I was apparently one of the few who noticed the news last week that Tommy K, Duke Cunningham’s mysterious briber, has continued to engage in apparent mortgage fraud since the time he signed his plea deal in February. From one of the government’s recent filings,
(4) During the pre-trial proceedings of coconspirators Brent Wilkes and John Michael, the government first received information suggesting that defendant Kontogiannis was, in fact, still committing federal criminal offenses, including, but not limited to bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.
(5) As part of these proceedings, defense counsel for John Michael obtained various financial documents indicating that Mr. Kontogiannis was–unbenknownst to the government–still continuing his illegal mortgage fraud scheme. In addition, Michael’s defense counsel contacted Washington Mutual to obtain information regarding the fraudulent mortgages that they had purchased from Mr. Kontogiannis.
[snip]
…as a direct result of being contracted by Michael’s defense counsel, Washington Mutual contacted the government with information regarding Mr. Kontogiannis’s continued illegal activity.
(8) Within the past two weeks, we obtained clearer indications that Mr. Kontogiannis was engaged in post-plea illegal activity.
As if that’s not enough, Tommy K has apparently been selling fraudulent mortgages right into the giant shitpile of bad mortgage debt. Well (via chrisc), it appears that the government has finally figured out that Tommy K isn’t about to go straight, and they’ve taken him into custody in the hospital where he’s recovering from heart surgery.
A federal judge has revoked bail for a key figure in the corruption case against former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham after learning he traveled to Greece and appeared to commit additional crimes.
The judge postponed sentencing for New York financier Thomas Kontogiannis after learning the defendant had bypass surgery last week at a New York hospital, where he is recovering. He will remain in federal custody at the hospital. [my emphasis]
No word yet on whether they’re actually going to punish him for violating his plea agreement–that might mean they have to stop sending Tommy K on luxury trips to Greece in the name of cooperation with some other mysterious investigation.