Mitchell Wade
In 1993, Mitchell Wade founded MZM, Inc., a homeland security and counterintelligence company that has received federal contracts for work in Iraq.
Wade resigned from his position as president of MZM, Inc. in June of 2005, when reports emerged that Wade had bribed Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. He has since pled guilty to conspiring to bribe Cunningham, among other crimes.
See Wade's Grand Ole Docket entry for ongoing court dates, and follow Wade's involvement with the Cunningham scandal at TPMmuckraker.
Key Points:
Wade pled guilty to conspiracy, tax evasion, corrupting Defense officials, and election fraud.
On Feb. 24, 2006, Wade pled guilty to conspiring to funnel more than $1 million to Rep. Cunningham.
He also pled guilty to corrupting Defense officials. For instance, while Robert Fromm was a program manager at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center, Wade hired his son at MZM. Fromm used his position to help MZM obtain contracts, and then eventually moved over to MZM himself.
Wade also used his employees and their spouses to make "straw" contributions to Reps. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and Katharine Harris (R-FL), identified as Representatives A & B in his guilty plea, respectively. The employees and spouses were reimbursed for the money they gave, which is illegal. Goode received $46,000 in illegal contributions, and Harris received $32,000.
Wade used several means to bribe Cunningham personally.
Wade bought Cunningham's house in Del Mar, California, for $700,000 more than its market price.
During time spent in Washington, D.C., Cunningham lived aboard a yacht called the "Duke-Stir," which was owned by Wade. Meanwhile, Wade was paying for repairs to Cunningham's own yacht, the "Kelly C."
According to Cunningham's guilty plea, Wade also picked up the bill for Cunningham's various other luxuries including a Rolls Royce, antique furniture, oriental rugs, and his daughter's graduation party.
Cunningham used his position on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to steer federal security contracts to MZM, Inc.
From 2002 to 2005, MZM, Inc. received $163 million in federal contracts, and Cunningham has said that he supported "funding requests benefiting MZM."
In 2004, MZM, Inc. received 56 defense intelligence contracts totaling $68,645,909. Most of the contracts were given through "blanket purchase agreements," meaning there was no competition from other companies.
Before starting MZM, Inc., Wade worked for Brent Wilkes, who is identified as "Coconspirator #1" in Cunningham's plea agreement.
As recently as 2000, Wade listed himself as an employee on political donations of Brent Wilkes' ADCS, Inc.
The two continued worked together, contracts sometimes going through MZM to Wilkes' company.
Wade's company contributed heavily to Rep. Virgil Goode's campaign.
In 2004, MZM was the largest contributor to Rep. Virgil Goode's campaign, giving a total $48,551 including employee donations.
Goode sponsored the $3.6 million Foreign Supplier Assessment Center in his Virginia district, which MZM, Inc. was hired to run. He requested a total of $9 million in earmarked appropriations for MZM.
The center was not a Pentagon priority nor was it requested by the Defense Department.
Wade demanded that his employees at MZM, Inc. donate to the company PAC that benefited Cunningham
Wade threatened to fire employees of MZM if they refused to make contributions to the company's PAC, which benefited Cunningham and other members of Congress.
Rep. Katherine Harris' top contribution in 2004 was the illegal funds from MZM, Inc.
Rep. Katherine Harris (R-CA), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, received $10,000 from MZM, Inc. and $32,000 from MZM employees, most of them written on the same day. She later attempted to get MZM a $10 million for a U.S Naval Criminal Investigative Services project, but failed to procure the funding.
Harris claimed that she was not aware that the contributions were illegal. However, Wade has said that he and Harris spoke over dinner about getting funding for MZM, Inc. for the Naval counterintelligence program. [AP]
Research by Joshua Hudelson and Amram Migdal
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