In August 1997, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and several staff members traveled to Russia, where the lawmaker met with two lobbyists, Jack Abramoff and Julius "Jay" Kaplan. Abramoff and Kaplan had registered to lobby for a Bahamian corporation, which listed building support for Russian government policies as its goal. While DeLay's trip was sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, Russian business interests covered the costs, according to people familiar with details of the trip. The precise mechanism for the transfer of funds is a mystery. The Russian oil company Naftasib denies funding the trip.