A sum of $324,000 was paid to Abramoff through Laguna Beach, California, lawyer Howard Hills by means of 36 checks of $9,000 each.
On November 18, 2002, a grand jury issued a subpoena demanding that the administrator of the Guam Superior Court release all records relating to the contract.
Fred Radewagen, a lobbyist who had been under contract to the Gutierrez administration, said he carried that recommendation to top Bush aide Karl Rove in early 2003.
The amount of $324,000 was paid by the Court to Abramoff’s law firm, the subcontractor, through the prime contractor, Hills, who at the time was a resident of Laguna Beach, California, and a member of the bar in both Washington, D.C., and Guam.
However, in 2006 the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report documenting the finding by FBI investigators that no federal funds were involved and no structuring had been carried out.