Welcome back.
Two weeks ago, we examined everyday citizen experts and the role of crowdsourcing criminology in missing person cases.
Today: the decline of trust in traditional experts. Specifically, the institutional corruption of money in politics.
Meet Jack Abramoff. For years, he was one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington. He shaped policy, moved millions, and had nearly 25% of Congress in his pocket.
Until he didn't.
His fall wasn't about one bad actor. It was about a system designed to be gamed. And here's the terrifying part: most of what he did was legal. This is a story about institutional corruption—and why the trust crisis is worse than you think.
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IN THIS ISSUE | December 11, 2025
📖 FEATURED STORY
Jack Abramoff Got Out of Prison. I Asked Him About Alexander Ovechkin: Hockey wasn’t his hobby. It was how he bought access to power.
🎓 RESEARCH + RESOURCES
13-minute podcast: The 6 tactics Abramoff used to influence Congress—most legal, all corrupt. PLUS: Academic article: "Crowdsourcing Criminology" (for those who prefer to read)
👀 NEXT ISSUE (Dec 18)
UAPs. (Yes, talking aliens.) The question won't be whether we're alone. It'll be whether we believe the experts who tell us we're not.
📖 FEATURED STORY
Jack Abramoff Got Out of Prison, I Asked Him About Alexander Ovechkin.
Hockey wasn't his hobby. It was how he bought access to power.
When I met Jack Abramoff at Harvard's Faculty Club in 2011, he'd been out of prison for a year.
The photos below show him in better days – alongside Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. After his release, Abramoff published a book admitting he'd corruptly influenced nearly 25% of Congress.
Bush (2003)
Reagan (1981)
A select group of us had been invited to dinner at the Faculty Club after his public interview with Lawrence Lessig. I waited for my turn to ask Jack a question, but a journalist ahead of me kept pressing him with question after question. Abramoff's face grew more strained with each one.
When he finally turned to me, someone announced: "Two minutes."
I'd prepared substantive questions about lobbying reform, institutional corruption, the mechanics of influence. But looking at his exhausted face, I realized something: I wasn't going to get real answers in two minutes.
So, I pivoted.
"What's wrong with Ovechkin and the Capitals?"
The stress left his face. He smiled – genuinely smiled – for the first time that evening.
For the next two minutes, we talked hockey. We speculated why Ovechkin had only scored 1 goal in his last 12 games. Neither of us knew that he would not only start scoring again but would eventually break Gretzky's record.
The Hockey Gambit
Here's why that conversation matters.
In a separate interview, Abramoff explained one of his key influence tactics: he would take Congressional Chiefs of Staff to hockey games. Not to bribe them directly – that would be illegal. But to build relationships. To plant seeds that maybe, when they left government, they could work for him.
Neil Volz, former Chief of Staff to Congressman Bob Ney, described how institutional corruption happened in real time. In a CBC interview, he said:
“I have the distinct memory of, you know, negotiating with Jack at a hockey game. So, we’re, you know, just a few rows back. The crowd’s going crazy. And Jack and I are having a business conversation. And, you know, I’m—I’m wrestling with how much I think I should get paid [when I leave government to work for Jack]. And then five minutes later—he’s asking me questions about some clients of his .... There were several corrupting moments. There isn’t just one moment. There were many.”
Hockey wasn't just small talk for Jack Abramoff. It was part of the machine.
The Capitals weren't just a team he followed. They were a venue for normalized corruption disguised as relationship-building.
And it was perfectly legal.
Some colleagues questioned whether Harvard should have invited someone so corrupt. But hearing an insider explain how the system actually works, such as the vulnerabilities, the normalized practices that look like corruption but remain legal – that seemed valuable.
That conversation – and Abramoff's other public interviews – became the basis for research I published on six influence tactics he used on Congress. Most were legal. All were corrupt.
The System That Rewards Bad Behavior
My impression of Jack Abramoff? He was personable. Articulate. Nice. Charming, even, during that hockey conversation and over dinner.
But I left thinking he represents something specific: people who understand exactly how the system rewards bad behavior and can't resist exploiting it.
Abramoff once said there are two types of people in Washington: those who understand the joke, and those who don't. The idealists versus those who know how normalized the corruption has become.
He wasn't exaggerating.
What Abramoff did was often legal. The tricks, the trips, the strategic relationship-building, the revolving door between government service and lobbying firms – all of it operated within the technical boundaries of the law.
That's the real story. Not that one bad actor gamed the system. But that the system is designed to be gamed.
Where Jack Is Now
On Nov 19, 2025, Jack Abramoff was sentenced again. This time for his role in the AML Bitcoin cryptocurrency scam. He pled guilty after being charged in 2020.
He also has stage four cancer – part of the reason the judge gave him probation and spared him prison.
I feel sorry for him, not because he was innocent but because he’s become the symbol of a problem that's gotten worse, not better. We prosecuted the individual. The system kept humming along.
Has Anything Changed?
If anything, it’s become more brazen. One of the richest persons in the world donated a quarter-billion dollars in the last election, then was given a government position overseeing agencies that regulate his companies. This isn't unique to one party or one person – similar revolving doors have spun under every recent administration. But the scale has changed.
It's the joke Abramoff talked about, now told in broad daylight.
Jack Abramoff escaped prison a second time. But the system that enabled him? It’s not just intact. It’s evolved.
The institutional corruption of money in politics is now on steroids.
🎓 Research + Resources:
Want to read the criminology article on Jack Abramoff? Click the link below. If you don’t have institutional access, reply to this email newsletter and I will send you a copy of it.
Click Here → Insider Accounts of Institutional Corruption
🎧 AUDIO COMPANION (PODCAST)
Want to listen instead?
I've turned the above research into a 13-minute podcast breaking down the six tactics Abramoff used to influence Congress— most legal, all corrupt.
🔊 Listen while walking, driving, or doing dishes [▶️ Play Episode Below]
🔍NEXT WEEK: The Question That Divides Experts (and Maybe You)
This week: Jack Abramoff's influence machine and how corruption works when everyone's looking the other way.
Next week: the conversation we postponed. And it's worth the wait.
I'm talking about aliens.
Not the sci-fi kind. The "should we trust experts when they tell us UAPs are real?" kind. (UAPs = Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. The new term for UFOs.)
On December 18, we're diving in. Including a review of a documentary that'll make you question what's been hiding in plain sight.
Before we get there, I need something from you.
December 18 marks the end of a short 2025 publishing year. We're looking ahead to 2026, and I want to know what you want to read. Crowdsourcing disasters? True crime that exposes broken systems? The trust crisis? Institutional corruption?
Reply to this email with your thoughts. I read every response. Your input shapes where this goes next.
Next Issue (Dec 18): The question won't be whether we're alone. It'll be whether we believe the people who tell us we're not.
- Garry C. Gray
