You'll notice he's getting out of jail. If he'd fought every issue, every charge, every nonsense thing thrown at him he'd still be fighting and would be totally bankrupt and physically exhausted.
Instead, he's out of jail.
Odds are good that the DOJ career guys wasted valuable promotion time working on Abramoff and missed out on some deputy director positions.
Busting guys like Abramoff is not a way to get ahead. After all, the guys at the very top have friends just like him ~ last thing they want is a crime buster getting too high in the ranks where he or she might threaten the big boys.
Aha. I should have guessed. Thanks for your insight.