 He started operation 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.