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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 15th,
2007 - Trial Dates Set for Wilkes, Foggo in Corruption Case |
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Trial Dates Set for Wilkes,
Foggo in Corruption Case By Kelly Thornton San Diego Union-Tribune May 15, 2007 Downtown San Diego – A judge
yesterday set back-to-back trial dates, Sept. 18 and Oct. 23, for former
Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes and his best friend, ex-CIA official
Kyle “Dusty” Foggo. Also yesterday, Wilkes and
Foggo pleaded not guilty to additional corruption charges in a new indictment
a grand jury handed up last week. The new indictment – which
supercedes the previous one – charges that, among other things, Foggo
improperly tried to steer a $132 million contract to Wilkes to provide air
services and armored vehicles to the CIA, even though Wilkes had little
relevant experience. In exchange, Wilkes gave Foggo thousands of dollars'
worth of vacations and dinners and promised him a top job at his company,
according to the indictment. U.S. District Judge Larry
Burns ruled on several pretrial requests by the defense at yesterday's
two-hour hearing in San Diego. Defense attorneys had asked
the judge to dismiss the case against Wilkes, based on leaks to the press
that his lawyer, Mark Geragos, described as a “concerted campaign to destroy
my client prior to getting him into a courtroom.” Foggo's attorneys joined in
the request yesterday. Burns ordered the government
to submit a report identifying the source of the leaks of secret grand jury
information. “I think it's important ... that we police that (secrecy)
admonition, and I intend to do that,” Burns said. “This is a gross breach of
the rules,” he added. The indictments against
Wilkes and Foggo, previously the CIA's No. 3 official, stem from the Randy
“Duke” Cunningham bribery scandal. A grand jury in San Diego
issued two indictments Feb. 13. One charges Wilkes with 25 counts of conspiracy,
fraud, money laundering and bribing an official. It details $700,000 in gifts
Wilkes allegedly bestowed on Cunningham, from prostitution services to
vacations, so the Rancho Santa Fe Republican congressman would steer $100
million in government contracts toward Wilkes' flagship company, Poway-based
ADCS Inc. A second, 11-count
indictment charged Wilkes and Foggo with conspiracy, money laundering and
honest-services fraud. The government said Foggo used his influence at the
CIA to direct $1.7 million in business deals to Wilkes, who in turn lavished
Foggo with gifts, dinners, trips to Scotland and Hawaii, and promises of
high-paying future employment, the government alleges. The new, superceding
indictment, issued late Thursday, adds charges against Wilkes and Foggo,
including an allegation that broadens the scope of the alleged conspiracy
between Wilkes and Foggo and adds 19 counts. At the hearing, Burns denied
defense requests to sever the trials and move Foggo's to Washington, D.C.
Burns sided with prosecutors, who said the heart of the government's case is
in San Diego rather than the district that includes Washington, as the
defense contended. “I can't find it's in the
interests of justice to sever the matters and have two trials on separate coasts
with essentially the same evidence,” Burns said. He said he would excuse
Foggo, who lives in a Washington, D.C., suburb, from pretrial hearings in San
Diego because of financial hardship. Burns also ruled yesterday
that Geragos, Wilkes' lawyer, does not have to undergo a federal background
check, but he will not be entitled to receive classified evidence. The case against Wilkes and
Foggo is legally complicated because some of the evidence is top secret and a
judge has to approve its use in court. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070515-9999-1m15wilkes.html |