Defense Contractor Brent Wilkes Found Guilty of Bribing Congressman Randall Cunningham

A federal grand jury has found defense contractor Brent Roger Wilkes guilty on all charges that were brought against him for bribing former U.S. Congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham. The charges were conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering.

The facts presented at the trial showed that Wilkes pain in excess of $700,000 to Cunningham. Cunningham then sent government money to a company owned by Wilkes, namely, ADCS, Inc., located in Poway, California. The evidence proved that Wilkes paid off Cunningham in a variety of ways such as checks, sending wire transfers, restaurant meals, limousine service, free use of a corporate jet, free hotel rooms, furnishings for his home, boats and associated equipment, free vacations, entertainment as well as the services of prostitutes.

Wilkes lied to his company and hid his expenses and Cunningham never reported them on the Financial Disclosure Statements that are required to be filed with the House of Representatives. This went on for more than 10 years as Cunningham used his influence to see to it that Wilkes illegally received in excess of $80 million for defense contracts.

There were 14 counts in the indictment.

Count 1 is for conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and money laundering and this one carries a term of 5 years in prison and/or a fine in the amount of $250,000.

Counts 2 to 11 are all for honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Count 13 is for bribery of a public official and this one carries a maximum of 15 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine or 3X the amount of the bribe.

Count 14 is for money laundering which carries a term of 20 years in prison and/or either a fine of $500,000 or 2X the value of the property in the transaction.

Adding all of this up, he is facing a maximum of 60 years in prison. Wilkes is now 52 years of age, so he could be in prison until he is 112 years old. And there is no parole in the federal prison system. As for the fines, it could be as high as $162,600,000.

He is due to be sentenced on January 28, 2008, at 9:30 a.m., by United States District Judge Larry A. Burns.