A federal judge says it is time to forgive Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the most corrupt member of Congress ever if measured by the amount of bribes he admitted accepting.
U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns has granted Cunningham’s request to have his post-prison supervision ended early, writing a final legal chapter on the sordid tale of the flamboyant ace fighter pilot who went to Congress as a hero in 1991 and left in 2005 as a disgraced felon.
The California Republican spent more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty in November 2005 to charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud. Cunningham, who was 64 when he was sentenced in March 2006, had used his positions on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees to steer lucrative contracts to those who would help him finance an extravagant lifestyle featuring 19th-century French antiques, yachts, Persian rugs, hunting trips, a Rolls Royce, and a $2.55 million home in an exclusive community in San Diego County.
It all unraveled in 2005 when The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote about the corruption, triggering a federal probe that found, among many other things, that Cunningham had drawn up a “bribe menu” on congressional notepaper, outlining what bribes he would need to deliver a contract or earmark.
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