Abscam Scandal

An undercover operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1980 implicated seven members of Congress in criminal wrongdoing. Called Abscam (a combination of “Arab” and “scam”), the operation was a “sting” that used FBI agents posing as wealthy Arabs to offer bribes to an undisclosed number of legislators.

By May 1981 seven who took the bait—six House members and one senator—had been convicted, and by the following March all seven were gone from Congress, one of them having been expelled. Some of the members had been asked if they could use their positions to help the “Arabs” obtain U.S. residency. Others were offered money to use their influence in obtaining gambling licenses or federal grants, or in arranging real estate deals.

Four of the House members convicted in the affair were videotaped accepting money. They were Republican Richard Kelly of Florida and Democrats Raymond F. Lederer and Michael J. “Ozzie” Myers, both of Pennsylvania, and Frank Thompson Jr. of New Jersey. John W. Jenrette Jr., a South Carolina Democrat, was recorded on tape saying he had been given the cash by an associate. John M. Murphy, a New York Democrat, allegedly told an associate to take the cash. A seventh House member, Pennsylvania Democrat John P. Murtha, was named as an unindicted coconspirator. He later was cleared by the House ethics committee.

The only senator caught in the sting was New Jersey Democrat Harrison A. Williams Jr. Although Williams turned down a cash bribe, he was convicted on charges that included accepting a secret share of a titanium mine owned by several of his friends in return for a promise to help the enterprise get government contracts. Undercover FBI agents promised a sizable loan to the venture. Williams maintained that the government “manufactured” the crimes of which he was accused.

All seven of the convicted members served prison sentences. On October 2, 1980, the House expelled Myers. He was only the fourth representative to be expelled up to that time and the first since the Civil War. Myers remained the only member of Congress to be expelled for corruption until Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, was expelled in July 2002 following his conviction in federal court on bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion charges. Kelly, Murphy, and Thompson were defeated for reelection before their convictions and thus escaped House disciplinary action. Jenrette, Lederer, and Williams resigned. By leaving the Senate voluntarily in 1982, Williams avoided becoming the first senator to be expelled since the Civil War and the first ever ejected on grounds other than treason or disloyalty. (See disciplining members.)