....drip....drip....drip...drip

The Associated Press is reporting that Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham had another loan from Coastal Capital Corporation during the timeframe in which he became the Congress' most active wheeler dealer in both real estate and yacht sales.

Cunningham bought an Arlington, Va., condominium in 2002 for $350,000 and financed $200,000 of that with New York based Coastal Capital.

Coastal Capital is run by the nephew and daughter of Thomas T. Kontogiannis, a Long Island developer who pleaded guilty in October 2002 in a bid-rigging, bribe and kickback scheme involving New York City school computer contracts worth millions of dollars.

This financial deal apparently went down during the same timeframe in which Kontogiannis was buying Cunningham's yacht, the Kelly C, for three times its market value. A purchase that left Cunningham with over $400,000 in profit, but a purchase that was recorded as having been for only one dollar.

Kontogiannis is a real piece of work. His multi-million dollar bid rigging scheme defrauded New York public schools of millions of dollars. He and Cunningham apparently got together when Kontogiannis was shopping around for someone to help him obtain a Presidential pardon for his New York conviction. Kontogiannis certainly provided Cunningham with excellent financial incentives in their dealing: $400,000 - apparently tax free; a $200,000 home loan for a Washington condo; and two mortgage loans totalling $1.1M for Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home.

It's nice to have friends who are nice to you.