With the recent criminal convictions of former CEOs John Rigas and Dennis Kozlowski, the courts have proven that egregious corporate misdeeds will be punished. Each man faces 15 years or more behind bars.

Prosecutors demonstrated that Rigas used Adephia Communications Inc., the cable company he founded, as his own personal piggy bank, despite it having become a public company. Kozlowski was convicted of essentially looting the company by spending millions of dollars of Tyco International's funds for his own personal benefit, and borrowed millions more that he never repaid.

These outrageous abuses of power orchestrated in the boardroom were obvious to the public. The convictions of Rigas and Kozlowski should have an impact on curbing abusive behavior by other CEOs and compliant or see-no-evil boards of directors.

Another story of abuse of power, influence peddling and possibly some illegal activity, is unfolding in Washington, D.C., this week. Whether or not the central figures end up serving time is not known, but the story reveals a culture of money-grubbing and influence-selling in our nation's capital that should outrage Americans as much as the crimes of Rigas and Kozlowski.

Details of the story emerged this week in a hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and involve Indian tribes being bilked out of millions of dollars by high-profile Washington lobbyists.

A Louisiana Indian tribe, rolling in money from casino operations, paid over $30 million to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon. Documents produced at this week's hearing suggest that Abramoff charged vastly inflated fees to the Choctaw Indians and also directed millions of dollars to tax exempt foundation and possibly to offshore tax havens.

Internal e-mails obtained for the hearings show that while Abramoff charged the Choctaw Indians $7.7 million for lobbying work in 2001, only about $1.2 was to cover the cost of lobbying work - the rest, $6.5 million was skimmed off to benefit Abramoff and his partner.

The two lobbyists directed the Choctaw's to make payments to various tax-exempt organizations they controlled. In several cases, Abramoff sent checks back to the tribe with instructions that the check be reissued to one of several different tax exempt political groups benefiting Republicans in Congress.

The net being cast over Abramoff's actions has the potential to catch other figures or organizations, including House Republican Leader Tom DeLay and the high-power conservative organization, Focus on the Family.

Among other things, the Choctaw wanted to block a rival Indian tribe from establishing a competing casino. Over a five-year period, Abramoff and Scanlon billed the Choctaw Indians for $32 million. They are reported to have earned some $82 million in fees from various Indian tribes, sometimes playing one tribe against the other to maximize their fees. Evidence suggests more of the money went to partisan political groups or pet personal projects of Abramoff and Scanlon, than went to fund actual lobbying efforts.

Despite the huge sums of money involved, McCain was correct when he said, "Today's hearing is about more than contempt, even more than greed. It is simply and sadly a tale of betrayal."

While high-priced lobbying is an unfortunate fact of life in Washington and one that leads most Americans to be increasingly cynical about their government, Abramoff's actions are so far over the top that outrage - and possibly reform - will result from the investigations.

Not unlike Rigas and Kozlowski, Abramoff will be facing trouble on a variety of fronts. In addition to McCain's Senate Committee, he is the subject of investigations by the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and the inspector general of the Interior Department.

Rigas and Kozlowski, along with Enron's Kenneth Lay, have become the poster boys for corporate malfeasance. Their abuses brought about reform. Before the various investigations are over, Abramoff could do the same to clean impose restraint and regulation on corporate lobbying.