Charges against alleged Cunningham co-conspirator termed 'imminent'

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 11:30 PM PST ∞

The U.S. attorney's office in San Diego is close to seeking an indictment against Brent Wilkes, a Poway defense contractor whose company received millions of dollars in government contracts after allegedly bribing the now-imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham, two federal officials with intimate knowledge of the case said Tuesday.

"I know we are so close," said one official, who agreed to speak with the North County Times on the condition that his name not be published.

A preliminary draft indictment is under review by "many eyes on what is going to be proposed to the grand jury," according to the source.

Another official with a different agency and also familiar with the case said an indictment is "imminent."

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

"I haven't seen or heard anything that would merit an indictment," Geragos said, declining further comment.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego declined comment.

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.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that four co-conspirators, including Wilkes, lavished the former 50th Congressional District Republican with cash, loans and gifts in a complex $2.4 million bribery scheme to steer government business to defense contractors.

San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, who earlier this month resigned effective Feb. 15, has called for prosecutors to tie up any loose ends on the investigation and file charges against Wilkes before her exit, according to a Jan 19 report in The Wall Street Journal.

In August 2005, federal agents raided Wilkes' home and company offices.

Since Wilkes' name first surfaced in the investigation, life appears to have grown more difficult for the man who once commanded several companies and used a private jet to fly Cunningham around the country. One of Wilkes' former attorneys, Michael Lippman, acknowledged to reporters last year that Wilkes is one of the alleged co-conspirators cited in the Cunningham court documents.

After receiving defense-related government work worth nearly $100 million over the last several years, much of it involving electronic document conversion, Wilkes' federal contracts dried up last year.

More than $440,000 in county property taxes for the plush ADCS' headquarters are owed and his company recently was deemed in default on $12.1 million owed to creditors.

Union Bank of California plans to sell the 97,000-square-foot building at 13970 Stowe Drive at public auction Thursday.

And in December, after 16 years of marriage, his wife, Regina Gail Wilkes, filed for a formal separation in San Diego Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.

The specific allegations against Wilkes in the government's Cunningham case documents, are:

Giving Cunningham $525,000 in early 2004 to help pay the mortgage on Cunningham's former Rancho Santa Fe estate. Prosecutors allege Wilkes wrote the check only after getting Cunningham to secure $6 million in government contracts for ADCS.

Writing Cunningham two unreported checks, one for $70,000 and another for $30,000.

Writing a corporate account check for $11,116 to cover a boat payment for Cunningham, and making mortgage payments on the boat over an eight-moth period.

Lavishing Cunningham with unreported gifts exceeding $10,000, including paying for meals at high-end restaurants, private jet trips and stays at posh hotels and resorts.

Investigators also are conducting a probe of Wilkes' childhood friend, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a former high-ranking CIA official, for his role in the award of a government contract to Wilkes. Foggo resigned from the CIA last year shortly after that news was reported.

The fate of two other men tied to Cunningham's bribery in court documents, New York developer Thomas Kontogiannis and his nephew, John T. Michael, also remains unresolved.

Another man at the heart of the Cunningham case, Mitchell Wade of the now-defunct Washington defense firm MZM, pleaded guilty last year to bribing Cunningham with more than $1 million and election fraud.

Wade is cooperating with authorities and his sentencing date has not been set. He is facing more than 10 years in prison.

Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in November 2005 to bribery and tax evasion, was sentenced last year to eight years and four months in prison. He was transferred from a North Carolina prison earlier this month to a minimum security federal work camp just outside Tucson, Ariz.

-- Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.

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