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Alleged Cunningham Briber's Office Hits the Auction Block
Times are bad for Brent Wilkes, one of the two defense contractors ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) fingered for bribery in his plea deal.
According to a notice in a local paper in Poway, California, his mortgage company is putting his 99,000 square-foot corporate headquarters on the chopping block to collect unpaid debt. If Wilkes doesn't pay up, the property will be sold February 1st.
Wilkes was once a millionaire -- based on his success convincing Cunningham and other lawmakers to obtain federal funds for his many companies. But his business dried up after Cunningham pled guilty. He reportedly owes hundreds of thousands in property taxes, though somehow, he's found the money to pay a big-time criminal defense lawyer.
So, anybody in the market for a corporate palace (shown at right, during happier times)? If nothing else, it's a building with history. Ah, the fundraisers. Ah, the raids.
Ed. Note: Thanks to TPMm Reader CC for the tip.
Comments (21)
Anonymous wrote on January 18, 2007 5:14 PM:I am so reassured to know that the headquarters of a corporation that used to (still does?) handle classified government information is up for sale.
I'm sure the Administration is doing everything in its power to control the situation.
Brooklynite wrote on January 18, 2007 5:27 PM:Does this call for a "Boo-yah!"?
Sully18 wrote on January 18, 2007 6:07 PM:Maybe he will join Kenny Boy in the "Emergency Heart Attack and Die Club," so his family can keep all his ill-gotten dineros and meet up with him once the heat is off.
Node of Evil wrote on January 18, 2007 6:43 PM:That particular part of California is a hotbed for political money -- I was just looking up Mr. D'Sousa's neighborhood and the list of donors and donations is miles long. I'm curious, does anyone have a handy map that shows which areas of the country donate the most to political parties? It'd be cool to see it broken down by zipcode. If no one else has something like that, maybe I'll put it together myself. It'd be eye-opening to see where all the money really comes from, and how that's changed over the last six years.
nofltwlt wrote on January 18, 2007 6:57 PM:Make sure that when he is locked up, that he is locked up with the general population. None of these racketeers would chance going to a real prison.
Talk about instant ethics reform.
Node of Evil wrote on January 18, 2007 8:03 PM:A bit off-topic, but I went ahead and did some analysis of the FEC's donor data. Here's the top 5 zip codes for political donations (for 2006)*:
1.) 10021 (New York, NY) -- $18,622,994
2.) 06831 (Greenwich, CT) -- $11,314,921
3.) 20854 (Potomac, MD) -- $9,677,513
4.) 10022 (New York, NY) -- $9,649,042
5.) 20005 (Washington, DC) -- $9,099,504
The total in the database is $1,577,560,467. It'd be interesting to get a partisan breakdown of that number, as well as the zip code numbers. The number 6 zip code is no zip code (not sure what's up with that...). The total for the top 100 is $342,739,446. The total for the top 1000 is $874,722,255. Anyways, a couple of the zip codes in the top 50 are, I believe, in Duke's former district (92067, 92037).
* -- the FEC database only includes donations over $200
klyde wrote on January 18, 2007 9:19 PM:didn't ali Torquemada gonzalez fire the AUSA who was pursuing this guy?
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on January 19, 2007 11:11 AM:In March 2002, Wilkes registered WBR Equities, LLC as an investment consulting company. I've never read anything about WBR Equities and wonder exactly who it consulted with.
Jason wrote on January 19, 2007 12:33 PM:Auction? That's odd... previous news said the Poway Unified School District was going to acquire it as a new district headquarters. There's been no story about that falling through. Suggestions that the title may not be clear, but that can be worked out.
clar@hotmail.com wrote on April 26, 2007 2:23 PM:penis pimples
jennifire@gmail.com wrote on April 30, 2007 2:53 PM:hello
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rice@gmail.com wrote on May 7, 2007 4:42 AM:hello
acyclovir wrote on May 13, 2007 3:39 PM:Good work!
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Brian Rollins wrote on May 21, 2007 7:49 AM:The judge who put coded messages in his Da Vinci Code plagiarism trial ruling has written another...
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