SAN DIEGO – New charges have been filed alleging that the CIA's former No. 3 official used his influence in that role to try and steer a government contract worth $100 million to his best friend, a defense contractor, in return for lavish vacations, private jet flights and a lucrative job offer.
The indictment, returned Thursday by a federal grand jury in San Diego, supersedes charges brought in February against Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, executive director of the spy agency until his resignation a year ago, and Poway-based contractor Brent Wilkes. The charges grew from the bribery scandal that landed former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in prison.
Foggo is the highest-ranking CIA officer to be charged with crimes allegedly committed while working for the agency.
The pair now face 30 wide-ranging counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
The initial indictment in February charged the pair with 11 counts of the same charges in connection with a water-supply contract Foggo allegedly helped win for one of Wilkes' companies while he was working as a logistics coordinator at a CIA supply hub overseas.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They face arraignment on the new charges on Monday.
Wilkes is charged in a separate indictment with conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions to Cunningham in return for government contracts.
That indictment was also superseded by the grand jury to include new charges against a second defendant, Long Island mortgage banker John T. Michael, who was described as a co-conspirator in Cunningham's 2005 plea agreement. He has already pleaded not guilty to one count of obstructing justice but now faces additional counts of money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions.
Calls seeking comment from attorneys for Foggo, Wilkes and Michael were not immediately returned Friday.
The initial charges came 20 months after the FBI opened an investigation into Cunningham, who served on key House committees with oversight of government contracts. He pleaded guilty in November 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
Investigators quickly turned to Foggo and Wilkes, who played high-school football together in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista. After graduating in 1972, they roomed together at San Diego State University, were best men at each other's weddings, and named their sons after each other.
Foggo, a career CIA officer, rose through the ranks to become a top logistics officer based in Frankfurt, Germany, where he handled supply shipments to CIA operations in Central Europe, Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East.
Foggo was named executive director of the CIA in 2004. He resigned in May under investigation by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the CIA's inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego.
Wilkes, whose companies won $100 million in federal contracts over the last decade, funneled more than $700,000 in bribes to Cunningham, according to the indictment.