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[Posted on Mon, Mar 6 2006]
Former Congressman SentencedEx-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced to 8 years and four month in prison for conspiring to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and tax evasion. The SDRCFL supported this investigation along with a team from the San Diego FBI, Internal Revenue Service, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
On July 1, 2005, the investigative team executed a search of former Cunningham’s estate in San Diego. As part of the joint investigation, the SDRCFL provided extensive assistance with the collection, preservation and examination of computers obtained from Cunningham’s residence, as well as defense contractor MZM’s corporate headquarters in Washington D.C. The SDRCFL processed nearly 9 terabytes of digital evidence for this case – just one terabyte is equivalent to 250 million pages of printed text.
As an influential member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, Cunningham was suspected of using his position to ensure that MZM received numerous federal contracts worth millions of dollars. Moreover, in July 2005, the Department of Justice announced that the FBI opened an inquiry into the Congressman’s 2003 sale of his Del Mar house to the owner of MZM, Mitchell Wade, who later sold it at a $700,000 loss. In documents filed on August 25, 2005, prosecutors said that Cunningham sold the house in return for his influence in Congress. Wade’s defense contracting firm, MZM, received $65 million in federal funds in 2004.
On November 29, 2005, Congressman Cunningham pled guilty to conspiring to commit Bribery, Honest Services Fraud, and Tax Evasion. Later that same day, Congressman Cunningham announced his resignation and openly admitted to accepting over $2.4 million dollars in bribes from defense contractors in exchange for government contracts. Daniel Dzwilewski, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's San Diego Field Office, said "Corruption involving public officials undermines the people’ trust and confidence in government. It cannot, and will not, be tolerated. Public Corruption is the number one priority of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division."
[San Diego RCFL web site ]