How many US elected officials were convicted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s two-year Abscam sting operation that ended in 1980?

Eleven of the 31 "Abscam" sting targets went to prison for accepting a total of $400,000 in bribes from FBI agents posing as Arab sheiks representing the fictitious “Abdul Enterprises” and claiming to have $1 million to invest in US businesses. Six US Congressmen, one US senator, one member of the New Jersey State Senate, three members of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Council, and the mayor of Camden, New Jersey served prison time, as did one US Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, who was not an elected official.

The FBI operation was designed to target those trafficking in stolen property and corrupt, high-level businesspersons, but headed off on a political tangent as it unfolded. The FBI put $1 million in Chase Manhattan Bank in the name of Abdul Enterprises and, by the end of the sting, had put $400,000 into corrupt hands. In return for the cash, the phony sheiks received political favors involving illegal immigration, building permits and licenses, and other deals.

US Rep. Richard Kelly (R, FL) argued that he only pretended to take the money because he was conducting his own scam. He served 13 months. US Rep. John Jenrette (D, SC) was asked if he would accept a bribe and answered, “I’ve got larceny in my blood. I’d take it in a goddamned minute.” Pennsylvania State Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers (D, Philadelphia), was taped taking the cash and saying, “Money talks, bull(feces) walks.”