Prosecutors: Cunningham Bullied Officials
By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Mar 1, 12:43 AM ET

LINK

Former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham bullied Defense Department officials as he worked to ensure deals for contractors who had bribed him with gifts and cash, federal prosecutors said in court papers Tuesday.

Cunningham, 64, a once-powerful member of the House Defense Appropriations Committee, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for accepting $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government work to defense contractors.

Prosecutor's said there was no way to distinguish between defense contracts funded through Cunningham's intervention or legitimate means, according to court documents.

They claim Cunningham berated Pentagon employees and tried to get them fired for withholding money from two contractors.

"In short, Cunningham acted exactly the way one would expect of a congressman who had been bought for more than $2.4 million," prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Lee Blalack did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the former "Top Gun" flight instructor and Vietnam War flying ace used his congressional influence to obtain contracts for contractor Mitchell Wade at the Counterintelligence Field Agency, a secretive organization created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to protect the Defense Department from espionage and terrorism. Its size and budget are secret.

Wade's company, MZM Inc. of Washington, D.C., collected $163 million between 2002 and 2005 for its work at CIFA and other agencies.

Wade pleaded guilty last week to plying Cunningham with a yacht, cash, cars, antiques and meals - more than $1 million in gifts over four years. He also admitted his role in a second, separate conspiracy in which he did favors for defense officials in return for their help in awarding contracts to his company. The Pentagon employees were not named in court filings.

MZM, Inc. and Questions About Ethics of TWO Republican Congressmen

MZM - Virgil Goode Ethics Debacle: The Cesspool Deepens
by Jim @ 12:15 pm. Filed under Politics, Republicans, Election 2006, Economy, Ethics, State and Local

For some time now, weve been following the unethical wranglings of Virginia Representative Virgil Goode. Its been known for some time now that Virgil Goode arranged for shadowy defense contractor M.Z.M. to receive an incentives package of nearly a million dollars, a package put together by local politicians in his district. Weve known that MZM was the top contributor to Virgil Goodes campaign in 2004. Weve known that MZM was the ONLY contributor to Virgil Goodes re-election campaign in the first quarter of 2005. We heard tell that MZM head Mitchell Wade was referring to Virgil Goode (and his cohorts in GOP ethical lapses, Duke Cunningham and Katherine Harris) when he said I own them.

Oh, we knew all that. But heres something new. The Washington Post reported yesterday (see below) that MZM chief Mitchell Wade has arranged a guilty plea to charges that he bribed Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham and & other legislative and executive branch officials. Who exactly all of these bribed officials are is, as yet, unknown. But prosecutors revealed one of the legislators involved is Virgil Goode.

Guilty pleas dont come out of nowhere. Usually, theres a deal involved, a deal that requires the guilty party to fess up, name names, describe his actions thoroughly, and indicate where other illegalities lie. What might those illegalities be?

Well, to start with, Goode is accused of receiving $90,000 in illegal campaign contributions. Campaign contributions to Goode are said to have been faked so that it would appear that they came from multiple individuals. Really, prosecutors say, they all came from Wade. Thats a big no-no.

In addition, its not just the nearly-million-dollar local goodie package that Goode is revealed to have arranged for MZM. Oh, no. It gets bigger than that. According to yesterdays Washington Post piece, Virgil Goode arranged for a $9,000,000 package to MZM at the federal level as well.

What else is Mitchell Wade singing about? What will we hear next? And just how long do you think it will be before Virgil Goode decides to resign in order to spend more time with his family?

Stay tuned.

Contractor Pleads Guilty to Corruption
Probe Extends Beyond Bribes to Congressman

By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 25, 2006; A01



Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members, in addition to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

The new admissions, including details that identify Reps. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) and Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) as recipients of illegal campaign contributions, are contained in Wade's agreement to plead guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his role in the Cunningham probe. The congressman resigned after pleading guilty in November to taking $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and others in return for steering federal funds and contracts their way.

The court filings indicated a new direction for the corruption inquiry, as Wade pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge that he also provided benefits to an unnamed Defense official and other Defense employees to get them to help Wade's company, MZM Inc.

Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters after the plea that the growth of MZM appeared to be "an American success story." Instead, it was built "by spreading corruption within the congressional appropriations process, the defense contracting apparatus and the financing of congressional campaigns," he said.

Wade went beyond bribing Cunningham, Wainstein added, to include the Defense Department officials who would be making the procurement decisions that affected District-based MZM. This included hiring the son of one official who oversaw the company's work and then hiring the official, too, according to the plea agreement. In return, Defense officials gave Wade's company inside budget information and favorable performance reviews, court documents said.

The description of the official-turned-MZM-employee in the court papers matches Robert Fromm, who worked at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville as program manager for a computer project known as FIRES and subsequently went to work for MZM. MZM hired the official's son, the court papers said, and months later, MZM was hired to work on the computer project. Fromm could not be reached for comment. Wainstein and Joseph Persichini Jr., acting head of the FBI's Washington field office, said public corruption in the defense contracting industry is a top priority for their staffs. Persichini noted that $97 billion in federal contracts goes to companies in the Washington region and that he hoped the Cunningham-Wade case would "instill moral outrage" in the public, who would report attempted extortion or bribe attempts to authorities.

Wade also pleaded guilty to election law fraud for making nearly $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to "Representatives A and B," who are identifiable as Goode and Harris. He did so, the filings said, in hopes that they, like Cunningham, would "earmark" federal money for MZM. Wade gave the funds for the donations to 19 of his employees and their spouses, who then wrote $2,000 checks to the members, according to the documents.

Goode and Harris have been identified before as recipients of large donations from Wade and other MZM employees, and prosecutors said yesterday that there was no sign either knew the contributions were illegal. Prosecutors said the investigation is continuing but wouldn't say whether Goode and Harris or the MZM employees who made the illegal donations for Wade are subjects of the investigation.

The congressman identifiable as Goode received $46,000 in such disguised contributions in 2003 and 2005, the court papers said. That was part of about $90,000 Wade and his workers contributed to Goode. Wade then asked the member to request appropriations for an MZM facility in his district, the Wade papers said, and a Goode staff member confirmed to Wade that the bill would include $9 million in funding.

Goode's office said it would issue a statement, but The Post had not received one by late yesterday.

The member identifiable as Harris received $32,000 in illegal donations from Wade and his employees in 2004. Documents filed with Wade's plea say that he took Harris to dinner early last year, where they discussed the possibility of another fundraiser and the possibility of getting funding for a Navy counterintelligence program in the member's district. One source familiar with the inquiry said Harris made such a request for funding, but it was not granted.

Harris spokeswoman Kara Borie said yesterday that the congresswoman acknowledges being "Representative B" in the court papers. Harris said in a statement that Wade had "discussed opening a defense plant in Sarasota that would create numerous high-skilled, high-wage jobs in my district." She said Harris had donated all her MZM donations to charity. "This case demonstrates the perils of a process in which candidates are sometimes asked to determine the intent of a contributor."

The statement didn't address whether Wade asked Harris to seek earmarked funding for the Navy program.

Wade, 46, told U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina that he had "great remorse" in acknowledging his actions but took full responsibility for them. He said, "I feel deep sorrow for the harm I have caused my family, friends and former colleagues."

Urbina set an Aug. 21 hearing date to check on how the contractor was cooperating with authorities before he is sentenced. The court papers said Wade offered to cooperate shortly after the investigation started last June. That was when the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Wade had purchased Cunningham's home in San Diego for $1.675 million in late 2003 and then resold it for $700,000 less several months later.

Wade stepped down from MZM last June. It was sold to an investment firm last fall and renamed Athena Innovative Solutions Inc.

Staff writer Walter Pincus and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Contractor Pleads Guilty to Corruption
Probe Extends Beyond Bribes to Congressman
By Charles R. Babcock, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 25, 2006; A01

LINK

Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members, in addition to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

The new admissions, including details that identify Reps. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) and Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) as recipients of illegal campaign contributions, are contained in Wade's agreement to plead guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his role in the Cunningham probe. The congressman resigned after pleading guilty in November to taking $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and others in return for steering federal funds and contracts their way.

The court filings indicated a new direction for the corruption inquiry, as Wade pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge that he also provided benefits to an unnamed Defense official and other Defense employees to get them to help Wade's company, MZM Inc.

Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters after the plea that the growth of MZM appeared to be "an American success story." Instead, it was built "by spreading corruption within the congressional appropriations process, the defense contracting apparatus and the financing of congressional campaigns," he said.

Wade went beyond bribing Cunningham, Wainstein added, to include the Defense Department officials who would be making the procurement decisions that affected District-based MZM. This included hiring the son of one official who oversaw the company's work and then hiring the official, too, according to the plea agreement. In return, Defense officials gave Wade's company inside budget information and favorable performance reviews, court documents said.

The description of the official-turned-MZM-employee in the court papers matches Robert Fromm, who worked at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville as program manager for a computer project known as FIRES and subsequently went to work for MZM. MZM hired the official's son, the court papers said, and months later, MZM was hired to work on the computer project. Fromm could not be reached for comment. Wainstein and Joseph Persichini Jr., acting head of the FBI's Washington field office, said public corruption in the defense contracting industry is a top priority for their staffs. Persichini noted that $97 billion in federal contracts goes to companies in the Washington region and that he hoped the Cunningham-Wade case would "instill moral outrage" in the public, who would report attempted extortion or bribe attempts to authorities.

Wade also pleaded guilty to election law fraud for making nearly $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to "Representatives A and B," who are identifiable as Goode and Harris. He did so, the filings said, in hopes that they, like Cunningham, would "earmark" federal money for MZM. Wade gave the funds for the donations to 19 of his employees and their spouses, who then wrote $2,000 checks to the members, according to the documents.

Goode and Harris have been identified before as recipients of large donations from Wade and other MZM employees, and prosecutors said yesterday that there was no sign either knew the contributions were illegal. Prosecutors said the investigation is continuing but wouldn't say whether Goode and Harris or the MZM employees who made the illegal donations for Wade are subjects of the investigation.

The congressman identifiable as Goode received $46,000 in such disguised contributions in 2003 and 2005, the court papers said. That was part of about $90,000 Wade and his workers contributed to Goode. Wade then asked the member to request appropriations for an MZM facility in his district, the Wade papers said, and a Goode staff member confirmed to Wade that the bill would include $9 million in funding.

Goode's office said it would issue a statement, but The Post had not received one by late yesterday.

The member identifiable as Harris received $32,000 in illegal donations from Wade and his employees in 2004. Documents filed with Wade's plea say that he took Harris to dinner early last year, where they discussed the possibility of another fundraiser and the possibility of getting funding for a Navy counterintelligence program in the member's district. One source familiar with the inquiry said Harris made such a request for funding, but it was not granted.

Harris spokeswoman Kara Borie said yesterday that the congresswoman acknowledges being "Representative B" in the court papers. Harris said in a statement that Wade had "discussed opening a defense plant in Sarasota that would create numerous high-skilled, high-wage jobs in my district." She said Harris had donated all her MZM donations to charity. "This case demonstrates the perils of a process in which candidates are sometimes asked to determine the intent of a contributor."

The statement didn't address whether Wade asked Harris to seek earmarked funding for the Navy program.

Wade, 46, told U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina that he had "great remorse" in acknowledging his actions but took full responsibility for them. He said, "I feel deep sorrow for the harm I have caused my family, friends and former colleagues."

Urbina set an Aug. 21 hearing date to check on how the contractor was cooperating with authorities before he is sentenced. The court papers said Wade offered to cooperate shortly after the investigation started last June. That was when the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Wade had purchased Cunningham's home in San Diego for $1.675 million in late 2003 and then resold it for $700,000 less several months later.

Wade stepped down from MZM last June. It was sold to an investment firm last fall and renamed Athena Innovative Solutions Inc.

Staff writer Walter Pincus and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Tough Sentence Urged for Cunningham
Prosecutors ask the judge to reject leniency for the ex-congressman and impose a 10-year prison term for bribery and tax evasion.
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer, March 1, 2006

LINK

SAN DIEGO : Federal prosecutors Tuesday reaffirmed their recommendation that disgraced former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham be sentenced to 10 years in prison, rejecting his bid for a lighter penalty because he is a war hero.

In a 14-page report, three assistant U.S. attorneys noted that an appellate court rejected leniency for another Vietnam veteran despite his heroism during the My Lai massacre.

The filing sets the stage for a decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns.

Cunningham, a Rancho Santa Fe Republican, has pleaded guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes and evading more than $1 million in taxes.

Prosecutors Sanjay Bhandari, Jason Forge and Phillip L.B. Halpern said that Cunningham "bullied and hectored" Pentagon officials to award contracts to the defense contractors who bribed him. Cunningham's only motivation "was to ensure that his co-conspirators gorged themselves at the national trough, regardless of the national interest."

Cunningham's attorneys have argued that Burns should consider Cunningham's record as a decorated fighter pilot during the Vietnam War "when he saved the lives of his fellow Americans at great risk to his own."

Awarded the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest medal for bravery, Cunningham later taught at the Top Gun school. His fame, which was boosted by the 1986 movie "Top Gun" starring Tom Cruise, propelled him into politics.

But the prosecutors noted that Cunningham's last display of heroism was three decades ago and that his crimes were part of a scheme to enrich himself by exploiting his membership on congressional committees dedicated to national security.

Cunningham, 64, resigned from Congress in the middle of his eighth term after pleading guilty in November. He represented a district in the affluent suburb of northern San Diego County.

Defense attorneys K. Lee Blalack, Mark Holscher and Kristina M. Hersey argued in a filing last week that a six-year sentence is more appropriate given Cunningham's war record, his lack of criminal background, his advanced age and declining health. Cunningham has undergone surgery for prostate cancer.

"If Mr. Cunningham is sentenced to six years in jail, the United States can rightly boast that it secured an unprecedented, even historic, punishment," Cunningham's attorneys argued.

No member of Congress convicted of corruption has ever received a sentence as long as six years, the defense attorneys wrote, adding that a 10-year sentence would probably be a death sentence but six years would allow him "a few short years" with his family.

As part of his plea agreement, the prosecution agreed not to seek a prison sentence of more than 10 years. In that agreement, Cunningham pledged to help with the prosecution of his four unidentified co-conspirators.

Prosecutors said in their filing that Cunningham could have received a sentence of more than 20 years without the plea agreement.

Last week, defense contractor Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty to bribing Cunningham with more than $1 million by paying an inflated price for his home in Del Mar Heights and allowing him to live rent-free on a yacht in the Potomac River, among other items.

No charges have been brought against any other unidentified co-conspirators but the investigation continues, prosecutors said.

Defense Contractor Mitchell Wade Pleads Guilty to Charges of Bribing Former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham

Prosecutors: Cunningham Violated Bribery Law
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 26, 2005; A14

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) "demanded and received" an inflated price for the sale of his home from a Washington defense contractor in 2003 in violation of the federal bribery statute, prosecutors in San Diego said yesterday.

The assertion that the congressman took the money "in return for being influenced in the performance of his official acts as a public official" was made public in the government's response to a civil court filing by Cunningham's attorneys. They are fighting a Justice Department effort to seize the congressman's new home in Rancho Santa Fe.

No criminal charges have been filed. But the statement was the most extensive the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego has made about its ongoing investigation of the relationship between Cunningham and Mitchell J. Wade, founder of MZM Inc. The District-based company has received more than $160 million in Pentagon contracts over the last three years. Wade stepped aside in June, and the company was sold to a New York investment firm last week.

The wording that Cunningham "demanded" the high price for the sale suggests that someone with knowledge of the transaction may be cooperating with the government. Reginald J. Brown, a Washington attorney who represents Wade, declined to comment. Mark J. Hulkower, a lawyer for MZM, said the company "has cooperated with the government investigation since its inception and will continue to cooperate fully through its conclusion."

Wade bought the congressman's house in late 2003 for $1.675 million, which the government filing yesterday called "an amount far greater than its fair market value." That purchase has been a focus of the investigation since the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in June that Wade took a $700,000 loss when he sold it several months later.

The government filing yesterday said that Cunningham and his wife used $1.4 million of the proceeds two weeks later to buy their new home in Rancho Santa Fe for $2.55 million. The congressman, a member of the subcommittee that controls the Pentagon's budget, has denied wrongdoing but announced last month that he will not run for reelection next year.

K. Lee Blalack II and Mark Holscher, Cunningham's attorneys, said in a statement: "A month ago the government outrageously attempted to take the Cunninghams' home based on secret allegations that they would not share with our clients or defend in court. Now that we have called them on this blatant violation of our clients' constitutional rights, the government has confessed error by unsealing the secret complaint.

"But this complaint is not a serious legal filing; it's a public relations exercise. It cites no testimony, no documents -- in short, no evidence. In this country, it is illegal to take someone's property simply on the say-so of the government and we intend to show that this complaint is false. Duke Cunningham strongly denies these allegations and we will contest them in court as soon as the judge permits us to do so."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

The Republican-Lobbyist-Military-Industrial-Complex

First, Randy Cunningham, and Now the CIA?

Two Defense Contractors at the Center of Ex-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's Bribery Case "Helped" Other Lawmakers