Rep.'s guilty plea start of spiraling scandal

The case has many wondering where it will go next.
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The political scandal that brought down former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham didn't end when the Vietnam War hero began serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes.
Since Cunningham, R-San Diego, was sentenced in March, the case has turned into a sprawling federal investigation with all the soap opera elements -- money, power and sex. One of Washington, D.C.'s most notorious landmarks -- the Watergate Hotel -- even has a place in it.
The case has many wondering where it will go next after a dizzying week in which the name of Rep. Jerry Lewis, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, surfaced in the probe and the home of the outgoing executive director of the CIA was searched.
Finding the link
The link in all these strands isn't Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. It's San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes, described in Cunningham's plea agreement as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Prosecutors allege Wilkes paid Cunningham, a former member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, more than $626,000 in bribes between 2000 and 2004 to win government contracts for his companies. But it's Wilkes' links to other lawmakers, lobbyists and government officials that has dramatically expanded the case.
"It's all about Wilkes paying people to get contracts," said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor in Washington and executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Wilkes' attorneys have said he has done nothing illegal. His lawyers, Nancy Luque and Michael Lipman, did not return a phone message left seeking comment.
On Friday, FBI agents descended on the Virginia home and office of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the No. 3 CIA official who oversaw the spy agency's day-to-day operations. The search warrants were obtained by the federal prosecutors in San Diego who took down Cunningham, assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Halpern said.
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