British lawyers linked to $1m payment for favours at US Congress

By Philip Sherwell in Washington and David Harrison in London
(Filed: 08/01/2006)

A British law firm is at the centre of the investigation into America's biggest influence-buying scandal in decades.

The London-based solicitors, James & Sarch, channelled $1 million (£565,000) into a conservative United States pressure group linked to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist.

The firm, which was dissolved in 2000, made the payment by a single cheque in June 1998 to the US Family Network, a now-defunct organisation that had close ties to the embattled Republican Congressman, Tom DeLay, and was largely funded by groups associated with Abramoff.