Washington – A federal investigation into one congressman’s bribe-taking last year has spawned a second round of inquiries and investigations into actions of officials at the CIA and the Homeland Security Department and of members of the House Intelligence Committee, government officials said.
These new inquiries reach beyond Randy Cunningham, the former Republican House member who was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.
They suggest a growing suspicion among some lawmakers that corrupt practices may have influenced decision-making in Congress and at executive agencies.
Last month, The San Diego Union-Tribune and The Wall Street Journal reported that federal investigators were looking into whether the defense contractors involved in Cunningham’s bribery had also arranged limousines, poker parties and prostitutes for him at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels here.
Law enforcement officials have confirmed these reports, and a manager at the Watergate has said the hotel was subpoenaed by federal officials seeking documents related to the poker parties.
The investigation has led to further official inquiries into who arranged and attended the poker parties and their connections to the defense contractors who played roles in Cunningham’s bribery.
The inspector general of the CIA, according to the agency, is conducting an inquiry into Kyle Foggo, the agency’s executive director, who said last week that he had attended some poker parties over the years.
Foggo, the CIA’s third-ranking official, is a longtime friend of Brent Wilkes, one of the defense contractors whose role is described in the indictment against Cunningham. Wilkes has not been charged.
In court filings, prosecutors referred to business deals Wilkes made with Mitchell Wade, a defense contractor who pleaded guilty in February to providing more than $1 million in bribes to Cunningham, who has admitted receiving money from both men.
A CIA spokesman said Saturday that Foggo has said he did not violate agency rules in the awarding of contracts and that the poker games were nothing more than a gathering of friends.