Defense Contractor May Be Indicted In Cunningham Case (Brent Wilkes)

[cascadiance]

This out from Channel 10's web site just now. Sounds like they are now closing in on Brent Wilkes. Geragos looks to perhaps start to be earning his big pay now...

From: http://www.10news.com/news/10890105/detail.html

Defense Contractor May Be Indicted In Cunningham Case

POSTED: 11:00 am PST January 31, 2007
UPDATED: 11:23 am PST January 31, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- Two federal officials said the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego is close to seeking an indictment against Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who allegedly bribed Randy "Duke" Cunningham in return for millions of dollars in government contracts, it was reported Wednesday.

"I know we are so close," one of the officials told the North County Times.

The source, who has intimate knowledge of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said a preliminary draft indictment is under review by "many eyes on what is going to be proposed to the grand jury," the Times reported.
Click here to find out more!

Another official who is with a different agency but is also familiar with the case said an indictment is "imminent," according to the Times.

Wilkes' attorney, Mark Geragos, said he had no knowledge of any impending indictment, the Times reported.

A San Diego federal grand jury has been considering evidence against Wilkes for more than a year. Wilkes was a longtime contributor to Cunningham's congressional campaigns and founded the firm ADCS in 1998.


...

And the AP story out just now from NBC News affiliate:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/10890241/detail.html

Grand Jury Probes Alleged Cunningham Co-Conspirator

POSTED: 11:22 am PST January 31, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The San Diego grand jury has been considering evidence against Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor identified as one of Cunningham's coconspirators.

Three House committees have been subpoenaed in connection with the bribery case against jailed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Cunningham, a San Diego-area Republican, was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison for accepting $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government business to defense contractors.

Those committees are trying to reach an agreement with federal prosecutors allowing the subpoenas to be withdrawn, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Wednesday was the latest deadline for the Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence committees to respond to document subpoenas issued by the federal grand jury in San Diego that has been considering evidence in a defense contracting investigation stemming from the Cunningham case.

However, House lawyers have asked for more time and are working to negotiate a response that satisfies prosecutors so that they will withdraw the subpoenas, a Democratic aide said Wednesday. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego did not immediately return a call for comment.

...

[musiclawyer]

1. That's why Bushco wants a US Attorney that he owns , there

There was a significant thread last year here about how Cunningham was just the tip of the iceberg; that other congressmen were involved; and that the contractor was just a facade for GOP dark operations. I'm sorry I did not bookmark

[jamesinca]

2. Let it extend to Devin Nunes CA-21

Let justice be served first, then start the wish list of those I want removed. If somebody could explain this part to me it would be greatly appreciated: However, House lawyers have asked for more time and are working to negotiate a response that satisfies prosecutors so that they will withdraw the subpoenas, a Democratic aide said Wednesday. Why does the House care if there is a subpoena?

[cascadiance]

3. There's two separate issues....

First the Democratic Party led committees now want to have more time than the original deadline of responding to subpoenas that would have only given them a week to study what was in them before responding to the subpoenas. Some might argue that the stonewalling of the investigations and these tight deadlines were intentional from the Rethugs and those behind the scenes' point of view.

Now in the case of Carol Lam, she has until February 15th to oversee any indictments on her watch before a newer U.S. attorney replaces her with the "purge" that is going on of U.S. Attorneys, which also likely was also by design. Probably want to limit how much she can combine in terms of getting more than just Wilkes prosecuted. Had she still been working after February 15th, I'm sure they would have strung it out at least another month or two after the House and Senate investigative committees were able to follow up more on things and then she would have nailed Wilkes later along with Hunter, Doolittle, and/or whoever else they ultimately want to get. Her hand is being forced now though, so I think she's getting what she can. Unfortunately once Wilkes is indicted and convicted, that will make it harder to cut a deal with him to get stronger evidence against others, which is I'm sure why he hasn't been nailed already just yet. Duke Cunningham is an example of how he's been a lot less cooperative once he already had his sentence in hand, and his cooperation with investigations wasn't going to do him much good after that.

The Republicans are definitely playing some games with this, and it is hard from a distance to guess what the true game is just yet. I'm guessing we'll see a bit more though in the coming weeks.

[jamesinca]

7. thanks

I was wondering why they would do something that seems like stonewalling on the surface.

[Octafish]

6. Cunningham-Foggo-Wilkes...

...this goes to Porter Operation 40 Goss and on through to Poppy Doc and Baby Doc Bush.

The military-industrial-governmental complex is one enormous kick-back scheme with the U.S. Treasury as the Primary Target.

[PhilipShore]

4. AP/MSNBC: More fallout from Cunningham bribery scandal

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16912244/

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors are preparing to seek indictments against a former top CIA official and a San Diego defense contractor at the center of the bribery scandal that sent former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison.

Two government officials familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday that prosecutors plan to ask a San Diego grand jury to return charges of honest services fraud and conspiracy against Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and his close friend Brent Wilkes, whose lawyers have said he is one of four unidentified co-conspirators described in the 2005 plea agreement for Cunningham, a San Diego Republican.

Honest services fraud is a combination of mail and wire fraud often used in public corruption cases involving officials who have engaged in a pattern of improper activities, such as accepting gifts, trips or promises of future employment from private individuals.

[cascadiance]

5. Interesting how they just now stopped the sale of Wilkes' Poway home too now!

I wonder if that's a sign that a plea deal is in the works and that Wilkes is avoiding a trial and big bills to Geragos.

http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=20070131czl (subscription)

Auction postponed for Poway building owned by alleged Cunningham co-conspirator
By HEATHER CHAMBERS, The Daily Transcript
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
A public auction to sell the headquarters of a company owned by Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes, an alleged co-conspirator in the former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham bribery scandal, was postponed without reason Wednesday.

...

HMMMM!!!....

[SpiralHawk]

8. republicons = corrpution

never have so many stolen so wildly from the US taxpayers as this cabal of corrupt republicon cronies.

Conservatives? Bwa ha ha ha ha. They are radical crooks...

[Seldona]

9. Rank amatuers.

They should have taken lessons from *Bush Inc. Hell they have been in and out of government since grandpa did business with the Nazis. I have heard figures of more than a billion going to *Bush family and friends just from the SAUDIS. I wonder if anyone has done the research to figure out just how much family and their friends have swindled in the last 60 or 70 years?

What is really appalling is these are the same jerks who tell me I am an immoral person for not being a christian, or that I hate America because I disagree with it's destruction.

Sure seems like the dam has broken lately. Republicans can't seem to BUY good press these days. Sure couldn't be happening to a more deserving group.