Refund, Please

Retrieving Abscam bribes

During the course of Abscam, the FBI handed out more than $400,000 in bribes to Congressmen and various middlemen. Now the Government is planning to file suits to get the money back. To recover the sums under federal bribery law, the Government can only sue people who have been convicted of taking bribes. So far, the prosecutors have won all four trials that have been completed. The two best-known defendants to be found guilty are Congressmen Michael ("Ozzie") Myers of Philadelphia and John Jenrette of South Carolina, both defeated in November's election. Myers was convicted of receiving $50,000, Jenrette of taking the same amount.

A verdict is expected at the end of this week in the trial of Representatives John M. Murphy of New York and Frank Thompson of New Jersey; Murphy and Thompson are accused of sharing two $50,000 payoffs with various coconspirators. Still to come: the trials of Congressmen Raymond Lederer of Philadelphia, accused of accepting $50,000; Florida's Richard Kelly, indicted for receiving $25,000; and New Jersey Senator Harrison Williams, accused of taking mining stock as a bribe.

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