Posted on 11/26/2006 10:37:39 AM PST by NormsRevenge
In the latest twist to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's tale of greed and corruption, celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos has joined the legal team of one of the former congressman's alleged conspirators in a massive bribery scam.
Geragos, whose former clients include pop star Michael Jackson, former first brother Roger Clinton and former Congressman Gary Condit, said Wednesday that he recently began representing Poway businessman Brent Wilkes.
Court documents allege that Cunningham's conspirators, one of whom is believed to be Wilkes, lavished the congressman with cash, loans and gifts in recent years.
In March, the eight-term former congressman was sentenced to serve eight years, four months in federal prison for his role in a bribery scheme that saw him receive more than $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering tens of millions in government business to two defense contractors. The decorated Vietnam War hero now sits in a federal prison in Butner, N.C.
Wilkes' Poway defense firm, ADCS Inc., received tens of millions in government contracts over the years.
It was unclear last week exactly what role Geragos will play on Wilkes' legal team.
Asked if he would be defending Wilkes in the event he is indicted, Geragos would only say that he is prepared to help the man in any way he can.
"I met Brent and certainly was impressed by him and also the situation he finds himself in," Geragos said. "He could use my help."
Wilkes has not been charged with any crimes, and his attorneys steadfastly maintain that he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Sources close to the investigation say the investigation into Wilkes' relationship with Cunningham is ongoing and that an indictment could come soon.
Another Wilkes attorney, Washington lawyer Nancy Luque, said last week that Geragos joined the legal team about two weeks ago.
As to what the Geragos connection could mean for Wilkes, Luque said that one thing is for sure: "There will never, ever be any kind of a guilty plea."
Loose ends
Cunningham's sentencing was a major step in ending the corruption story, as was the admission by one of his co-conspirators, former Washington defense contractor Mitchell Wade, that he had paid Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes.
But almost one year to the day since Cunningham pleaded guilty, the case still has loose ends.
After nearly a year and a half of investigation by the FBI, the IRS, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. attorney's office, the government has yet to issue indictments against any of the other three alleged conspirators who were referred to in court documents.
Those documents appear to identify as conspirators: Wilkes, Long Island businessman Thomas Kontogiannis and his wife's nephew, John T. Michael.
An attorney representing Wilkes later confirmed that the Poway resident was one of the unnamed alleged co-conspirators in the Cunningham investigation. That attorney, Michael Lipman, has since left Wilkes' defense team.
In August 2005, federal agents raided Wilkes' home and the offices of his company in connection with the case. And the following month, federal agents raided the home and offices of Kontogiannis.
Those raids followed the July raids by the same agencies of Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe estate and Wade's home and offices.
Officials with U.S. attorney offices in San Diego, Washington and Long Island, N.Y., have declined to comment on the status of the investigations of Wilkes and Kontogiannis.
Sources close to the Cunningham case say the probes continue and that in the case of Wilkes, at least, they expect an indictment will be issued.
Last week, one of those sources told the North County Times that she is surprised that no indictments have been issued so far. On the other hand, she said, complex investigations of this sort often take 18 months or longer.
Investigators "are being very thorough," said the woman, who asked not to be identified because it is federal policy that officials not comment on ongoing investigations. "The evidence needs to be overwhelming if you are going to trial."
Attorney: 'They can't prove it'
Wilkes' Washington attorney Luque said last week there is a very good reason why federal prosecutors have not issued an indictment against her client.
"They have to prove it, and they can't prove it because it's false," Luque said.
She said she is frustrated with two things: that Lipman, Wilkes' former attorney, told reporters that Wilkes was one of the alleged conspirators mentioned in court documents, and that government officials continue to tell reporters that Wilkes is about to be indicted, while asking that their identities not be revealed.
Lipman could not be reached for comment Friday.
By telling reporters that Wilkes is about to be indicted, government officials "have ruined his life," Luque said, adding that Wilkes' company, ADCS Inc., is "out of business."
"It's devastating financially when government officials report to the press they are going to charge somebody and then don't," Luque said.
Starting in the late 1990s, the company received tens of millions in government contracts. But the company's last known defense contract recently expired, and the Poway building where ADCS had its headquarters was recently put up for sale and most of its employees were let go. In addition, Wilkes owes more than $320,000 in back taxes on the property, San Diego County Treasurer Tax Collector Dan McAllister said Friday.
The specific allegations against Wilkes, cited in the government's Cunningham case documents, are:
- that he gave Cunningham $525,000 in early 2004 to help pay the mortgage on Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe estate. The government asserts that Wilkes wrote the check only after getting Cunningham to agree to secure $6 million in government contracts for ADCS;
- that he wrote two unreported checks to Cunningham on May 1, 2000, one for $70,000 and one for $30,000;
- that he wrote an unreported corporate account check for $11,116 for a payment on a boat owned by Cunningham and made regular mortgage payments on the boat between September 2000 and April 2001;
- that he lavished Cunningham with unreported gifts exceeding $10,000. The gifts allegedly included meals at high-end restaurants where the tab often ran into the thousands, and private jet trips to three-star hotels and resorts. During the plane trips, the prosecutors said, there were catered meals featuring expensive wines and lobster.
Long Island businessman
Court documents also appear to identify Long Island businessman Kontogiannis and his wife's nephew, Michael, as alleged co-conspirators. Neither man has been charged with any wrongdoing. They could not be reached for comment late last week.
Michael's mortgage company made two loans to Cunningham totaling more than $1 million, which Cunningham used to help buy the Rancho Santa Fe mansion that was later identified by federal prosecutors as part of his ill-gotten gains. After the Navy ace's guilty pleas, the mansion was sold and the proceeds went to the federal government.
In a 2005 interview with the North County Times, Kontogiannis said that he had used money that he owed Cunningham for a boat purchase to pay off more than a half-million dollars of those loans.
In a September 2005 interview, an FBI spokeswoman said that when federal agents raided Kontogiannis' Long Island home and offices that month, the operation was related to the Cunningham investigation.
Kontogiannis is a man with a checkered past who has two prior criminal convictions and whose ties to Cunningham go back at least six years. As Kontogiannis faced criminal prosecution for his role in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal in a Long Island school district, Cunningham wrote a letter to the Queens, N.Y., district attorney suggesting that Cunningham might be the victim of a political vendetta, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the North County Times.
Kontogiannis was later indicted and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of defrauding in the second degree and agreed to pay a $5 million settlement in the case, according to a July 2005 story published in The Washington Post.
The Greek native also pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in federal court in 1994 in an overseas visa scam. According to a 2000 article published in the New York Post, Kontogiannis and a U.S. Embassy official in Athens, Greece, were arrested by the FBI and later pleaded guilty to charges of taking bribes to supply fraudulent U.S. visas.
Under the terms of the plea arrangements, Kontogiannis' sentences never included a single day behind bars.
Period
Good move. Geragos did wonders for his clients Scott Peterson and Winona Rider. Wilkes will probably get life. If he's lucky.
Geragos has a bad record. Got Scott Peterson the death penalty, too, and that's not mentioned.
Only guilty people hire Mark Geragos.
Why didn't they mention Scott Peterson, on Death Row?
Brillant as well an expression of good citizenship.
***Slime Bag Alert***
Yep, more "celebrity" this and that, we should have a category for "celebrity traitor" accompanied by a who's who of the senate and house.
OK...that's not a surprising response coming from a lawyer.FYI...among the things I'd never do if I was charged with a crime (regardless of how serious) and knew I was innocent are...
1)take the 5th
2)accuse the cops or the prosecutor of a "rush to judgment"
3)blame Columbian drug lords for having done whatever I'm on trial for
4)refuse to testify in my own defense
5)hire a lawyer like Johnny Cochrane,Roy Black or Goragos.
If I was guilty,however,I'd do all these things and more.
If asked questions about those very views upon the occasion of jury selection if summoned to jury duty would you answer them as you have described here???
If you believed a defendant in a criminal case to be guilty based on information from printed or electronic media prior to appearing as a potential juror for court service would you advise the court or examining lawyer of that predisposition?
Do you have similar skeptical opinions of civil cases in which a plaintiff seeks to recover losses from a defendant?
If so, would it make a difference if the case involved commercial disputes between businesses or personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by a single person?
Serious questions asked in good faith and with a genuine interest in the answers from a typical FR citizen.
Thanks---
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