Alleged Briber: You Got Me All Wrong

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You really can’t blame Brent Wilkes. After all, it can be such a drag getting a refund.

During his second day of cross-examination yesterday, Wilkes testified that he hadn’t sought to reclaim $100,000 he’d paid Duke Cunningham — the money was supposedly to buy Duke’s yacht, but the congressman kept both the cash and the boat –, because it was, well, awkward. He needed Duke’s help up there on the Hill, and he didn’t want to needlessly upset his crucial friend. Best to let sleeping dogs lie. And when the prosecutor asked Wilkes if he’d ever asked any of his lawyers or accountants to get involved, Wilkes testified: “The consensus advice was that it was better not to pursue it.” I bet it was.

But there was even more awkwardness ahead for Wilkes. When Cunningham asked him to wire $525,000 to a New York firm (run by Thomas Kontagiannis), Wilkes jumped at the chance. But not simply because Duke asked him to — because he was told it was a great investment opportunity: 9% return short-term! Did he ask for an investment prospectus? Assessments? Any information at all? Nope, he received adequate assurances about the investment over the phone.

But the money disappeared (well, it actually went towards paying off Cunningham’s mortgage). Did Wilkes seek to recoup the money? “Wilkes said he tried to get the money returned but was unsuccessful, and did not know where the money went.” Well, you win some, you lose some.

During the cross, prosecutors endeavored to show that Wilkes had made all these investment blunders (not to mention the long, long list of gifts) while he was seeking help from Cunningham on government contracts (which he delivered).

It sounds like a pretty persuasive case. But Seth Hettena, author of Feasting on The Spoils, came away none too impressed with the prosecutors’ performance, saying that they seem to have been caught off guard when Wilkes’ lawyer Mark Geragos called his client to the stand. And Wilkes apparently did a fine job charming the jury.

Closing statements wrap up today and then the case is off to the jury. Geragos made the best pitch he could:

A very animated Mark Geragos told jurors that the only lies they have heard were ones the government had been telling them, based on the testimony of admitted felons like Mitch Wade. The prosecutors had been misleading them. They didn’t want to hear the truth, namely that Washington isn’t a “pristine place.” Wilkes had struggled for years to succeed in government contracting and for a reward, he got indicted, paid $2 million bail and have the government say in essence we’re going to crush you. And why had jurors never heard from Cunningham? The reason, according to Geragos, was Duke was never, ever going to say that what Wilkes was doing wasn’t good for the country.

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