Abramoff served three and a half years of a six-year sentence for conspiracy, honest services fraud, and tax evasion. He could have spent up to 11 years in prison for the mail fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion charges because of the influence-peddling scandal in Washington. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle sentenced Abramoff to four years in federal prison on September 4, 2008. Abramoff helped in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides, and members of the George W. Bush administration.