black?]	13
11/01	[Not in OIG report; from Can Justice Be Trusted, by Ari Berman, published in The Nation, 20 Feb 2006 issue.] Sources confirm that in early November 2002 Black contacted the Public Integrity Section, the unit currently heading the department's Abramoff task force, and asked for assistance in investigating Abramoff's lobbying activities. Black didn't have the resources to conduct investigations of both Gutierrez and Abramoff, and wanted Washington to help on the Abramoff part. Senior officials working closely under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft were also notified of Black's request. Since Black's communication happened to raise serious questions about the integrity of a high-level federal official who was being renominated to his post, Justice forwarded the information to the Deputy Attorney General's office and the Office of Legal Policy (OLP), which generally handles such concerns. Sources close to the probe say the information was likely passed on to then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who worked closely with Justice on such matters. "Those heads of OLP who are pretty well connected deal directly with the White House counsel," says Lee Casey, a former OLP aide under Reagan and Bush I. (Black declined to comment and Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra refused to provide details about an "ongoing criminal investigation.")
	On November 1, 2002, Black sent an e-mail to DOJ Public Integrity Section Chief Noel Hillman and other DOJ officials, including Associate Deputy Attorney General Margolis, requesting support from the Public Integrity Section regarding an investigation of Alberto Lamorena, the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Guam. Black attached documents which he alleged demonstrated that Lamorena was involved in a $500,000 "smurfing" scheme with Abramoff.	27
11/01	Similarly, [DOJ Public Integrity Section Principal Deputy Chief Stuart] Goldberg told the OIG that before receiving a copy of Black's November 1, 2002, e-mail to Hillman, he was not aware of any public corruption issue concerning Abramoff and the Superior Court of Guam, and Goldberg said he had not yet heard of Abramoff.	30, 31
11/01	Margolis said that after he received the November 1, 2002, e-mail from Black, he contacted Hillman to ensure that Black would get the support from the Public Integrity Section that Black requested.	28
	Margolis also forwarded the e-mail to the section's Principal Deputy Chief, Stuart Goldberg, who handled allegations related to federal judges.	28
	Willman told us that he discussed the matter with Goldberg, who had spoken with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Guam in the past. Goldberg told the OIG that Margolis was concerned there might be a recusal issue since Black's e-mail suggested that Lamorena might be called to sit on federal cases while the investigation of his conduct was pending.	28
11/DD	According to Goldberg, on several occasions Black contacted him, Hillman, or others to seek help from the Public Integrity Section. Goldberg told the OIG that it was often hard to determine whether Black wanted help with a specific case or help with general corruption problems in Guam.	28
11/08	On November 8, 2002, the Governor-elect of Guam, Felix Camacho, wrote to the White House to seek the President's "favorable consideration" in continuing the appointment of Attorney Fred Black for the position of United States Attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas.	17
11/12	DOJ records reflect that on November 12, 2002, DOJ or White House staff requested additional information regarding Rapadas's personal finances, including one closed bank account and the status of a mortgage. The background investigation was re-opened by the FBI...	25
11/14	Goldberg told the OIG that he spoke with Joseph Wilson, who was then the Criminal Chief of the Guam USAO. Their conversation took place on November 14, 2002, according to Goldberg's contemporaneous notes. Goldberg and Wilson decided that the Guam USAO could avoid using Lamorena for federal matters while the investigation was pending.	28
11/15	Goldberg sent Margolis an e-mail the next day informing him of this decision.	28
	The background investigation was re-opened by the FBI and Rapadas and the FBI provided the necessary information to address those questions by November 15, 2002. That information was forwarded to the White House by DOJ that same day and the FBI then closed the background investigation for the second time.	25
	Goldberg and Wilson also talked about the "smurfing" allegations raised by Black. Goldberg described the conversation with Wilson as a brainstorming session. Goldberg said he did not think the facts described by Black constituted a "smurfing" scheme because all the money was going into one account and consequently there was a paper trail. trail. He said he thought there might be an administrative procurement violation if the person writing the checks was authorized only to sign checks under $10,000 and was structuring the payments to avoid the procurement regulations. Goldberg said he also told Wilson that Wilson should try to figure out what funds were being expended to determine if there was a federal crime. He said he and Wilson discussed a possible violation of 18 U.S.C. 5 666, which applies to funds stolen or misused from a program receiving federal funds. Goldberg told the OIG that he believed at the time that the participants may have been trying to avoid some kind of Guam procurement regulation rather than a federal statute. [this date is a bit of a reasoned guess]	28, 29
11/16	In an e-mail to Margolis the next day, Goldberg said that the Guam USAO would do some preliminary investigation regarding the Superior Court checks. Goldberg added, "If it appears there is some there there, they will contact us, and we will get actively involved at that point" [Margolis, hmm. He seems like just the kind of integrity-soaked public official to ensure justice is served. ]	29
	[Presumed start of USAO and FBI investigation of smurfing, for which no documents exist. Sloppy bookkeeping, no 'there there', or intentional obstruction of justice?] Documents reflect that the Guam USAO began looking into the allegations and took investigative steps to gather relevant information. As part of the OIG's investigation, we requested that the Guam USAO and the FBI produce any documents obtained in connection with the investigation into this allegation. However, the USAO and the FBI told the OIG that they were unable to locate any responsive documents. ²⁵ ²⁵ The Guam USAO reported that copies of the documents received in connection with this matter were not retained by the USAO-Guam. The FBI office in Guam said it was unable to provide any documents reflecting any investigation into this matter for the period 1999 through 2004. The FBI also searched its electronic database for any references to the relevant parties, such as the Superior Court of Guam, Howard Hills, and Alberto Lamorena. FBI employees also manually searched the general public corruption case file for Guam open at that time. In addition to searching the main investigative file, the FBI searched the subfiles, which were created to store investigative efforts regarding particular individuals such as the Governor's associates. Nothing was found through any of these searches.	29
11/19	On November 19, 2002, the White House issued a press release announcing the President's intent to nominate Rapadas as U.S. Attorney.	25
	⁸The OIG found only one e-mail, dated November 19, 2002, between Rodriguez and Abramoff regarding the Rapadas nomination. ... Rodriguez inaccurately stated that the President would "nominate Leonardo Rapadas for U.S. Marshal in Guam today" (the nomination was for the U.S. Attorney position, not U.S. Marshal).	13, 14
	For example, on November 19, 2002, Black sent an e-mail to EiOUSA stating that he received the "unexpected" message that Rapadas would be nominated. In the e-mail, Black stated that Rapadas had a conflict of interest with regard to his uncle, Tanaka. In response to these concerns, the FBI again re-opened the background investigation.	25
	Soon after the President's intent to nominate Rapadas was announced in November 2002, DOJ officials discussed whether Rapadas should be appointed as interim U.S. Attorney. As noted above, interim appointments by the Attorney General expire after 120 days. At that time, if the person had not been confirmed by the Senate, the local federal court could appoint someone to serve in an interim capacity.	31
11/DD	DOJ decided not to appoint Rapadas as interim U.S. Attorney. Margolis stated that on a prior occasion the Guam District Judge had declined to appoint someone to be interim U.S. Attorney in place of Black.	31
12/03	On December 3, 2002, Margolis, the DOJ's deciding official on conflict matters, sent an e-mail within DOJ discussing the potential recusal issue [with Rapadas for investigations involving Tanaka].	31
	In a December 3, 2002, e-mail to other DOJ officials about the recusal, Margolis stated that he wanted to make sure that the overall investigation did not suffer and the office did not make any prosecutorial decision regarding Rapadas's uncle. [I'm sure this sounds worse than it is]	32
12/12	For example, on December 12, 2002, Margolis sent an e-mail to Black asking if the Tanaka portion of the investigation could be severed from the rest of the case so that Rapadas could be recused from that portion rather than the whole case.	32
12/17	During another interview with the FBI on December 17, 2002, Black stated that Gutierrez attempted to corruptly influence Rapadas by asking one of Rapadas's relatives to speak to Rapadas about the public corruption case involving the Gutierrez Administration.	26
	That same day, Black sent an e-mail to Margolis noting that Congress had adjourned without acting on the nomination and requesting that the President be informed of Black's objections to Rapadas's nomination.	26
12/23	In a memorandum he sent to Margolis on December 23, Black described the Guam USAO's ongoing public corruption investigations in detail, including alleged connections between Rapadas and persons within the scope of the investigations. In his memorandum, Black recommended that control of the entire Gutierrez Administration investigation go to Public Integrity, but that Guam prosecutors remain on the case. He also recommended that Rapadas be recused and a "Chinese wall" be put in place so that Rapadas would not receive any information about or have any supervisory control over the investigation. Public Integrity Section Deputy Chief Goldberg stated that he concurred with this resolution of the conflict.	32
	Margolis approved the recusal.	32
12/30	[Not in OIG report. End of alleged smurfing; From the 2006 12 12 indictment of Sanchez and Hills (PDF)] "On or about the period January 25, 2001, through December 30, 2002, inclusive in Guam, ANTHONY P. SANCHEZ and HOWARD L. HILLS did: ... 2. HOWARD L. HILLS accepted checks in the amount of Nine Thousand Dollars ($90000.00) from ANTHONY P. SANCHEZ to pay Jack Abramoff for lobbying fees..	NA
	2003
01/07	On January 7, 2003, Black sent another letter to the Attorney General regarding Rapadas's selection of the U.S. Attorney for Guam. In the letter, Black outlined his reasons why Rapadas was not the best candidate for the position, including Black's concerns about Rapadas's competence, conflicts of interest, and additional allegations about Rapadas's personal conduct.²¹	26
01/09	On January 9, 2003, the FBI field office forwarded the summary of the December 17, 2002, interview of Black to SIGBU, and SIGBU closed the background investigation for the third time.	26
	However, that same day the FBI received a memorandum from DOJ stating that Black had reported that another individual had something to add to Rapadas's background investigation ... [who? who? why so coy?]	26
01/13	Based on this memorandum and additional information about individuals who might have pertinent information, on January 13, 2002 [sic], the FBI re-opened the Rapadas background investigation again.	26
	After conducting further interviews, the FBI agent assigned to this matter stated in an e-mail that "there are no new revelations which have not already been addressed. Just new people repeating the same old rumors."	26
01/22	The background investigation was closed for the fourth and final time on January 22, 2003. [Time lost to background check: approx. 10 months]	26
01/28	Rapadas was re-nominated on January 28, 2003 (shortly after a new Congressional session began).	26
03/DD	In March 2003, the Senate Judiciary Committee requested a letter from Rapadas outlining how he would deal with the conflict of interest issue raised in his background investigation.	26
03/28	Black sent a second ... letter [similar to the 2003 01 07 recusal letter] to the Attorney General on March 28, 2003.	26
04/DD	¹⁶ However, Abramoff and Williams continued to track the nomination of Rapadas as it proceeded through the confirmation process. In addition, in one e-mail to a Senate staffer in April 2003, Williams offered to provide the Gutierrez letter about Black [stating that Black was a "good Democrat"] to the staffer.	21
	In April 2003, Rapadas and Margolis each sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee discussing the conflict issue and the plan to recuse Rapadas from certain investigations if Rapadas was confirmed.	26
04/07	Rapadas provided the letter on April 7. [recusal letter mentioned on p. 26]	32
04/DD	[The report seems to conclude that it was Black who put the 'smurfing' case on the back burner. But the lead agency in the Guam Public Corruption Task was not Black's USAO, but the FBI.] An April 2003 e-mail from Black to Hillman reflects that the Guam USAO and the FBI did not continue to investigate the Superior Court checks allegation. At the time he wrote the April 2003 e-mail, Black was still serving as interim U. S. Attorney pending Rapadas's Senate confirmation. In the e-mail, Black stated, "Supposedly, the money was used to lobby against the planned bill to place Guam's Supreme Court in control over the lesser Superior Court. This matter is on the back burner for now." Black also described in the e-mail other USAO and FBI investigative priorities that prevented the FBI from focusing on this matter. We asked Wilson why the investigation into the Superior Court checks was put on the "back burner," as characterized by Black. Wilson stated that at the time the Guam Public Corruption Task Force was investigating allegations of corruption by certain officials within the Gutierrez Administration.²⁶ ²⁶ According to Black, the task force, which was created in the early 1980's to combat public corruption in Guam, was comprised of a variety of federal law enforcement agencies. The FBI was the lead agency, and the U.S. Attorney's office participated as well. At various times, DOI, the IRS, and Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel participated in the task force.	30
	[The above event, as characterized in the summary] First, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Guam was at that time focusing on other pressing matters involving the Administration of Governor Gutierrez. Indeed, Black himself wrote to Public Integrity Section Chief Hillman in April 2003 and stated that because of other investigative priorities, the question of the $9,000 checks to Hills was on the "back burner."	38
	Later that month, Margolis also wrote a letter to the committee addressing the conflict question." [recusal letter as mentioned on p. 26]	32
05/07	Another e-mail reflects that Williams was told on May 7, 2003, by his congressional contacts that Rapadas was on the Judiciary committee docket the next day and was expected to be "reported favorably" by the committee. Williams told Abramoff that he would inform Gutierrez's son-in-law of the development. [Why so coy about the son-in-law? Why isn't he named?]	21
05/09	On May 9, 2003, the Senate voted to confirm Rapadas [Time lost to background check and Senate nomination: approx 1 year 2 months]	26
	On May 9, after the full Senate voted to confirm Rapadas, Williams e-mailed the news to the Governor's son-in-law and asked that the Governor be notified.	21
05/22	On May 22, 2003, Rapadas was sworn in as the U. S. Attorney and has remained in that position since then.	1
	... he was sworn in as U.S. Attorney on May 22, 2003.	32
05/23	... and he was sworn in as U.S. Attorney on May 23, 2003. [it must have been a very long swearing-in ceremony]	26
05/22	Since then, he has been recused from cases involving Tanaka or the investigation involving the Gutierrez Administration.	32
	In addition, Rapadas told the OIG that he had never heard the name Jack Abramoff until Black later brought it up to Rapadas during a meeting shortly after Rapadas was confirmed as the U.S. Attorney in 2003.	11
	The Director of EOUSA suggested two people [for the position of First Assistant United States Attorney] to Rapadas, and Rapadas told the OIG that he ultimately selected one of the recommended candidates, Stoddard, an AUSA from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida.	33
	Black stated that after Rapadas was appointed and Stoddard arrived on Guam, Black was removed from handling public corruption cases.²⁸ ²⁸ Black also raised concerns about the manner in which Stoddard has been paid for his "temporary duty assignment" in Guam over the last three years. In addition, Black said that Stoddard has not managed the office well, causing several qualified attorneys to leave. These allegations are discussed in the next section of this report.	32
	[date of Black's assertion] Black also asserted to the OIG that "Prior to May of 2003 we had five attorneys working public corruption in Guam. Now we have only one." In addition, Black has asserted that there have been "no new corruption investigations in three years."	33
	As previously mentioned, those investigations resulted in the conviction of both Shinlohara and Tanaka in 2003 ... [I couldn't find the 'previous mention'. Also note that Black was U.S. Attorney for almost half of 2003]	34
	2004
Early Spring	In early spring 2004, the DOJ opened an investigation into payments made by certain Indian tribes to Abramoff for lobbying services ... [Would the DOJ have caught Abramoff on Guam? The report seems to imply that it was only a matter of time, and uses the Indian tribe case as support. But this is misdirection; this report is about the DOJ on Guam, not the DOJ as a whole.]	2
	2005
	Section 502 in the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, enacted in March 2006, removed the 120-day time limit and permits the interim U.S. Attorney appointed by the Attorney General to serve until the Presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney is qualified.	5
Multiple dates	Goldberg stated that since former Guam USAO criminal chief Wilson left Guam in 2005, Goldberg has had no direct contact with the USAO so he is not aware of the specific cases they are pursuing. He said, however, that the change from 16 to 9 cases would not cause him concern that there was a lack of focus or willingness to investigate public corruption cases in Guam. [The OIG report goes into a convoluted argument based on the number of Public Corruption convictions, which a footnote table clearly shows were at their most numerous from 2000-2003 - 3 and 1/2 years of Black's attorneyship, 6 months of Rapadas's]	34
06/DD	[The practice of paying Stoddard a per diem for two years] was contrary to EOUSA general policy to pay meals and incidental expenses for temporary assignments for one year, absent specific justification. However, when the error was discovered at the end of the second year of Stoddard's assignment, EOUSA notified the U.S. Attorney's Office in Guam. Rapadas provided a letter requesting that EOUSA continue to pay for Stoddard's meals and incidental expenses for a third year, and EOUSA agreed. The request letter did not contain a specific justification for those payments.	36
12/DD	²⁴ A December 2005 audit of these ['smurfing'] payments by the Office of the Public Auditor of Guam found that the Superior Court used monies from its local "general fund" appropriation to pay the lobbying fees for Hills. Although the audit revealed that the Superior Court did not issue a required IRS form to Hills for payments and neither Mills nor Abramoff filed a lobbying registration on behalf of the Superior Court, the money paid by the Superior Court to Mills was from local appropriations.	29, 38
	2006
	Stoddard stated that he believes the U.S. Attorneys office in Guam has opened a total of 29 matters involving public corruption since Rapadas's appointment.³⁰ ³⁰ Stoddard stated that some of the matters to which he referred involve public corruption but may not be categorized as such in EOUSA's computer database. [Stoddard claims success on inaccessible evidence.]
01/DD	In January 2006, Abramoff pled guilty in Washington and Florida to conspiracy, wire fraud, and tax evasion.	2
	The Guam USAO reported that copies of the documents received in connection with this matter were not retained by the USAO-Guam. The FBI office in Guam said it was unable to provide any documents reflecting any investigation into this matter for the period 1999 through 2004. The FBI also searched its electronic database for any references to the relevant parties, such as the Superior Court of Guam, Howard Hills, and Alberto Lamorena. [date based on date of this OIG report]
12/12	[Not part of OIG report. Guam Attorney General Douglas B. Moylan secures indictment of Anthony P. Sanchez and Howard L. Hills (PDF) for the smurfing scheme.]

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