Fog of war

The sentencing of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who loomed large in the bribery scandal that brought down GOP congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, has been delayed until January 29 of next year while Foggo’s lawyers fight to keep the government from releasing secret grand jury testimony detailing his crimes. Foggo, who served as executive director, or third-ranking official, of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2004 to 2006, pleaded guilty on September 29 to a count of wire fraud and admitted he’d steered CIA contracts to Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes and a front company, Archer Logistics. Wilkes was convicted last year of bribing Cunningham. In his plea agreement, Foggo admitted that Wilkes, a longtime friend, showered him with lavish gifts, meals, and trips.

But when the government asked the court to unseal grand jury testimony containing secret evidence used in the case, Foggo’s lawyers objected. “The government can cite no case in which the public’s ‘right to know’ entitled the prosecution to disclose hand-picked portions of grand jury transcripts, much less classified ones,” they argued in a motion filed December 2. In a December 5 reply, prosecutors said, “Foggo distinguished himself by becoming the highest ranking member in the history of the CIA to be convicted of a federal crime: a multiple-year scheme to deprive the public of his honest services. Now, Foggo wants to deprive both this Court and the public of the details of his scheme.”

The motion says that the government will seek a 37-month prison sentence for Foggo. To make their case, prosecutors say they need to reveal “information from individuals who were co-participants in Foggo’s scheme, joined in or knew about Foggo’s and Wilkes’ vacations and meals together, heard Foggo discuss his future professional plans once he left the CIA, suffered pressure to hire E.R. [the initials of Foggo’s mistress], and were manipulated to select Archer to provide the water and procurement contracts.” A ruling on the matter by federal judge James C. Cacheris in Alexandria, Virginia, is pending.