Griles was confirmed as Deputy to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Second in rank only to Norton, Griles effectively was Interior's chief operating officer and its top representative on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. Upon taking the job of Deputy Secretary, Griles was allowed to receive payments totaling more than $1 million from 2001 to 2005 as part of a buyout by NES while collecting his $150,000 annual federal salary. This was allowed only under conditions approved by the Office of Government Ethics and the Senate, and Griles signed a written agreement stating he would recuse himself from "any particular matter involving specific parties in which any of former clients is or represents a party." However, a Freedom of Information Act request in September 2002 turned up evidence that Griles had met with former clients in the fossil fuel industries, despite the agreement. Griles resigned after an 18-month investigation by the Department's Inspector General concluded that Griles indeed had contact with former NES clients in violation of the agreement, although the report did not accuse Griles of violating any laws or federal ethics rules. David Hirsch, a director for Friends of the Earth, said of Griles: "he spent four years working for his former clients at the Department of Interior. It didn't seem to matter how many problems came out, he just kept going. He's the Energizer Bunny of conflict of interest."
Abramoff scandal
Griles was also asked to testify before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in the 2005 investigation of the Abramoff scandal. Jack Abramoff's private emails indicated that Griles had pledged to use his authority to block a casino which Abramoff was lobbying against. Abramoff also indicated that he was interested in hiring Griles. Furthermore, Griles was involved with donations made to Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, run by his then-girlfriend, Italia Federici. Donations were made to CREA by both Abramoff's tribal clients and by energy-sector companies with connections to Griles. Upon leaving office, Griles joined with two other political veterans, former White House national energy policy director Andrew Lundquist and former House member George Nethercutt, to form the political lobbying firm of Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles, LLC. In his first two years with the firm, it made $1.3 million in lobbying fees. The following year, it was $1.6 million. Griles remarked, "If you’re honest and represent people fairly, you can succeed." On January 10, 2007, the United States Department of Justice notified Griles that charges would be brought against him for making false statements in his 2005 testimony. On that date Griles resigned from Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges on March 23, 2007. On June 8, 2007, Federici pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of justice. On June 26 Griles was sentenced to a $30,000 fine and 10 months imprisonment, with some harsh words from Judge Ellen Huvelle, who doubled his prison sentence, telling the former second-ranking Interior Department official: "Even now, you continue to minimize and try to excuse your conduct."
