Foggo, 53, admitted that he conspired to defraud the government through his relationship with Brent R. Wilkes, a California businessman and close friend. Prosecutors said Wilkes took Foggo and his family on a $30,000 Hawaiian vacation and courted the CIA official with expensive meals throughout the Washington area, including at Ristorante La Perla in the District, the Capital Grille in Tysons Corner and the Serbian Crown restaurant in Great Falls. Wilkes also offered Foggo a job.
In return, court documents say, Foggo helped Wilkes get lucrative contracts, including one in which the CIA paid 60 percent more than it should have for water a Wilkes-affiliated company supplied to CIA outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Foggo, a longtime logistics officer, was the CIA's executive director from November 2004 until May 2006, holding the agency's third-ranking position and one in which he oversaw the CIA's daily operations and budget. The position, which has since been eliminated, was sometimes referred to as "Mayor of the CIA." Foggo was accused of using his seniority and influence at a prior CIA job in Europe to help Wilkes. It is one of the first cases that has involved the CIA's clandestine operations in Europe and the Middle East.
Although Foggo, a Vienna resident, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, prosecutors agreed to dismiss 27 other counts against him and to recommend a sentence of no more than 37 months in prison. Judge James C. Cacheris, after accepting Foggo's plea, took the unusual step of telling Foggo that his attorneys "have done a good job for you in this case." Under federal law, Foggo could receive a prison term of as much as 20 years when he is sentenced Jan. 8.