Abbe Lowell counsels Jack Abramoff at the Oversight Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Tribal Lobbying Matters. Abramoff cited the Fifth Amendment right to all questions. Credit: Roberto Westbrook.

Jack Abramoff, the uber lobbyist who served prison time last decade after pleading guilty to charges related to illegally plying federal legislators with expensive gifts and trips, is once again facing federal charges. And he's once again turning to white-collar ace Abbe Lowell of Winston & Strawn to navigate them.

Federal prosecutors in San Francisco and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission both announced charges Thursday against Abramoff in an alleged scheme to mislead investors about the legitimacy of a new form of cryptocurrency. Abramoff is being charged alongside Rowland Marcus Andrade, the chief executive officer of NAC Foundation. Andrade claimed to be the creator of AML Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency purportedly designed to prevent money laundering and anonymous use through "biometric technologies."

The two men allegedly launched a bizarre plot to convince investors that NAC intended to purchase an advertisement for its coins during the 2018 Super Bowl, but that since the ad ridiculed the North Korean government and its ability to hack the new cryptocurrency, the ad had been rejected for political reasons. In reality, prosecutors claim, NAC lacked the funds to purchase ad time and the follow-on campaign of op-eds Abramoff helped place claiming the rejection of the ad was due to political correctness was bogus.

"We allege that these defendants repeatedly misled investors into funding non-existent technology, falsely claiming that the technology would make digital asset transactions more secure," said Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Cyber Unit, in a press release announcing the charges. "Investors are entitled to truthful information so they can make fully informed investment decisions."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, which is handling the criminal cases against Abramoff and Andrade, said that Lowell signed off on a stipulated notice of an intent to change the plea pursuant to a plea agreement. That filing wasn't immediately available Thursday afternoon.

Andrade, meanwhile, was arrested on June 23 in Missouri City, Texas, and appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Houston. He was released on bond and his initial San Francisco federal court appearance is set for July 1.

Lowell didn't immediately respond to a message Thursday afternoon.

Covington & Burling partner Robert Kelner, who leads the firm's political law group, commented on Twitter that the Abramoff case marked the first criminal prosecution of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Just a day earlier, as he moderated an American Bar Association panel, Kelner commented that the LDA is "virtually not enforced at all."

"There have been no criminal cases and there have just been a handful of civil resolutions, and even those are pretty dated," he said.

Ryan Barber contributed reporting to this report.