Ex-CIA Official Pleads Guilty in Virginia
The CIA's former top administrator pleaded guilty today to steering agency contracts to a defense contractor and concealing their relationship, making Kyle "Dusty" Foggo the highest-ranking member of a federal intelligence or law enforcement agency to be convicted of a crime, officials said.
Foggo admitted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that he conspired to defraud the United States in his relationship with Brent R. Wilkes, a California businessman. Prosecutors say Wilkes subsidized meals and vacations for Foggo and his family, and that Foggo helped Wilkes get lucrative contracts, including one in which the CIA was bilked when it paid 60 percent more than it should have for water supplied by a Wilkes-affiliated company to CIA outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Foggo, a longtime logistics officer, was the CIA's executive director from November 2004 until May 2006, holding the agency's third-ranking position and one in which he directed daily CIA operations. He was accused of using his seniority and influence at a prior CIA job in Europe to help Wilkes, a longtime friend. It's one of the first cases that has involved the CIA's clandestine operations in Europe and the Middle East.
Although Foggo, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud conspiracy, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the 27 other counts against him and to recommend a sentence of no more than 37 months in prison. U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris, after accepting Foggo's plea, took the unusual step of telling Foggo that his lawyers "have done a good job for you in this case." Under federal law, Foggo could receive a prison term as high as 20 years when he is sentenced Jan. 8.
The WSJ Law Blog mentioned the case and Foggo's defense attorney, Mark MacDougall from Akin Gump, in its Lawyer of the Day series. According to the WSJ, after accepting Foggo’s plea, Judge Cacheris reportedly told Foggo that his lawyers “have done a good job for you in this case.”
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