Posted on 07/08/2006 5:53:17 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SAN DIEGO – The prosecutors who sent former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to jail for taking bribes now are focusing their attention on his friend Brent Wilkes, a San Diego defense contractor who won nearly $100 million in contracts in the past decade. Wilkes also has links to other corruption investigations.
Cunningham was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes – including payments for a 7,628-square-foot mansion, a Rolls-Royce and a 65-foot yacht – in return for funneling contracts to certain companies.
Wilkes' lawyers have confirmed he is the unidentified “Co-Conspirator No. 1” in Cunningham's plea agreement. Prosecutors won't comment on their investigation but allege he paid Cunningham more than $600,000 to win government contracts.
No one else has been indicted in the Cunningham case. However, a grand jury is meeting regularly and is focusing on Wilkes, according to two attorneys close to the investigation. The lawyers spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.
A second co-conspirator in Cunningham's plea agreement, Mitchell Wade, is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty in February to bribing Cunningham in exchange for more than $150 million in government contracts since 2002.
Bringing a public corruption case is not easy, says Randall Eliason, former head of the public corruption section of the U.S. attorney's office in Washington.
“There's a lot of stuff that goes on that's sleazy and unethical that does not rise to the level of a crime,” he said. “The key is always an expressed deal, where someone says, 'I give you this and you do that for me.'”
Wilkes, 52, has not spoken publicly since his name surfaced in the investigation last year. Attempts to reach him for this report were unsuccessful. Through his lawyers, Michael Lipman and Nancy Luque, he has denied any wrongdoing.
Public corruption has become a major campaign issue this election year, and Wilkes has been connected to several of the investigations.
He has been subpoenaed in the Texas case against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He gave money to U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., a member of the House Appropriations Committee who has acknowledged helping Wilkes win contracts and whose name has surfaced in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He hired the lobbying firm that is being investigated as part of the probe of contracts approved by U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
He is a childhood friend of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the former high-ranking CIA official whose home and office were raided by FBI agents in May as part of the Cunningham investigation. Foggo left his job after disclosures that he participated in poker games organized by Wilkes. FBI officials have also been investigating whether Wilkes provided prostitutes for the parties.
And this past week, the California Fair Political Practices Commission released a complaint alleging Wilkes tried to circumvent rules on campaign contributions by reimbursing two people, including one of his own employees, for donations to a San Diego mayoral candidate in 2000.
Wilkes rose from small-time lobbyist in Washington, where he cultivated contacts with government officials and members of Congress, to head of the Wilkes Corp., a family of defense contracting businesses based in the wealthy San Diego suburb of Poway.
He and his wife, Regina, have been fixtures on the local political and charity circuits. In 2002, Wilkes spent $36,000 hosting a black tie “Tribute to Heroes” gala that feted Cunningham.
Wilkes became a “pioneer” for President Bush by raising $100,000 for his 2004 re-election and donated more than $70,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed him to the Del Mar Fair Board in 2004 and the State Race Track Leasing Commission in 2005. Wilkes resigned from both boards after Cunningham's guilty plea.
“He was at the top of the Rolodex of the Republican fundraisers in town,” said Cynthia Vicknair, a longtime Republican political consultant in San Diego. “But he wasn't going to fundraise for anybody if he wasn't getting something in return.”
The name of San Diego defense contractor Brent Wilkes has surfaced in several ethics investigations for connections including:
• Wilkes contributed at least $60,000 to U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., according to campaign finance records. Lewis, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, is under investigation by federal prosecutors for links to former U.S. Rep. Bill Lowery, a lobbyist and former San Diego congressman. Lowery's lobbying firm was hired by Wilkes to push projects to Lewis and others in Congress.
• Wilkes was subpoenaed in the money-laundering case against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Prosecutors want to hear from Wilkes about a contribution to a DeLay fundraising committee at the center of the investigation that led to indictments that pushed the GOP leader from office. Wilkes' company also hired a lobbying firm that employed DeLay's wife.
• Wilkes and his associates gave about $46,000 in campaign contributions to U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., a member of the Appropriations Committee, campaign finance records show. Doolittle has acknowledged he approved millions in contracts for Wilkes' companies but denies wrongdoing. Doolittle's name has surfaced in the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
• Wilkes is a childhood friend of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the former No. 3 official at the CIA. FBI officials have been investigating whether Wilkes provided prostitutes for poker parties in which Foggo participated. Foggo left his job after the disclosures.
Follow the money and find every last one involved in crimes.
I dont care what party they belong too.
Only ONE consideration should go into defense contracts. What is BEST for our heroes.
There has just GOT to be a Murtha somewhere in that pile of horse manure.
Bump to that!
wasn't duke cunningham the boss in the that John Lovitz cartoon "The Critic"?
My memory is fuzzy but didn't Lowery have essentially what became Duke's congressional district?
Yep. He was also tied up in the whole Don Dixon (Vernon Savings and Loan), Tony Coelho, et al. debacle.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a509795e07.htm
>>wasn't duke cunningham the boss in the that John Lovitz cartoon "The Critic"?
LOL. I couldn't tell ya!
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