Consultant and Lobbyist
In May 2005, Ashcroft laid the groundwork for a strategic consulting firm that bears his name. The Ashcroft Group, LLC officially opened its doors in the fall of 2005 and as of March 2006 had twenty-one clients, turning down two for every one accepted.
In 2005 year-end filings, Ashcroft's firm reported collecting $269,000, including $220,000 from Oracle Corporation, which won Department of Justice approval of a multibillion-dollar acquisition less than a month after hiring Ashcroft. The year-end filing represented, in some cases, only initial payments.
According to government filings, Oracle is one of the Ashcroft Group’s five clients that seek his help in selling data or software with security applications. Another client, Israel Aircraft Industries International, is competing with Chicago's Boeing Company to sell the government of South Korea a billion-dollar airborne radar system.
In March 2006, the New York Times reported that Ashcroft was setting himself up as something of an "anti-Abramoff", and that in an hour long interview, Ashcroft used the word integrity scores of times. In May 2006, based on conversations with members of Congress, key aides and lobbyists, The Hill magazine listed Ashcroft as one of top 50 "hired guns" that K Street had to offer. In August 2006, the Washington Post reported that Ashcroft's firm had 30 clients, many of which made products or technology aimed at homeland security, and about a third of which the firm has not disclosed, to protect client confidentiality. The firm also had equity stakes in eight client companies. It reported receiving $1.4 million in lobbying fees in the past six months, a small fraction of its total earnings.
After the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., Ashcroft offered the firm his consulting services, according to a spokesman for XM. The spokesman said XM declined Ashcroft's offer to work as a lobbyist for the company. Ashcroft was subsequently hired by the National Association of Broadcasters, which is strongly opposed to the merger.
In May 2011, Xe Services (formerly Blackwater International) named Ted Wright as CEO. Wright hired a new governance chief to oversee ethical and legal compliance and established a new board composed of former government officials, including former White House counsel Jack Quinn and Ashcroft. In December, 2011, Xe (again) changed its name, to Academi.
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