Brent R Wilkes

A former military contractor was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, ritzy vacations and prostitutes in exchange for help in getting government contracts. Brent R. Wilkes, 53, who was convicted in November on 13 counts involving more than $700,000 in bribes, was taken into custody after the hearing in San Diego federal court. He was ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in fines and forfeitures. Wilkes' firm, ACDS Inc.

A former military contractor was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, ritzy vacations and prostitutes in exchange for help in getting government contracts. Brent R. Wilkes, 53, who was convicted in November on 13 counts involving more than $700,000 in bribes, was taken into custody after the hearing in San Diego federal court. He was ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in fines and forfeitures. Wilkes' firm, ACDS Inc.

Brent R. Wilkes was a small defense contractor who looked for powerful friends in high places. When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor, Wilkes was one of the first to contribute to his campaign. Schwarzenegger later gave him plum appointments to boards that oversee the prestigious Del Mar racetrack, where Wilkes held court on opening day in 2004 and 2005. On Capitol Hill, Wilkes plied lawmakers with gifts, favors and hefty campaign contributions.

Brent R. Wilkes was a small defense contractor who looked for powerful friends in high places. When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor, Wilkes was one of the first to contribute to his campaign. Schwarzenegger later gave him plum appointments to boards that oversee the prestigious Del Mar racetrack, where Wilkes held court on opening day in 2004 and 2005. On Capitol Hill, Wilkes plied lawmakers with gifts, favors and hefty campaign contributions.

The CIA's former No. 3 official and a defense contractor pleaded not guilty to federal charges resulting from an investigation that has sent former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe) to prison. Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo used his position as executive director of the CIA to steer business to San Diego defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes, who offered his lifelong friend a job and lavished him with vacations and other gifts, according to a federal indictment.

SAN DIEGO -- A former military contractor was convicted Monday of bribing disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, fancy vacations, furniture and prostitutes in exchange for help in getting government contracts. Brent R. Wilkes, 53, of Poway was convicted in a San Diego federal court on all 13 counts involving more than $700,000 in bribes. He also faces separate charges of bribing a former CIA official, Dustin "Dusty" Foggo, to get contracts.

Thirteen House members plan to fight subpoenas issued to them in the federal trial of a defense contractor accused of bribing jailed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe). An aide to Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), one of the subpoena recipients, said the House counsel believes that the lawmakers are unlikely to be required to testify and that the subpoenas are "merely a shotgun, grandstanding legal tactic."

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S firing of eight U.S. attorneys returns to center stage today with Senate testimony by D. Kyle Sampson, the former aide to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Whatever one thinks of the administration's conduct in this affair, one of its self-justifying arguments is bizarre for reasons that have nothing to do with possible obstruction of justice. Is it possible that Carol C. Lam was a casualty of the nation's broken immigration policy? The dismissal of Lam, the U.S.

A defense contractor and a former top-ranking CIA official were indicted Tuesday on corruption charges in a case that also involved bribes to disgraced ex-congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Brent R. Wilkes was charged with bribing Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe) and Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo to get contracts for his San Diego companies. Until he resigned in May amid a federal investigation, Foggo was the CIA's third highest-ranking official, directing the spy agency's daily operations.

A federal grand jury conducting a criminal investigation has subpoenaed San Bernardino County records related to a Washington lobbying firm with close ties to Rep. Jerry Lewis, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, according to federal documents. Federal investigators are looking into the relationship between Lewis (R-Redlands) and a Washington lobbyist linked to disgraced former Rep.

The day news broke that a federal corruption probe in Southern California was spreading to Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis, the chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales fired off an e-mail to the White House about the federal prosecutor who had begun the investigation. "The real problem we have right now is Carol Lam," D. Kyle Sampson told White House Deputy Counsel William Kelley on May 11.

In addition to the other corrupt dealings that forced his resignation from Congress, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham used his position on the House Intelligence Committee to steer more than $70 million in federal funds to companies run by cronies, according to a new report by the House panel. The document expands the scope of the Cunningham bribery scandal to one of the most sensitive committee assignments in Congress.