Jack Abramoff Orthodox Jew

What? Was he supposed to confess being a Jew?

Note to all the mythic believers: the magic only goes so far, it's you who finally figure out how to be really human.

Joe(no skyhooks)Nation

Maybe it is a cover for illegal activities.

There are crooks and nogoods amongst all religious groups. Why do you think that being an Orthodox Jew would exempt him?

Sure he can be both, so long as he didn't commit mail fraud on the Shabbos.

Or evade or conspire.

A person can call oneself whatever they want.
A person can also aspire to keep certain tenets of any religion or philosophy and not do so.
One of the most severe sins in Judaism is "lashon hora," literally translated as the "evil tongue." This means gossip; talking about someone behind their back; or even simply saying things about a person that are not specifically useful.
There are all sorts of "hideous punishments" for those who speak loshen hora. It is said that the 2nd Temple was destroyed for the sin of Loshen Hora by the Jewish nation.
Yet, unfortunately, most Jews do "talk about other people" in ways that they should not - all the time.
Mr. Abramoff obviously deluded himself as regards to his behavior and the tenets of his religion. Nonetheless, his bad behavior (that he was convicted for) was relatively mild compared to other, more insidious behaviors, that Jews (and people in general) practice every day - that threaten the stability and survival of all of mankind....
Just a thought...

Moishe3rd-
You are probably right. But you say that he obviously deluded himself.

Another possibility is that his religosity was an act used only to delude others.

Unfortunately, I suspect not. I would rather it had been an act than to have him sincerely believe that he was a Torah observant Jew. But, all evidence points to that being the case.
(Which makes sense, if you think about it. There is not a lot of mileage to be gained by pretending you're a Jewish anything. I mean, it just doesn't gain friends and influence people - particularly, in this case, American Indians...)