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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...

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...

NORTH COUNTY ---- What may be his last contract with the federal government has run out. Most of his employees have quit or been laid off. He owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in back property taxes on his company's multimilllion-dollar Poway headquarters, a 97,000-square-foot building he is negotiating to sell. And in the latest blow to defense contractor Brent Wilkes ---- one of the men identified as an alleged co-conspirator of Randy "Duke" Cunningham in the bribery scandal that put the former congressman in prison ---- the Poway resident is being sued by two companies accusing him of breach...

SACRAMENTO – When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was swept into office by the recall election in 2003, he promised to end politics as usual, where “money goes in and favors go out.” But Schwarzenegger has carried on the political tradition of providing favors – in the form of coveted state appointments – to generous campaign donors. At least 13 of Schwarzenegger's appointees, their spouses and their companies have contributed more than $1.4 million to his campaigns, according to campaign disclosure forms and a review by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. Schwarzenegger has hired some donors for key positions in...

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...

Congressman Jerry Lewis is at the center of a federal investigation into a lobbying giant in the nation's capital, but he's not keeping a low profile. "This is not a difficult time at all,'' Lewis said Saturday from his home in Redlands. "Since I haven't seen any of these subpoenas or had anybody contact me about them, I don't think I should comment. I have served this community for 40 years, and I expect to continue to do so.'' San Bernardino County, the city of Redlands, and Cal State San Bernardino are among local agencies and businesses that have confirmed...

The federal grand jury investigating the relationship between Rep. Jerry Lewis and a Washington lobbying firm has subpoenaed records from Riverside County and the Cal State San Bernardino Foundation, in addition to San Bernardino County and the city of Redlands, The Press-Enterprise confirmed Friday. Officials with the University of Redlands, Loma Linda University Medical Center and Redlands-based ESRI declined to say whether their organizations had been served. All are or have been clients of the lobbying firm Copeland, Lowery & Jacquez, which has been linked to former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The Rancho Santa Fe Republican pleaded guilty last year...

Federal agents yesterday searched the CIA offices and Northern Virginia home of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the spy agency's No. 3 official who was forced to resign this week amid a widening criminal investigation into allegations of government corruption and bribery. ...Aside from well-publicized espionage cases, veteran intelligence officers said they could not recall another time when FBI agents picked through offices at the CIA's Langley headquarters..Earlier this year, however, he was placed under investigation by the CIA inspector general and federal prosecutors after allegations that he helped a high school friend, Brent R. Wilkes, obtain CIA contracts and improperly accepted...

Federal agents yesterday raided the home and office of the CIA's outgoing number three in a dramatic deepening of corruption investigations at America's premier spy agency.Search warrants were executed by several federal law enforcement agencies against Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the FBI said. Mr Foggo resigned as CIA executive director on Monday, just after the still unexplained departure of agency director Porter Goss. Mr Goss, who is not accused of wrongdoing, appointed Mr Foggo to his post. Television news helicopters showed aerial images of men wearing white forensic suits entering and leaving Mr Foggo's home in suburban Virginia. Mr Foggo is...

Randy Cunningham has not been helping federal authorities as they continue to probe the former North County congressman's web of corruption, a top Pentagon investigator said Tuesday. Rick Gwin, special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's western regional office, said he is troubled by the lack of assistance, particularly in light of Cunningham's plea agreement that calls for him to tell all that he knows. "In my opinion, he has not been cooperative and I have not gotten any information from him to further develop other targets," Gwin said in a telephone interview from his office in...

Who needs the government to tell us the status of homeland security? If you're not seeing five-alarm red over the perpetual chaos at DHS, you need to call the eye doctor. The Ontario (Calif.) Daily Bulletin reported Tuesday that Border Patrol agents are now ratting out Minutemen, immigration enforcement volunteers who have broken no laws, to Mexico. Yes, we are paying our federal immigration officers to gather intelligence on our own citizens -- and then turn it over to a foreign government intent on sabotaging our sovereignty. Deportation officers across the country continue to report that "catch and release" of...

Monday, May 08, 2006 Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo is the subject of an FBI investigation related to poker parties and possible use of prostitutes to curry favor with defense and CIA contracting officials. Investigators are probing whether San Diego-based defense contractor Brent Wilkes provided prostitutes to lawmakers or Foggo in order to win federal contracts. The CIA sent out an e-mail to agency staff Monday afternoon announcing that Foggo was stepping down, but it did not say whether he was leaving the agency, U.S. officials said. Suggestions have been made that he will retire soon.

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday. In recent weeks, investigators have focused on possible dealings between Christopher D. Baker, president of Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., and Brent R. Wilkes, a San Diego businessman who is under investigation for bribing Cunningham in return for millions of dollars in federal contracts, said one source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Baker has a criminal record and...

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry. Besides scrutinizing the prostitution scheme for evidence that might implicate contractor Brent Wilkes, investigators are focusing on whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services, though it isn't clear whether investigators have turned up anything to implicate others. In recent weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women...

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...

Congressman's lawyer dismisses subpoena that may broaden the investigationWASHINGTON - The Texas prosecutor who obtained an indictment against Rep. Tom DeLay is now looking at connections between the former House majority leader and a defense contractor linked to the bribery of a California lawmaker. But the lawyer for DeLay criticized the potential expansion of the criminal investigation involving the Sugar Land Republican as a fishing expedition with a political motive. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, subpoenaed on Monday records of California businessman Brent Wilkes and three Wilkes-controlled companies that made a political contribution to a Texas fundraising...

WASHINGTON – A Texas prosecutor has issued subpoenas for bank records of a defense contractor involved in the bribery case of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham as part of the investigation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued subpoenas last Thursday for California businessmen Brent Wilkes and Max Gelwix, records of Perfect Wave Technologies, Wilkes Corp. and ADCS Inc. in connection with a contribution to a fundraising committee at the center of the investigation that led to DeLay's indictment on money laundering charges. Perfect Wave contributed $15,000 in September 2002 to Texans for a Republican...