Indicted CIA spook Kyle "Dusty" Foggo wants to get away for a little while, to travel with his wife and two kids on a five-week vacation to Austria this summer.

Unfortunately for the former CIA executive director, he has a couple dozen felony charges against him that remain unresolved, accusing him of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements.

So when Foggo asked U.S. District Judge James Cacheris of Virginia to give him back his passport and let him leave the country, the judge last week flat-out rejected him.

Not that Foggo's attorneys didn't try to make the case:

"Mr. Foggo has served the U.S. government with distinction for 23 years in the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") and prior to his indictment had no criminal record."

(They added in a footnote, however, that "the details of nearly all aspects of Mr. Foggo's distinguished service to this country are classified, including honors and awards received.")

Prosecutors in the case opposed Foggo's request, noting the risk that the former spy could simply not return to stand trial in the U.S. He's currently out of jail on a $200,000 bond.

"There is no family emergency that necessitates his travel. ... Foggo acknowledges that the European vacation he wishes to take is strictly elective."

They also said the request seemed pricey, considering Foggo had claimed he was too poor to stand trial in the initial venue on the West Coast.

A five-week European vacation for Foggo and his entire family - especially given current foreign exchange rates - also seems inconsistent with Foggo's prior argument in favor of transferring this case from the Southern District of California, where Foggo maintained that he was too impoverished to try this (three-week) case.

A lot has changed since Foggo used to allegedly get free trips to Scotland and Hawaii, compliments of Brent Wilkes, the friend and contractor who got multimillion-dollar Iraq-related contracts with Foogo's help.

Good news for Brent Wilkes! Well, sort of. On Tuesday, he's due to be sentenced for bribing Duke Cunningham, where he could face up to 60 years in prison.

But Wilkes was also on the hook for bribing his old buddy Dusty Foggo, then the executive director of the CIA. But no more. Prosecutors, apparently figuring that Wilkes has gotten his due, are dropping him from that case (though they say they could re-indict later) and have agreed to move the case to Virginia, as Foggo's lawyers had requested. From The San Diego Union-Tribune:

For the past several months, Foggo's Washington, D.C.-based lawyers have asked [Judge Larry] Burns to transfer the case out of California. They said it made sense because 90 percent of the actions alleged in the complaint took place in that area and not in Southern California, and virtually all the witnesses and documents are based there.

While Burns agreed the case should be moved, both prosecutors and Wilkes balked. But on Feb. 1, Wilkes dropped his objections to the move.

The government followed suit Thursday. In a brief court filing they said that “the government has recently uncovered evidence to support additional charges” against Foggo.

And if you need some refreshing on the Foggo case, see here ("I am now, have been in the past, and will continue to as long as I breath [sic] - be your partner... so what do you want me to do?"), here, and here.

Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and Brent Wilkes head to federal court today where they will likely plead not guilty to new conspiracy and money laundering charges.

Indictments against the pair came Friday that expand the charges filed against them in February.

In addition to the old charges, in the new indictment, Foggo, former executive director of the CIA, is accused of slipping his lifelong friend, Wilkes, a $132 million federal contract to “provide commercial cover for CIA air operations.”

You can see the portion of Foggo’s indictment describing the scam here.

The indictment says Wilkes was patently unqualified to handle the task, seeing that he had no prior air-support experience.

How, then, did Wilkes get such a contract?

According to the indictment, Foggo had been funneling Wilkes classified government documents, despite Wilkes’ lack of security authorization, that seemed to prepare him for the pitch.

In exchange for Foggo’s cooperation, Wilkes took his pal on vacation to exotic locations like Hawaii and Scotland, offered Foggo rides in a private jet and treated him to fancy dinners at such restaurants as the Capital Grille (which recently won Consumer Reports’ award for the best hamburger in America). Judging by the $344.78 bill rang up by Foggo, he probably ordered something else.

Behold! The new and improved Grand Ole Docket, featuring a Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham investigation scorecard. Let it serve as your cheat sheet as the guilty pleas and convictions continue to pile up.

Here's the story told by Mark Geragos, Brent Wilkes' lawyer: then-U.S. Attorney for San Diego Carol Lam was so determined to bring an indictment against Wilkes before she was forced from office in February that she leaked details of the case to reporters to force the Justice Department's hand.

You can read the motion to dismiss that he filed in the case yesterday here. Geragos argues that the leaks prejudiced members of the grand jury investigating Wilkes, and that the case should be thrown out.

Wilkes, remember, is one of the defense contractors who allegedly bribed Duke Cunnigham. Lam's office filed two indictments two days before she left office, indicting Wilkes for his dealings with Cunningham and for his dealings with Dusty Foggo, formerly the executive director of the CIA.

Last month, Geragos claimed in court that Lam was "meeting resistance from bosses in the Justice Department, who had rejected drafts of indictments against Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, saying they needed revisions." It wasn't clear what Geragos' source for those claims were, and he didn't expand on them in his filing yesterday. Though, as TPM has reported, those bosses did drag their feet on the Cunningham investigation, delaying the approval of indictments for sometimes months.

There's no doubt that leaks did occur. Geragos quotes one of the prosecutors as saying that the leaks were "embarrassing... reprehensible and inexcusable." Whether those leaks were part of "a deliberate campaign by the former United States Attorney, Carol Lam, to use Mr. Wilkes and the other defendants here in her political squabble with the Justice Department’s main office in Washington D.C." and "a gesture of defiance by Carol Lam as she was forced out of office," as Geragos argues, is another matter.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 14.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune:

Prosecutors in the corruption case against Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo asked a judge yesterday to limit dissemination of intelligence secrets that, if made public at trial, could damage national security...

Prosecutors noted that they were concerned about “the specter of gray mail,” a defendant's practice of trying to derail his prosecution by threatening to disclose classified information in court.

To keep that from happening, Congress enacted the Classified Information Procedures Act in 1980. Under CIPA, the two sides argue before a judge in secret on whether the information is needed for a full defense. If a judge, in this case U.S. District Judge Larry Burns, decides that the defendant is entitled to the information, the government has to decide whether to risk disclosure and proceed, or drop the prosecution....

In the Foggo case, after a joint request by the prosecution and defense, Burns appointed court security officers as custodians of classified information.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune:

When Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes heard that the United States was going to go to war with Iraq, he was ecstatic, say several former colleagues.

“He and some of his top executives were really gung-ho about the war,” said a former employee of his now-defunct firm ADCS Inc. “Brent said this would create new opportunities for the company. He was really excited about doing business in the Middle East.”

One can only imagine that Wilkes let fly a "boom shaka-laka," maybe even a "yeah, baby!"

Dusty Foggo, while he was a contracting officer at the CIA, helped his best friend Brent Wilkes land multimillion dollar contracts with the agency, and in return....?

Well, Foggo had a job waiting for him at Wilkes' headquarters. But that wasn't all.

Here's our preliminary accounting of all the goodies Brent Wilkes threw Dusty Foggo's way, while he was a contracting officer at the CIA, all culled from the indictment:

August 3, 2003 - Wilkes paid for Foggo and family to join Wilkes and family on a vacation to Scotland - $12,000 in private jets, $4,000 in helicopter ride to a round of golf at Carnoustie, $44,000 for a stay at Pitcastle estate, which included trout fishing on hill lochs, salmon fishing on the River Tay, clay-pigeon shooting, archery, and a seven-person staff

December 27, 2003 - Foggo joined Wilkes on a vacation to the "Sullivan Estates" in Haleiwa, Hawaii, for which Wilkes paid approximately $32,000

January 28, 2004 - Wilkes treated Foggo to a dinner at the Capital Grille, for which Wilkes paid $1,195.96, of which Foggo's pro-rata share was approximately $398.65

November 20, 2004 - Wilkes treated Foggo to a meal at the Serbian crown restaurant, for which Wilkes paid $773.65, of which Foggo's pro rate share was approximately $257,88

November 20,2004 - Wilkes gave Foggo an Ellie Bleu cigar humidor, which Wilkes Subordinate X had purchased for $2,307.38 at Wilkes' direction

November 21, 2004 - Wilkes treated Foggo to a meal at the Capital Grille in Tyson's Corner, Virginia, for which Wilkes paid $712.15, of which Foggo's pro rata share was approximately $237.38

November 22, 2004 - Wilkes treated Foggo to a meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Fairfax, Virginia, for which Wilkes paid $902.33, of which Foggo's pro rata share was approximately $225.58

Boy, I bet the prosecutors' eyes just lit up when they saw this email.

It's from Dusty Foggo to a person called Wilkes Subordinate X in the indictment (he matches the description of Brent Wilkes' nephew Joel Combs). At the time, Foggo was helping Wilkes, through his nephew, land a subcontract for procurement services for the CIA. He sent the email just after Wilkes had hosted Foggo at a Hawaiian resort -- and can barely contain his giddiness at their scheme to land a contract for Wilkes' front company, the name of which Foggo apparently didn't even know.

From the indictment:

On or about January 7, 2004, immediately after his Hawaiian vacation with Wilkes, Foggo sent Wilkes Subordinate X an email with a subject line of "Re: Aloha," stating: "Had a great time - no diving, but still fun. I would like the 'President' or 'CEO' of '[entity]' to come visit. Brent told me that was you (smile), so lets [sic] get to it. I'll need to brief you a bit on how we need to play this, but that needs to be face to face, before you meet my people."

Twenty days later, the indictment notes, Foggo met with Wilkes, Wilkes' nephew, and the CIA contractor through which Wilkes was getting the subcontract at CIA headquarters.

Wow. Indictments can sometimes make for boring affairs, but this one is just popping with details.

The underlying allegation is that Foggo, while he was perched atop a key contracting position at the CIA, made repeated efforts to throw his best friend Brent Wilkes business. In return, Wilkes paid for swanky vacations to Scotland and other locales, dinners, and other perks, and kept open a post at his company for when Foggo retired. And the two concealed the whole thing from Foggo's CIA associates and ethics officials by using shell companies and flat out lying about their relationship.

The indictment is chock full of emails and other details that reveal the nature of Wilkes and Foggo's relationship. A selection:

As has been reported before, Wilkes "reserved an office for Foggo near Wilkes's own office in the executive suite" of his headquarters, "an offer which remained open and under consideration by Foggo," according to the indictment.

Accordingly, in December, 2003, Wilkes "introduced Foggo to a group of employees as a future executive in Wilkes' companies."

In September, 2004, Foggo wrote Wilkes after a CIA contractor had raised concerns about doing business with Wilkes: "I am now, have been in the past, and will continue to as long as I breath [sic] - be your partner... so what do you want me to do?"

And finally, In March, 2005, Foggo revealed to a bank loan officer that he already had a road map for cashing out. He wrote: "I plan to retire in circa 3 years... I have a big offer from a company in California...."

More details soon....

Indictments came down today from the U.S. Attorney for San Diego for Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes on counts of conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering.

We'll have a copy of the indictment up for you in a moment.

Update: The AP reports:

The CIA’s former No. 3 official and a defense contractor were charged Tuesday with fraud and other offenses in the corruption investigation that sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison.

The indictment named Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, executive director of the CIA until he resigned in May, and his close friend, San Diego defense contractor Brent Wilkes, both 52, according to two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.

In a separate indictment, Wilkes was charged with conspiring to bribe Cunningham in return for government contracts. A man who was described as a co-conspirator in Cunningham’s 2005 plea agreement, John T. Michael, was also charged.

Update: Here's the indictment.

At 12:15 PM Pacific time, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam will hold a press conference on a "criminal matter," according to a press release.

She's expected to announce the indictment of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the former #3 at the CIA, and Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor accused of bribing Duke Cunningham and the prime benefactor of the secret CIA contracts that have landed his best buddy Foggo in trouble.

But there's some added drama in that Lam will holding the presser, since she is one of the seven federal prosecutors forced out by the administration in December. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that she'd ordered her staff to have Wilkes and Foggo indicted before her last day -- this Thursday.

Following up on ABC's earlier report, CNN is now also reporting that an indictment is coming for Dusty Foggo today -- though (unlike ABC) they're curiously mum on the fate of Brent Wilkes, who's expected to be indicted along with him.

With Brent Wilkes speeding towards indictment, the AP churns up more details about his close friend Dusty Foggo, the former Executive Director of the CIA, helped him land a multimillion deal in Iraq.

The contract, previously reported to be worth between $2 million and $3 million, was a no-bid, unneeded deal to distribute water in Iraq. In other words, it was right up Wilkes' alley, since he specialized in selling unneeded and drastically overpriced equipment and services to the government via acquaintances like the now-incarcerated Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA).

The problem for Dusty Foggo, who left his senior post at the CIA shortly before federal agents raided his house, is that CIA officials, according to the AP, are saying that the recommendation to hire Wilkes' company -- which was headed by his young nephew and had existed for only a few months -- came from Foggo. The AP reported last week that prosecutors are planning to file honest services fraud and conspiracy charges against Foggo and Wilkes.

Of course, Foggo's lawyer has earlier said that he had no idea that the company had any connection to his best friend. Prosecutors must be pretty confident about how that story would play in front of a jury -- especially since Foggo reportedly told his poker buddies that "he may have tipped off Wilkes that CIA contracts were coming up for bid."

This is big:

Federal prosecutors are preparing to seek indictments against a former top CIA official and a San Diego defense contractor linked to the bribery scandal that sent former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison, two government officials familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

The officials, who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret and the charges have not been finalized, said prosecutors plan to ask a San Diego grand jury to return charges of honest services fraud and conspiracy against Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and Brent Wilkes....

Honest services fraud is a combination of mail and wire fraud often used in public corruption cases involving officials who have engaged in a pattern of improper activities, such as accepting gifts, trips or promises of future employment from private individuals.

The officials said a second indictment is being prepared that would charge Wilkes and two other alleged Cunningham co-conspirators - New York businessman Thomas Kontogiannis and his nephew, John T. Michael - with bribery and several conspiracy counts.

The indictments are likely to be returned within the next few weeks, the officials said.

For a refresher on why prosecutors are going after Foggo, see our reference entry on him here. More here.

The CIA is refusing to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating the Duke Cunningham scandal, the Wall Street Journal's Scott Paltrow reports today.

Before getting caught in 2005, Cunningham was involved in a sprawling corruption ring between Congress and the national security community. The scandal allegedly enjoyed the participation of current and former CIA officials, including Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the executive director of the agency. Foggo would be the highest-ranking CIA official to be prosecuted in the agency's history, according to Paltrow.

Prosecutors had expected to indict Foggo several months ago, but the Agency's refusal to declassify important documents has hampered their efforts, Paltrow reports.

Of course, prosecutors haven't received much help from Congress with their investigation, either. Last month they were forced to serve subpoenas to several powerful committees in an effort to force them to turn over documents.

Foggo's indictment -- and possible plea bargain -- would be a notable triumph for the Feds. For many months the case has stagnated, and observers have wondered if the investigation was hopelessly compromised. Nailing Foggo would also be important for prosecutors, as it would give them leverage to go after alleged Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes. Wilkes, who ran a government contracting business, was close with Foggo and is said to have worked closely with him. Despite being identified by Cunningham as a major briber, Wilkes has refused to plead guilty or cooperate with prosecutors.

Ten months into his sentence, ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) is getting some new digs:

Imprisoned former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham will soon have a new address ---- a work camp just outside Tucson, Ariz.

The camp is 410 miles from San Diego, a six-hour drive that will allow the former Republican lawmaker's friends and family members to more easily visit him as he serves an eight-year sentence for taking more than $2.4 million in bribes.

Meanwhile, the investigation presses on, as prosecutors continue to examine whether the defense contractors who bribed Cunningham had similar success with others:

Federal prosecutors in San Diego have subpoenaed documents from three House committees as part of an investigation into special-interest earmarks in spending bills.

The demand ratchets up an investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego into contracts awarded by the Defense Department and other agencies. The probe stems from the bribery case against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe), who pleaded guilty and resigned in 2005.

The scope of the investigation is unclear, although the request for documents is considered unusually broad....

The subpoenas went to the armed services, appropriations and intelligence committees, whose Republican chairmen reported the subpoenas to outgoing House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in letters dated two weeks ago....

The subpoenas are an escalation of a nine-month tug-of-war between the Justice Department and House Republicans. Prosecutors had asked the committees to turn over the information voluntarily.

A number of readers have sent in tips to help the folks at Powerline, who recently admitted to having trouble remembering administration officials (beyond Scooter Libby) who had been accused of corruption or resigned in the face of scandal.

How could you foresake us! cry our old pals Claude Allen, David Safavian, Brian Doyle. Who could forget former FDA commissioner, Lester Crawford? After the jump, you'll find our partial (but fast-growing) list. If we're missing a name, please send it along!

Read more »

The top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a summary of the panel's probe into how Duke Cunningham used the panel's staff and resources to forward his corrupt ways.

You can read the summary here.

The probe, ordered last December, found what looks like new dirt on former CIA #3 Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who's been drawn into the Cunningham investigation. But the report concluded that the panel itself was clear of wrongdoing in Cunningham's case.

Indeed, one of Duke's main bribers, Mitchell Wade, even tried to cozy up to staffers, but he kind of weirded them out, according to the five-page executive summary released by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the panel's ranking member.

The report identified three troubling activities, and recommended they be referred to the Justice Department or national security agencies for further investigation:

Read more »

Vanity Fair's lengthy takeout on the Duke Cunningham scandal reminded me of why I find it so engrossing: the details.

And what colorful details the magazine serves up: There's Duke on the phone, just days before pleading guilty, desperately cajoling his antiques dealer to hide some of his furniture so the feds won't find it. And there's former top CIA official Dusty Foggo, flashing his agency credentials to the strip club bouncer, before taking a seat in front of the stage and talking about his sexual preferences all night.

And there's admitted Duke briber Mitchell Wade, strolling through his office. "Where's your Rolls-Royce?" an aide asks him Oh, Wade answers breezily, Cunningham's got it today, it's parked in the congressional parking lot.

Read more »

Vanity Fair weighs in on the slow-emerging D.C. saga: Duke Cunningham was a bad father, Brent Wilkes got congressmen laid in Honduras, Dusty Foggo is a dirty, dirty man, and Mitchell Wade is an evil genius.

Yesterday we learned that the president of Shirlington Limousine denied a request from the House Homeland Security Committee to appear because he's given testimony before a grand jury.

That means prosecutors are pushing for the third set of charges in the Cunningham investigation (the Duke and his coconspirator Mitchell Wade pled guilty). But who do they have in mind?

Well, the lawyer for Shirlington President Christopher Baker told The Washington Post that the grand jury, before which Baker has already testified, is based in San Diego.

San Diego has been the hub for most of the Duke Cunningham investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office there headed up the case, and that's where Duke pled guilty. And since Brent Wilkes, one of Duke's two main coconspirators, was based out of San Diego, that same office has been the one pursuing the case against him. Mitchell Wade, the other major player in Duke's case, was based in D.C. and pled guilty in February to the U.S. Attorney's Office there.

Wilkes is, in every respect, the San Diego office's unfinished business. Unlike Wade, he's held out. Now, Wade, who's been cooperating closely with investigators for almost a year now, was the source of most of the facts against Duke. Investigators have no doubt been spending their time pumping Wade for information on Wilkes and his misdeeds -- Wade, for instance, was the one who originally told them about Wilkes' parties.

So Brent Wilkes has the most to fear. And remember that Wilkes is a big fish - who was close to Tom DeLay, DeLay bagman and superlobbyist Ed Buckham, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), lobbyist Bill Lowery, and yes, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (more on that later).

But don't forget about Dusty Foggo, the former #3 at the CIA, who attended Wilkes' poker parties and allegedly gave Wilkes an inside line on CIA contracts. When Foggo's house and office were raided a month ago, the FBI and CIA were working alongside prosecutors from the San Diego office.

So the Feds may bust former CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo for hoarding Cuban cigars, CNN tells us.

I'm hardly an apologist for Foggo. But while we savor the irony of a hardened anti-Communist puffing on a Cohiba, we should recall that Cuban cigars, like dopey nicknames, are an occupational weakness for CIA executive directors. His predecessor, A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, was said to have kept a walk-in safe stocked with them. And we never heard about G-men busting through his place.

Late Update: An earlier version of this post linked to an LA Times story from today reporting the FBI's seizure of Cuban cigars at Foggo's home. In fact, CNN broke the story yesterday evening.