The U.S. Family Network, a group operated for five years in the 1990s to forward the conservative agenda, used little of the grassroots organizing it professed, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reports.

A donor list and interviews show it took in millions of dollars in donations from Abramoff clients and funneled hundreds of thousands in fees to Edwin A. Buckham, DeLay's former chief of staff turned lobbyist.

A $1 million check from a now non-existent London law firm was confirmed by former Buckham associates to have come from unnamed gas and oil executives in Russia, the newspaper said.

Abramoff reportedly had two such clients vying for congressional support, including DeLay's, for an International Monetary Fund bailout.

A $50,000 donation came from Abramoff clients in the Mariana Islands textile industry fighting minimum wage legislation.

DeLay, indicted in Texas on unrelated political money laundering charges, also opposed that, but a spokesperson said his decision was not a result of lobbying.

Abramoff has been indicted on wire fraud charges and is being investigated for allegedly bilking money from Indian tribe clients.