Free Republic

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 House committee chairman is asking the White House for information about a contract awarded to MZM Inc., a company that was run by a defense contractor who pleaded guilty to bribing jailed GOP ex-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, released a letter to the White House on Monday asking for details on a $140,000 contract awarded to MZM in July 2002 by the Executive Office of the President, reportedly to provide computers and furniture for the vice president's office. Waxman, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the inquiry was part of his...

WASHINGTON - Disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham parlayed his seat on the Intelligence Committee into winning at least $70 million in authorizations that benefited two contractors who — in turn — paid him millions in bribes. That was a key finding, released Tuesday, in a declassified summary of a report by the panel's independent investigator. It confirms what has long been suspected: The intelligence committee was one more venue that the California Republican exploited to help his associates. The report finds that Cunningham secured the cooperation — or at least the noninterference — of many people. That included Congress...

SAN DIEGO - Disgraced former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham lashed out at the reporter who uncovered the corruption scandal that sent him to prison, telling him in a letter that his "constant cruelty" had nearly destroyed Cunningham's life. The former Navy "Top Gun" pilot also blasted defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who helped implicate him to authorities. "Wade is the absolute devil," Cunningham wrote in the four-page, handwritten letter, excerpts of which were published Saturday on the San Diego Union-Tribune's Web site. Wade has pleaded guilty to giving Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes and is awaiting sentencing. His lawyer...

WASHINGTON The investigation stemming from the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., will continue well past the November midterm elections under a federal court schedule set Monday. The development came at a status hearing for defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty in February to bribing Cunningham in exchange for government contracts. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina agreed to delay sentencing proceedings against Wade and set the next status hearing in his case for March 12. That will allow Wade's cooperation to continue in the investigation, which still has several unresolved...

WASHINGTON – Eight months after former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham confessed to taking massive bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts, the Defense Department inspector general still has not determined whether any of those projects were improper. This week, the Pentagon announced that it would not renew one contract related to the scandal. But officials have been tight-lipped about the status of other taxpayer-funded work that may have been tainted, including a secret counterintelligence program. In fact, although several other Defense Department public affairs personnel and a congressional press aide have said...

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...

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...

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris continued her attempt to take her campaign to national television and to add religious overtones to her quest for a U.S. Senate seat with an appearance on ABC News "Nightline" Tuesday. Harris told John Donvan, of "Nightline," that she intends to sell all her personal assets to fund the race. "My husband has real estate, but I will not own anything." Since making a pledge last week to put $10 million of her money into the race, Harris has made the phrase "putting everything on the line" a new campaign theme. "I am willing to take...

The contracts former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham browbeat the Defense Department into awarding two contractors who showered him with money and gifts were not in the nation's interest, according to documents filed by prosecutors yesterday. 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 pleading guilty in November, Cunningham admitted taking more than $2.4 million in bribes in return for steering those contracts to two defense contractors, but he insisted the contracts were for legitimate...

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...

WASHINGTON – Defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiring to funnel more than $1 million in bribes to former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Wade, 46, admitted to his part in a payoff scheme intended to win federal contracts for his firm, MZM Inc., that included an attempt to bribe a Pentagon official. Wade's sweetheart purchase of Cunningham's Del Mar-area house figured prominently in the ex-congressman's own guilty plea last fall. Wade bought Cunningham's house for $1.67 million in November 2003 and then sold it eight months later at a $700,000 loss. The businessman began...

While the problems surrounding Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham have gotten plenty of play in the media, it begs the question of why the House ethics committee, was silent on it. "Five months ago, as the scope of the federal investigation into Cunningham's conduct became clear, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called for the House ethics committee to launch an investigation. Under House rules, an outside person or agency isn't allowed to make an ethics complaint. So the group shopped around among members of Congress to see if someone was interested in filing a complaint against Cunningham. No...

Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.), the top Democrat on the House ethics committee, has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and gifts to a family foundation from MZM Inc. and another firm that did business with MZM. The former owner of MZM, Mitchell Wade, is at the heart of the recent scandal that toppled ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.). The Californian pleaded guilty last week to accepting $2.4 million in bribes, fraud and tax evasion charges. The donations to Mollohan were perfectly legal. But the fact that the top ethics cop for House Democrats received significant sums from the...

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 – When Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham first responded to questions about his dealings with defense contractor Mitchell Wade, he stressed that his position on the House defense appropriations subcommittee did not enable him to secure contracts for Wade's company, MZM Inc. "I do not have the authority or ability to award a contract to Mr. Wade's company and no single member of Congress, no matter how influential, can dictate to the armed services who will be awarded contracts," the Rancho Santa Fe Republican said during a June 23 news conference. While Cunningham's claim is technically correct under the government's...

The U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a secret lawsuit against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham that contends he should forfeit his Rancho Santa Fe home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money. Notice of the lawsuit and the government's interest in the property was filed with the San Diego County Recorder's Office. Cunningham's attorney, Lee Blalack, declined to comment yesterday on the lawsuit but said he had filed a motion challenging the U.S. government's legal claim on the house. The home – a five-bedroom, eight-bath Spanish colonial estate on Via Del Charro – was listed for sale...

Claim filed on Cunningham house          U.S. lawsuit seeks forfeiture of property By Dani Dodge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 18, 2005 Randy "Duke" Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home was listed for $3.5 million. Embattled MZM sold to investment group The U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a secret lawsuit against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham that contends he should forfeit his Rancho Santa Fe home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money. Notice of the lawsuit and the government's interest in the property was filed with the San Diego County Recorder's Office. Cunningham's attorney, Lee Blalack, declined to...

Departure likely to block Democrats' shot at districtRep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's announcement that he will not run for re-election next year did nothing to lift the spreading ethical cloud hanging over him, but it lifted a cloud of political angst over the Republican Party and touched off an instant scramble among ambitious Republicans. The Rancho Santa Fe Republican is under investigation by a federal grand jury, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington over his financial ties to defense contractor Mitchell Wade. In announcing July 14 that he would not seek a ninth term, Cunningham, 63, maintained he...

House Democrats said Tuesday that they would run newspaper advertisements this week criticizing the ethics of six House Republicans, including Representative Randy Cunningham of California, who is under investigation by a grand jury looking into his ties with a military contractor.... Mr. Wade paid $1,675,000 for the house and sold it nearly a year later for $975,000, for a loss of $700,000 in one of the hottest housing markets. Mr. Cunningham said he "showed poor judgment" in selling his house to a friend who did business with the government. Moreover, he said, "I showed poor judgment in not listing the...