Depreciating Bribes
Much has been written about former Congressman Randall ‘Duke’ Cunningham’s nefarious bribery activities, so I won’t write about it here. But a small half column article in the WSJ caught my eye.
The Treasury Department is auctioning off this man’s ill-gotten gains, namely some antique home furnishings which a defense contractor purchased for $12,000.00 and had delivered to Cunningham’s house. Presumably Cunningham asked for these items so that he didn’t have a paper trail of cash deposits to be tracked through the the bank. It seems that this stuff isn’t worth the money that was paid for it, or that they can’t command top dollar for it at auction.
From the article:
[Victor Weiner, an independent appraiser from NYC] says, Mr. Cunningham’s items aren’t that impressive…”I would have taken the cash.”
Post a Comment