-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: February 13, 2007 12:17:58 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: CIA's #3 Charged with Fraud and Money Laundering
Charges filed against former top CIA official, contractor
ALLISON HOFFMAN
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/
california/northern_california/16689338.htm
SAN DIEGO - The CIA's former No. 3 official and a defense
contractor were charged Tuesday with fraud, conspiracy and money
laundering following an investigation that sent former U.S. Rep.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison.
The indictments returned by a federal grand jury charge Kyle
"Dusty" Foggo, executive director of the CIA until he resigned in
May, and his close friend, San Diego defense contractor Brent
Wilkes, according to two government officials. The officials spoke
only on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are
secret.
One of the officials said the grand jury heard claims that Foggo
joined Wilkes on trips to Hawaii and Scotland and was introduced to
Wilkes' employees as early as 2003 as a "future executive" of
Wilkes' company, Wilkes Corp., which allegedly received $12 million
in illicit contracts from various government agencies.
In a separate indictment, Wilkes was charged with conspiring to
bribe Cunningham in return for government contracts. A man who was
described as a co-conspirator in Cunningham's 2005 plea agreement,
John T. Michael, was also charged.
U.S. Attorney Carol Lam scheduled a news conference at 12:15 p.m.
PST "regarding a criminal matter."
Mark MacDougall, an attorney for Foggo, and Mark Geragos, an
attorney for Wilkes, did not immediately return calls left seeking
comment. A message left for Michael was also not returned.
The charges come 20 months after Cunningham's mansion in an
exclusive suburb north of San Diego was raided by FBI agents. The
eight-term Republican congressman served on the House intelligence
committee and on the defense subcommittee of the Appropriations
Committee -- an assignment that made him a key figure in the
awarding of Pentagon contracts.
Cunningham pleaded guilty in November 2005 to taking $2.4 million
in bribes from defense contractors and others, including mortgage
payments, a Rolls-Royce and a yacht he named "Duke-Stir." He was
sentenced last year to more than eight years in prison.
Investigators quickly turned to Foggo and Wilkes, who grew up
together in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, then a middle-
class bedroom community popular with military families. The two men
remained close as adults, naming their sons after each other and
sharing a private wine locker at a fancy Washington, D.C., restaurant.
Foggo, a career CIA officer who served in Central America, rose
through the ranks to become a top logistics officer based in
Frankfurt, Germany, where he handled supply shipments to CIA
operations in Central Europe, Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East.
Foggo was named executive director of the CIA in 2004, responsible
for running the agency's day-to-day operations. He retired in May
while under investigation by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service,
the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the CIA's
inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego.
A House Intelligence Committee report on Cunningham's activities
released in October called for more investigation into Foggo's
dealings with the intelligence panel, given Foggo's close
relationship with former committee aide Brant Bassett.
Investigators also contacted two Washington, D.C.-based escort
services to determine whether Wilkes supplied Cunningham and
potentially other lawmakers with prostitutes at poker parties he
hosted at the Watergate hotel.
According to Cunningham's plea agreement, Wilkes' companies won
nearly $100 million in federal contracts over the last decade in
exchange for funneling more than $626,000 in bribes to the
congressman between 2000 and 2004.
Wilkes' business and personal fortunes have suffered lately. In the
last two months, his wife filed for legal separation, and he
defaulted on a $7.5 million personal mortgage loan. His flagship
company, Wilkes Corp., defaulted on $12.1 million owed on another
note.
Cunningham's plea agreement identified Michael, who runs a Long
Island mortgage company, as a co-conspirator to the lawmaker's
misdeeds.
Michael's uncle, New York real estate developer Thomas
Kontogiannis, was also described as a fourth co-conspirator in the
plea agreement. He has not been charged in the investigation.
A fourth Cunningham co-conspirator, Mitchell Wade, is cooperating
with prosecutors after pleading guilty in February 2006 to bribing
Cunningham in exchange for more than $150 million in government
contracts for his company, MZM Inc.
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