Posted on 02/18/2007 10:40:52 AM PST by NormsRevenge
When indicted Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes landed a contract to ship supplies to CIA agents in Iraq, he tapped his nephew and lobbyist Joel Combs to handle the job, according to people close to Wilkes and within the CIA.
On July 29, 2004, Combs – who had no previous experience in overseas supply operations – formed a one-man company called Archer Logistics in Chantilly, Va., records with the Virginia State Corporation Commission show.
Within months, Archer Logistics was selling bottles of water to the CIA, more than half a dozen sources have told The San Diego Union-Tribune. Those sales lie at the core of this week's indictment of Wilkes and Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who was once the third-highest ranking officer in the agency.
According to the indictment, Foggo steered the contract to his longtime friend Wilkes, who promised him a high-paying job within his flagship company, ADCS Inc. Wilkes had set up a “shell company” to run the operation, founded July 29, 2004, by an individual referred to only as “Wilkes Subordinate X,” the indictment said.
Federal prosecutors have not identified Combs as Subordinate X, and Combs cannot be reached for comment. But his involvement with Archer Logistics, and Union-Tribune interviews with numerous people, indicate that Combs is Subordinate X.
Most of the sources declined to be identified because they did not want to be involved in the criminal case.
Wilkes and Foggo were indicted Wednesday on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and honest-services fraud related to the Iraq contract.
The same day, Wilkes was indicted on charges of bribery and New York financier John T. Michael was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice related to the corruption case of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who is serving more than eight years in prison after accepting $2.4 million in gifts from Wilkes and Mitchell Wade, a former defense contractor and one-time consultant to Wilkes.
Wilkes, Foggo and Michael have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Many of the details included in the indictment appear to come from Subordinate X. If Combs is cooperating with prosecutors, they have a source who was intimately involved with Wilkes' lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.
“Joel was one of Brent's right-hand men,” said one former Wilkes employee who declined to be named for fear of being drawn into the case. “Joel went to Washington, D.C., on practically every trip that Brent went. He was with him when Brent took politicians to Coeur d'Alene and he was with him when he met politicians at the Watergate Hotel in Washington.”
The indictment said Wilkes took Cunningham on at least two expensive vacations to a resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Wilkes maintained a hospitality suite in the Watergate where he would entertain politicians and play poker with CIA operatives.
Another former Wilkes employee said Combs accompanied Wilkes and Cunningham on trips to Hawaii. The indictment accuses Wilkes of arranging for prostitutes for himself and Cunningham while staying at a $6,600-per-night suite in Hawaii.
Combs, the son of Wilkes' older sister Patricia, was born in Orange County in 1969 but grew up in Tucson, Ariz. After obtaining a degree in management information systems from the University of Arizona, Combs worked for a while helping computerize accounting records at a national retail chain.
He went to work for Wilkes shortly after ADCS was founded in 1995. By the time he was 29, Combs was in charge of ADCS's federal information technology systems, serving as the company's liaison with one of its prime customers, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
Like Wilkes, Combs was active in Republican politics. His corporate biography says he was a chairman of the San Diego County Young Republicans and fundraising chairman for the Young Republican National Federation.
Over the course of his career with Wilkes, Combs donated more than $40,500 to congressional or presidential political campaigns, including $10,500 to Cunningham and his political action committee. His contributions were always made on the same day as donations from Wilkes or other ADCS employees.
In 2003, Wilkes established a lobbying arm – Group W Advisors – to lobby on behalf of ADCS and some of its related entities or joint ventures: PerfectWave Technologies, Optimum Composite Design, MailSafe, Pure Aqua Technologies and GTS Globalift.
Combs headed the agency, assisted by Michael Mack, a former chairman of the Young Republican National Federation. Together, they worked to secure federal contracts for ADCS and its entities. One former Wilkes associate said Wilkes told him he was grooming Combs to run for office someday, “where he could have access to federal money.”
The indictment said Subordinate X was pulled into the Iraq contract in December 2003 or January 2004. At the time, Foggo was based in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was overseeing CIA purchasing throughout Europe and the Middle East, including Iraq.
Foggo was a childhood friend of Wilkes. They grew up together in Chula Vista, were best men at each other's weddings and named their sons after each other. Wilkes had offered Foggo a top job at ADCS once he left the CIA. Wilkes even kept a vacant office ready for Foggo in his headquarters in Poway.
For several months in 2003, Foggo and Wilkes had been discussing the possibility of getting a deal to supply bottled water to CIA operatives in Iraq. But according to the indictment, Foggo and Wilkes felt they had to ensure that the contract could not be directly traced back to them, because many CIA officials knew of their long-standing friendship.
Around December 2003, when Wilkes and Foggo were on a $32,000 vacation in Hawaii, Wilkes recommended Subordinate X as the person who would handle the deal, the indictment said.
In January 2004, according to the indictment, Foggo sent an e-mail to Subordinate X.
“I would like the 'president' or 'CEO' of (the entity that would take the Iraq contract) to come visit,” Foggo wrote. “Brent told me that was you – smile – so let's get to it. I'll need to brief you a bit on how we need to play this, but that needs to be face to face, before you meet my people.”
Foggo later told Subordinate X not to tell CIA operatives about the long-standing relationship they had through Wilkes, according to the indictment. Instead, Subordinate X was instructed to say that he and Foggo had met in a Washington, D.C., cigar bar.
Archer Logistics, which was based in an ADCS satellite office in Chantilly, Va., subsequently landed the contract, sources say. According to the indictment, the shell company sold $1.7 million worth of water at a 60 percent markup. When the CIA delayed payments, Wilkes sent Subordinate X an e-mail saying, “I talked to the big guy last night. He will sprinkle some magic dust today that would solve your problem.”
On the same day, Foggo sent an e-mail to a CIA contracting official, inquiring about the delays in payment. The CIA soon made the payments.
Lock'em up and throw away the key.
---I suspect we are going to hear much of this kind of deals between now and fall 2008---not another word on the Harry Reid types, however---
Sounds like there are a few more to be weeded out. String 'em up!
Already poisoning the jury pool .. I see!
What's really funny .. I've been called for jury duty starting APRIL 1 - the day the trial is supposed to start.
And .. just for whatever it's worth .. the paper is incorrect when it says "Wilkes, Foggo and Michael have pleaded not guilty to all charges."
It should read: "... have entered a plea of not guilty ...".
The reason is this: When you are arraigned before the judge, he asks you if you wish to enter a plea - then you have the opportunity to say either guilty or not guilty.
The reason you are given the choice is because if you enter a plea of "guilty" (which some people do) you are then sentenced by the judge - AND THERE IS NO TRIAL.
If you enter a plea of "not guilty" - YOU GET A TRIAL.
But .. entering a plea of "not guilty" DOES NOT MEAN THE PERSON IS NOT GUILTY.
I just wish the lazy media would explain this better.
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