Homes of Calif. Lawmaker, Defense Contractor Raided: “Federal agents investigating the relationship between Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and a defense contractor searched the congressman’s California home and the contractor’s home and yacht, the U.S. Attorney’s office said on Saturday.

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Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, declined comment on whether any materials were seized in Friday’s raids, saying that the search warrants were under seal.

The Internal Revenue Service, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI have joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in the investigation of Cunningham and Mitchell Wade, who until recently was chief executive of MZM, a Washington-based government contractor that provides highly classified intelligence work for the Pentagon.

The investigation began after news reports that Wade had purchased Cunningham’s home in Del Mar, California, in late 2003 for more than $1.6 million and then sold it months later at a loss of $700,000. Cunningham also was living rent-free on Wade’s boat at the Capital Yacht Club on the Potomac River.” (New York Times )