SAN DIEGO - Attorneys for a wealthy businessman who admitted funneling bribe money to former lawmaker Randy "Duke" Cunningham say in court documents filed this week that their client is far too ill, in fact gravely so, to go to prison.

New York financier Thomas Kontogiannis, a key figure in the scandal that landed the former North County congressman in a federal prison, is set to be sentenced Monday. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Kontogiannis pleaded guilty in February to one count of money laundering for using his family's mortgage company to channel more than $1 million in bribes to pay off Cunningham's lavish Rancho Santa Fe estate in 2003.

The businessman, in his pledge to cooperate with the government, has also admitted to as much as $100 million in mortgage fraud unrelated to the Cunningham case, according to the newly filed court documents.

But Kontogiannis - who has been charged with bribery three times in the last 14 years - has a grave heart condition, his attorneys argued in the documents. They asked the court to postpone the sentencing so their client can have bypass surgery.

"Absent immediate cardiac surgery, he may only survive a matter of months," defense attorney Colin Murray wrote in a motion filed Tuesday.

The defense filing indicates that the 59-year-old Kontogiannis suffers from Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and heart disease.

When Kontogiannis does finally face the judge for his punishment, the businessman is asking that his "dire prognosis" erase prison time as a sentencing option, Murray wrote.

"Any term of incarceration could well amount to a death sentence," Murray wrote.

Even with surgery, Murray wrote, doctors give Kontogiannis "a mere five to seven years to live."

Kontogiannis' defense attorneys - Murray in San Diego and Gregory O'Connell in New York - were both out of the office Wednesday. Neither returned telephone messages seeking comment.

Federal prosecutors said they will soon file a response with the court, but had not done so by late Wednesday afternoon.

Kontogiannis has already forfeited to the government more than $1 million related to the bribery scheme.

Ailments did not keep Cunningham out of jail after he admitted he'd been on the take to the tune of $2.4 million.

Prior to sentencing, the lawmaker's attorneys argued that Cunningham had suffered prostate and skin cancer. Although both cancers were in remission, his attorneys argued that Cunningham still needed constant medical monitoring.

U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns was not swayed, sentencing Cunningham to eight years and four months in federal prison.

Burns is also handling Kontogiannis' case, and the sentencing is solely up to him.

Other documents filed by Kontogiannis' attorneys this week revealed that Kontogiannis admitted to federal agents that he took part in what could be as much as $100 million in unrelated mortgage fraud.

In a declaration filed with the court Tuesday, one of Kontogiannis' civil attorneys, Robert Wolf, said he has made arrangements to use Kontogiannis' holdings to cover the $100 million in potential losses that a handful of banks could suffer as a result of the fraud.

Kontogiannis' defense attorneys, in a separate court filing, argued to the judge that the fraud admissions cannot be used against Kontogiannis in his sentencing, because Kontogiannis told federal agents about the $100 million in fraud as part of his deal to cooperate.

Also, they argue, the banks have not taken a hit because Kontogiannis is covering the $100 million in false mortgages.

Federal prosecutors have accused four men of conspiring to bribe Cunningham.

Kontogiannis admitted to money laundering and defense contractor Mitchell Wade admitted to plying the lawmaker with $2.4 million to win lucrative government work.

Last month, a jury convicted a second defense contractor, Brent Wilkes of Poway, of bribery and other charges in the case. Wilkes' attorney said he will fight the conviction.

The fourth alleged conspirator is John T. Michael, Kontogiannis' nephew by marriage. Michael ran the mortgage company used to pay off Cunningham's home loans. Michael has pleaded not guilty; his jury trial is set for Jan. 29.

- Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.