Cunningham financier admits role in guilty plea

June 15, 2007
Cunningham financier admits role in guilty plea

A New York financier has admitted playing a key role in the scandal that brought down former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, according to a guilty plea unsealed this week.

Thomas Kontogiannis said he helped finance the purchase of Cunningham's $2.5 million house in Rancho Santa Fe, in a deal that evolved from two military contractors' alleged plans to bribe the congressman.

The home purchase – and the sale of Cunningham's previous home in Del Mar – was at the center of a scandal that resulted in a prison sentence of more than eight years for the former legislator.