Former CIA Executive Director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo Pleads Guilty to Defrauding the United States

Alexandria, Va. – Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Executive Director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo pled guilty this morning to count one of an indictment charging that he defrauded the United States and its citizens of their right to his honest services, Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney for the Southern District of California and Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

Foggo, who last served as the Executive Director of the CIA, the third-highest ranking position in the agency, devised a scheme to obtain money and to defraud the United States and its citizens out of their right to his loyal, faithful, disinterested and unbiased service. Foggo admitted that he executed the scheme by abusing his supervisory positions with the CIA in order to cause the CIA to hire companies and individuals with whom he had concealed his personal relationships.

Throughout the years-long scheme, Foggo had a standing offer for a high-level, high-paying position with his best friend Brent Wilkes (who is currently serving a 12-year sentence imposed following his conviction in the Southern District of California for bribing former Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham). Foggo admitted that he allowed Wilkes to conceal their close relationship by adopting false cover stories regarding their relationship and using “straw men” and shell companies to conceal Wilkes’s interest in CIA contracts. As described in the indictment, Foggo caused the CIA to enter into these lucrative contracts without disclosing his interests.

Foggo and Wilkes were originally indicted together in the Southern District of California in February 2007. In February 2008, following Wilkes’s sentencing in the Cunningham bribery case, the government elected to proceed against Foggo alone in the Eastern District of Virginia. United States District Judge James C. Cacheris, who has presided over the case since the transfer, had set a Nov. 3, 2008 trial date for Mr. Foggo.

Foggo’s plea exposes him to a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in custody, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 8, 2009, before Judge Cacheris in Alexandria, Va. The case was prosecuted on behalf of the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Valerie H. Chu, Jason A. Forge, and Phillip L. B. Halpern, who are all based in the Southern District of California and were designated Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia.