Posted on 07/02/2005 12:36:24 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Agents raid Cunningham home, MZM office, yacht (Rep. Duke Cunningham)
Lawmaker's lawyers: Surprise searches an 'appalling abuse'
WASHINGTON – In a dramatic sign of a fast-moving, bicoastal investigation, federal agents searched the Rancho Santa Fe home of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham yesterday, along with the Washington office of a defense contractor linked to the Republican congressman and the yacht where Cunningham had lived.
Cunningham's lawyers criticized the government's actions as an "appalling abuse of government power" and "strong arm tactics."
The federal task force that conducted the coordinated, surprise raids on opposite coasts included agents from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, said Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington.
"The operation is part of an ongoing investigation," she said.
It has been known for at least two weeks that the FBI and a federal grand jury in San Diego are investigating Cunningham's ties to Mitchell Wade, founder of MZM Inc.
On June 12, a story in The San Diego Union-Tribune revealed that the defense contractor bought Cunningham's Del Mar-area home in 2003 and later sold it at a $700,000 loss. Shortly after selling the house, Cunningham purchased his Rancho Santa Fe home for $2.55 million. Cunningham also lived aboard Wade's 42-foot yacht while in Washington.
Yesterday's raids and the overall pace of the investigations seemed to support speculation by some former MZM employees that Wade and Cunningham might have been under federal scrutiny for months and that the scope of the probe may go beyond the purchase of the house and use of the yacht.
MZM, which was founded in 1993, had no federal contracts until 2002. Since then, it has received $163 million in government contracts. Cunningham, a member of the influential House defense appropriations subcommittee and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has said he supported Wade's efforts to win contracts.
Wade, who has not spoken publicly since the controversy erupted, didn't break that silence yesterday.
"We are not going to comment at this time," said a person who answered the phones at MZM's Washington headquarters shortly after the search. He declined to identify himself.
Cunningham, who was scheduled to return to his district yesterday for public events this weekend, deferred comment to his lawyers, who left no doubt as to their anger over the search of Cunningham's house.
"Today's search of Duke Cunningham's home, based on a secret affidavit, was an appalling abuse of government power," Cunningham attorneys K. Lee Blalack and Mark Holscher said in a statement issued after the search.
"We publicly disclosed this week that the government had issued a document subpoena to the congressman and that he had instructed his staff and lawyers to fully cooperate," they stated. "Just yesterday (Thursday) we reiterated privately to the government that Duke was going to fully cooperate and that we would be shortly producing the requested documents.
"They will apparently not take yes for an answer and have instead opted to use strong arm tactics that were designed to generate headlines," they added.
Cunningham "welcomes a fair investigation because he is confident that any such inquiry will eventually clear his good name," the statement said.
News helicopters buzzed over Cunningham's neighborhood yesterday, where houses sit behind ornate gates and down long driveways. A dozen reporters stood in the street when they weren't being shooed away by media-weary neighbors.
Holscher made a brief appearance outside the house to decry the search. In a later phone interview, he said the FBI broke into the home yesterday morning after Cunningham's wife went to work. No one else was home.
"They broke the locks and forcibly broke into his home," Holscher said.
"They (the Cunninghams) weren't given any advance notice."
San Diego attorneys interviewed last night said that if the government has a warrant issued by a judge, agents are permitted to break in if no one is home or if they are refused entry.
"The reason they would break locks if no one answers is because they're concerned about the possible destruction of evidence," said San Diego criminal defense attorney Geoffrey C. Morrison. "It is significant they searched his boat at the same time as his house. That's a further indicator of concern regarding possible destruction of evidence."
Under constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the agents must first give notice by knocking, announcing their presence and giving a reasonable opportunity to respond. The government is responsible for any damage to the home during a break-in.
In cases like this, where possible targets know they are under investigation, and especially if the targets are public officials, their defense attorneys are usually in frequent contact with prosecutors. They typically offer to turn over documents, ask to be notified of searches, and ask for the chance to voluntarily turn themselves in, if it comes to that.
At Cunningham's congressional field office in downtown Escondido yesterday, staff members referred questions to his Washington office and then locked the door. Moments later, they turned out the lights and left.
In Washington, federal agents questioned employees of the Capitol Yacht Club, where Wade's yacht, the Duke-Stir, is berthed. After Wade bought the yacht, he renamed it in an apparent play on Cunningham's nickname, placed it in a boat slip Cunningham had been leasing and made it available for Cunningham to live aboard while in Washington. Cunningham has defended the arrangement, saying he paid monthly dock fees and maintenance costs for the boat in lieu of rent.
In a statement released last week, Cunningham said he showed "poor judgment" in selling his Del Mar-area house to Wade but denied that he had acted improperly or had "secured" defense contracts for MZM.
Yesterday's searches in Washington began about 9 a.m. at the Dupont Circle townhouse that serves as the corporate headquarters for MZM. About two dozen federal agents, some wearing bulletproof vests, carried out white boxes labeled as evidence and searched records from MZM headquarters. The agents loaded the boxes into a dark blue van with darkened windows.
The scope of the search warrants was unknown.
Outside, agents stood under the green awning at MZM's headquarters, in a five-story brick building between the embassy of Slovenia and the National Cotton Council of America.
"They were standing outside looking menacing," said Robert Hauck, who works two doors away. "It was clear that something was going on."
Cunningham has described Wade as a longtime friend and acknowledged that he had supported MZM's efforts to win defense contracts. But the congressman has insisted the real estate deal involving the Del Mar-area house was legitimate and unrelated to the contracts.
Wade founded MZM in 1993, but the company didn't get its first contract until 2002.
In 2003 and 2004, around the time of the house transaction, MZM's fortunes began to soar. Less than three years after its first contract, MZM had $163 million in contracts.
Since Cunningham and Wade's ties were first revealed, the company has been in turmoil. Wade initially turned over the reins of the company to Frank Bragg Jr., who resigned and was replaced by James King, a retired three-star general whose priority it is to find a buyer for the company.
Also, the federal government announced this week that it would no longer allow federal agencies to buy from MZM under a broad contract that the company had used to attain the bulk of its defense projects.
Officials said the change in MZM's $250 million blanket-purchase agreement was related to government rules, not the unfolding legal and political controversy.
Cunningham, a highly decorated Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, is scheduled to appear Monday at the Encinitas Fourth of July Community Celebration and Pancake Breakfast, according to his spokesman Mark Olson. It will be his first local public appearance since news broke of his house sale to Wade.
The event's organizer, Lou Aspell, said she invited him to the celebration long before the controversy but has no qualms about his appearance.
"It's the Fourth of July and there's a lot of patriotic stories that can be shared," Aspell said. "If there are people who have an issue with that, and don't want to show up, that's their right, but I have no problems with supporting him supporting our event. He is our congressman."
His party is not identified, so I assume (D).
A line of cars exits Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home on Friday after Federal investigators anounced they raided his home and other related properties.
Nope. He's an (R). :-(
Sorry, he's a Republican
looks like a bunch of soccer moms leaving the property!
Nope. He's R.
But I doubt he'll be on the ballot in 06. If he were a D, they'd admit him to the House minority leadership.
Cunningham's lawyers criticized the government's actions as an "appalling abuse of government power" and "strong arm tactics.""Today's search of Duke Cunningham's home, based on a secret affidavit, was an appalling abuse of government power," Cunningham attorneys K. Lee Blalack and Mark Holscher said in a statement issued after the search.
"They broke the locks and forcibly broke into his home," Holscher said.
"They (the Cunninghams) weren't given any advance notice."
If they're going to arrest every Congressman who has made sweetheart deals, there are going to be a huge number of open seats available.
Start by questioning every transaction made by Senator Tom Harkin's 'lobbyist' spouse...
From what little I know of this case, Cunningham looks guilty as hell.
Yep, he is a republican. Notice how they have this all over the news but the trial of the 5 dems who committed vote fraud was barely reported. Another prime example of liberal bias in the news.
Cunningham's deal was pretty dumb.
Well, it sure doesn't look good, does it?....
Cunningham is an idiot for putting himself in this position. Even if he's ultimately cleared, he painted a bullseye on himself with these shady-looking deals.
sorry, he's done some stupid stuff.
i used to live in his district and voted for him several times, until they removed my zipcode and placed it in the viper car alarm district of darrel issa.
his son got busted for dealing drugs up in boston. so duke went up and told the judge that his son deserved a light sentence because duke was a vietnam flying ace and u.s. congressman.
his son was found with cocaine while on probation.
Republicans in San Diego are shocked at all this. Hoping there is no wrong doing beyond just looking bad, but hope is fading, we dont need this in California, we need every republican we got.
Has any democrat had their home broken into like this before?
Why is Cunningham seeming to be getting the full treatment?
They had better damn well have good reason.
Sux all around.
What kind of "defense contractor" runs $163 million worth of contracts from a "townhouse"?
"His party is not identified, so I assume (D)."
Nope, Conservative Republican. Navy Top Gun! ACE in Vietnam! DAMN!
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