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A New York financier was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in federal prison for laundering bribes to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. A tearful Thomas Kontogiannis apologized and pleaded for leniency, but District Judge Larry Burns ordered him to serve eight years and one month in prison. Prosecutors wanted the maximum 10-year sentence. "You caused people to think ... this (system) doesn't work," Burns told Kontogiannis. "I just hope the opportunity is given to me to make good to the people that I let down," Kontogiannis said. Kontogiannis, 59, pleaded guilty one count of money laundering in...

A federal prosecutor in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham case calls it a coincidence that the daughter of a key witness in the scandal purchased a home from the prosecutor's late uncle. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Halpern, one of four prosecutors in the case, had not seen his father's brother, Leonard Halpern, for about four years prior to the uncle's death in 2003. Further, he was not an heir to his uncle's estate and received no money from the sale of the Nassau County, N.Y, property in 2005. The details are contained in court papers filed Wednesday by prosecutors asking a...

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...

Former U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham continues to adjust to life behind bars at a federal prison in North Carolina where he is said to be "steeling himself" for the years of incarceration he faces, according to his attorney. Across the continent in San Diego, federal prosecutors and Cunningham's estranged wife, Nancy, are said to be inching closer to a deal resolving what happens to the money from the sale of the couple's former Rancho Santa Fe estate. K. Lee Blalack, Cunningham's Washington-based attorney, said Wednesday that the former congressman was doing well when he spoke to him by telephone last...

The contracts former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham bullied the Defense Department into awarding two contractors who showered him with money and gifts were not in the national interest, according to documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday. Instead, the prosecutors said, “Cunningham and his co-conspirators fleeced the people of the United States to the tune of millions of dollars, earning profit margins on some contracts in excess of 800 percent.” In the most detailed description yet of the former congressman's bribery case, prosecutors offered graphic examples of how Cunningham browbeat and intimidated government officials and his own staff into ensuring that millions...

Thomas T. Kontoginnias, a Long Island developer, says he doesn't particularly like politics, so he never does business with the federal government. Still, he hit it off with Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham years ago, and recently, Kontoginnias bought Cunningham's 65-foot yacht, the Kelly C, and helped the California Republican finance a house.

SAN DIEGO — A Long Island developer convicted in a bid-rigging scheme involving New York City schools has now been linked to suspicious deals with Californian congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Investigators are probing why the developer, Thomas Kontogiannis, bought Cunningham's boat for three-times what the congressman had paid for it five years earlier — and then later arranged financing for Cunningham's new $2.55 million mansion. .......Cunningham — a San Diego-area Republican — allegedly offered to help Kontogiannis explore getting a presidential pardon for his New York conviction, authorities said. Cunningham's attorney, K. Lee Blalack, yesterday denied any wrongdoing by his...

ROSEDALE, N.Y. – In its third wave of raids linked to the investigation of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, federal agents on Thursday searched the New York home and office of a controversial businessman who has had a series of financial dealings with the congressman. Agents seized records belonging to Thomas Kontogiannis, a Long Island developer who pleaded guilty in 2002 to bribery and kickback charges in connection with a $6.3 million bid-rigging scheme involving the New York public schools. Kontogiannis has known Cunningham since shortly after the Rancho Santa Fe Republican arrived in Washington 15 years ago as a freshman...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham wrote to prosecutors on behalf of a New York developer who later bought his boat and helped finance his house and condo. The developer, Thomas T. Kontogiannis, was under investigation in a bribery and kickback scheme involving school computer contracts when Cunningham, R-Calif., wrote to the Queens, N.Y., district attorney on Oct. 19, 2000. In his letter, faxed on congressional stationery to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Cunningham suggested that Kontogiannis might be the victim of a political agenda against a school official also under investigation. The letter was not responded to or...

Boat sale by 'Duke' made him $400,000 Buyer's kin were lenders of Cunningham mortgage By Jerry Kammer and Marcus Stern COPLEY NEWS SERVICE July 5, 2005 CITY ISLAND, N.Y. – Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham made roughly a $400,000 profit by selling the boat he lived aboard in the nation's capital from 1997 to 2002 to a businessman convicted in a bid-rigging scheme. The man said he subsequently got advice from Cunningham about how to pursue a presidential pardon from the Bush administration. The businessman further acknowledged that a mortgage company owned by his daughter and nephew provided Cunningham with two...