Attorneys for the CIA's former No. 3 official have asked a San Diego federal court judge to sever his case from that of his childhood friend, Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes, and to transfer their client's legal proceedings to Washington.

Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and Wilkes were indicted by a San Diego federal grand jury in February on charges of fraud, conspiracy and illegal money transfers - charges that stem from the investigation that sent former 50th Congressional District Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison in early 2006.

Foggo, who grew up with Wilkes in the San Diego area, allegedly used his position to funnel lucrative government contracts to Wilkes and supply inside information to help him land millions of dollars in defense business for his Poway-based ADCS Inc., according to the indictment.

In addition to the indictment against Wilkes and Foggo, a separate indictment filed against Wilkes charges him with bribing Cunningham with lavish vacations, money and evenings with prostitutes to win lucrative defense contracts.

Because of the notoriety of that case and the news media's continuing discussion of the two cases, Foggo's attorneys have asked Judge Larry Alan Burns to sever Foggo's case from that of Wilkes.

"Mr. Foggo is not charged with bribery or with any conduct relating to Mr. Cunningham and is not implicated in any way in the often-reported 'debauchery' or 'prostitution' acts," wrote Foggo attorney Mark J. MacDougall in an April 18 motion.

Among other reasons MacDougall gave for requesting the severance and transfer were:

• Foggo's family lives in the Washington area;

• most of the witnesses for the government and defense live in the same vicinity;

• many of the alleged acts occurred in Eastern Virginia; and

• many of the records in the case are classified and are housed in the Washington area.

Reached by phone in his Washington office Wednesday, MacDougall said he would have no comment.

In other news related to the cases, a real estate auction of Brent Wilkes' home in a Poway gated community was called off Wednesday for unspecified reasons.

Wilkes has suffered a series of financial blows in recent months. First, the tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts that he obtained, allegedly with Cunningham's help, dried up in the aftermath of the government investigation into the former congressman.

Owing hundreds of thousands in back property taxes and with mounting legal expenses, he later sold the building to a Rancho Bernardo company for an undisclosed price.

Over the last several weeks, Wilkes' attorney had repeatedly asked for an extension for the deadline for him to post a $2 million bond in order to remain free pending the outcome of his case.

Paperwork filed with the court April 27 shows that a married couple named Larry and Joyce Wilkes were putting up their San Diego home as a guarantee that Wilkes would show up in court for his hearings. It was not clear Wednesday whether the couple is related to Brent Wilkes.

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