FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2007 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Former Congressional Chief of Staff

William Heaton
Sentenced on Corruption Charge
WASHINGTON – William J. Heaton, former chief of staff for former Congressman
Robert W. Ney, has been sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000,
Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced
today. Heaton, 29, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia by Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. In imposing Heaton’s sentence, Judge
Huvelle granted the government’s motion for a downward departure based on
substantial assistance for Heaton’s cooperative efforts in the investigation of his
boss, former Congressman Ney.

Heaton pleaded guilty on Feb. 26, 2007, to a one-count information charging him
with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The named co-conspirators in the
charge include Ney, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Neil Volz, who served as
Ney’s chief of staff before Heaton. Ney, Abramoff and Volz have all pleaded guilty
in connection with the government’s investigation.

According to court documents, Heaton was employed by Ney beginning in

September 2001 as executive assistant, and later as chief of staff. Ney, a
Congressman representing the 18th District of Ohio since 1995, resigned last fall
before being sentenced to 30 months in prison on corruption charges. Heaton’s
duties included managing Ney’s office personnel and approving the staff’s receipts
and use of tickets to sporting events and entertainment events.

Heaton admitted that he joined a conspiracy with Ney and others, beginning in
August 2002 and continuing through April 2004, in which he and Ney corruptly
solicited and accepted a stream of things of value from Abramoff, Abramoff’s
lobbyists, and a foreign businessman, in exchange for agreeing to take and taking
official action to benefit Abramoff, his clients, and the foreign businessman. Those
things of value included international and domestic trips, meals and drinks, concert
and sporting tickets, and substantial campaign contributions and in-kind
contributions such as free fund-raisers for Ney, and were accepted with the intent to
be influence and to take official actions. Heaton admitted that Ney, with Heaton’s
assistance, took official actions benefiting Abramoff, his lobbyists and their clients,
such as supporting legislation at Abramoff’s request and contacting executive
branch agencies to influence those agencies at Abramoff’s request.

Heaton also admitted that he and Ney accepted thousands of dollars worth of
gambling chips from a foreign businessman who was hoping to sell U.S.-made
airplanes and airplane parts in a foreign country. Heaton admitted that he helped
Ney conceal some of the money Ney had received, storing the money for Ney in a
safe in Ney’s congressional office and periodically opening the safe at Ney’s
request so that the congressman could withdraw funds.

Heaton began cooperating in the investigation of Ney in June 2006. As part of his
cooperation, Heaton recorded conversations he had with Ney and another individual,
capturing important circumstantial evidence that statements Ney had made about
matters material to the investigation were false.

These cases are being prosecuted by trial attorneys Mary K. Butler and M. Kendall
Day of the Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II
of the Criminal Division. The cases were investigated by a task force of federal
agents including special agents of the FBI, the Department of the Interior Office of
the Inspector General, the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector
General, and the Criminal Investigation branch of the Internal Revenue Service. The
investigation has received assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Southern District of Florida. The broader investigation into the lobbying activities of
Jack Abramoff is being conducted by federal agents from the above-named agencies
as well as prosecutors in the Public Integrity and Fraud sections of the Criminal
Division and prosecutors in the Criminal Tax Section of the Tax Division.

###

07-621