Prosecutor says greed drove Cunningham figure

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer
Feds state their case to start trial of Poway-based defense contractor Wilkes. | Thursday, October 4, 2007 1:22 AM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO -- It was greed that led a Poway defense contractor to bribe former North County Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, gifts and vacations to win government work, a federal prosecutor told a jury Wednesday.

"Lies, deceit, greed. Most of all greed. This case is all about greed," Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Halpern told jurors as he laid out the government's case in his opening statements.

Poway businessman Brent Roger Wilkes, 53, has pleaded not guilty to charges including bribery, money laundering, conspiracy and fraud.

In February, prosecutors charged Wilkes with 25 counts, including conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering and committing unlawful monetary transactions. On Wednesday, prosecutors withdrew 11 counts, including all charges of unlawful monetary transactions.

If convicted, Wilkes faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Wilkes plied Cunningham with $700,000 in cash and gifts to secure more than $80 million in government contracts -- taxpayer funds -- for his now-defunct defense firm ADCS.

In what became the largest congressional corruption case, Cunningham pleaded guilty in late 2005 to tax evasion and receiving more than $2.4 million in bribes.

"The evidence will show the politician was bought by the defendant lock, stock and barrel," Halpern said, adding that the bribes include "the truly astonishing," such as machine gun lessons and the services of prostitutes.

Time cut short Halpern's presentation, which he will wrap up Tuesday when trial resumes. Wilkes' attorney, Mark Geragos, may also make his opening statements at that time.

Halpern said the jury will hear from the congressman's former chief of staff, who warned the lawmaker to keep his dealings ethical. The staffer will also testify, Halpern said, that he was leery of a new kid on the block: Wilkes.

Halpern told the jury that in 1997, after Cunningham won a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, he got "a lot of brand-new best friends" because the position meant Cunningham could directly control how taxpayer dollars were spent.

Among the new friends, Halpern said, was Wilkes, who had set up a company with the goal of winning defense contracts.

Those contracts started coming because of Cunningham's pull, even though Wilkes was ill-prepared to provide the specialized document scanning services he was selling to the Defense Department, Halpern said.

When Wilkes' invoices were questioned because the work wasn't done, or when defense work was funneled elsewhere, Halpern said Wilkes turned to the congressman, who then bullied high-ranking defense officials.

At one point, Wilkes supplied the lawmaker with a script of what Cunningham was supposed to say as he twisted the arms of officials, the prosecutor said.

Halpern's presentation foretold of testimony that included gifts of Jet Skis docked behind the congressman's yacht to brazen pressure levied on defense officials in a smoky room at the infamous Watergate Hotel.

"This is not business as usual," Halpern said. "This is not how Washington usually works."

After the jury left for the day, Geragos, Wilkes' attorney, asked U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns for a mistrial, arguing that Halpern's opening statement -- which serves as a road map of the trial, an explanation of what the evidence will show -- crossed the line and was too argumentative.

"This is a bait and switch," Geragos said. "I believe it was done to sandbag."

Burns agreed that the opening statement "stepped over the bounds," but not far enough for a mistrial. He denied the motion.

Attorneys culled the jury of five men and seven women from a pool of 70 on Wednesday.

Those selected as jurors include a microbiologist, a paralegal student, a retired meat cutter, a special-education teacher and a maintenance mechanic for a water district.

The jury pool included a man who told the judge that he'd met Cunningham, a Navy fighter pilot, in the 1960s when both were in the Navy, and that Cunningham had made a "considerable impression" on him.

After explaining his encounter with Cunningham to the attorneys and judge -- out of earshot of other jurors and the audience in the courtroom -- the man was allowed to stay in the pool. He was selected as an alternate juror.

Many of the jurors said they'd heard of the Cunningham case, but said they could put aside what they had read or watched.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

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