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Tommy K: I'll Die In Prison
Admitted Duke Cunningham briber Thomas Kontogiannis is extremely good at avoiding jail time, mostly thanks to his penchant for snitching on his partners in crime at just the right moment. This time -- after snitching on his nephew, financier John Michael -- his cold, cold heart is helping him avoid lockup in a different manner.
In advance of a sentencing hearing slated for next week, Tommy K's lawyers have filed papers contending that he's far too sick to do any serious time. He faces a maximum of ten years in prison, but his heart just isn't in it. The North County Times:
The businessman, in his pledge to cooperate with the government, has also admitted to as much as $100 million in mortgage fraud unrelated to the Cunningham case, according to the newly filed court documents.But Kontogiannis -- who has been charged with bribery three times in the last 14 years -- has a grave heart condition, his attorneys argued in the documents. They asked the court to postpone the sentencing so their client can have bypass surgery.
"Absent immediate cardiac surgery, he may only survive a matter of months," defense attorney Colin Murray wrote in a motion filed Tuesday.The defense filing indicates that the 59-year-old Kontogiannis suffers from Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and heart disease.
When Kontogiannis does finally face the judge for his punishment, the businessman is asking that his "dire prognosis" erase prison time as a sentencing option, Murray wrote.
According to Murray, doctors have given Tommy only five to seven years to live, even if he has the surgery. How sentimental is Judge Larry Burns? We'll find out on Monday.
Comments (16)
Johann wrote on November 29, 2007 10:45 AM:Let's hope the judge does Kontogiannis a favor and puts him in prison so the taxpayers get to pay for his surgeries. He can also do his recouperation in prison. That time should even be applied to his sentence.
WiJO wrote on November 29, 2007 11:00 AM:If he was concerned that he would die in prison, he should have not committed crimes perverting our government in the first place. There's a reasonably sure way to avoid prison: don't commit crimes.
It's very difficult for me to get up any empathy for these goons. If a someone who has a public defender would serve time, heart problem or not, then this guy should go.
dqueue wrote on November 29, 2007 11:05 AM:"The defense filing indicates that the 59-year-old Kontogiannis suffers from Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and heart disease."
Oh, poor, poor Tommy. It sounds like he ate his way into oblivion. I wonder if he denies responsibility for his ailing health. Cry me a river; there are plenty of gravely ill people incarcerated in the federal system.
Is his $100-million in mortgage fraud any part of the subprime mortgage crisis we're beginning to experience?
apishapa wrote on November 29, 2007 11:19 AM:I regulate irrigation and commercial wells. When I was first hired, I had to deal with an old lady who had a kennel. Her permit did not allow her to use her well for outside use. It was a tiny volume and I kind of tried to ignore her for a while. Every time I tried to get her into compliance with the Rules, her lawyer would call me up and tell me how old she was and how she wouldn't be around for much longer, couldn't I just kind of let her go, etc. Finally after about two years of this my boss asked me "What about #####? Why isn't she on you list on noncompliers?" I replied "Well, her lawyer keeps promising me she's going to die, but I guess if she isn't going to she has to comply."
The next Monday my office door had a sign that said "Water Nazi. Die or Comply." Can't win. I'll bet old Kontogiannis will stick around for a while.
chrisc wrote on November 29, 2007 11:46 AM:So was the sick sick sick Tommy K vacationing in a 5 -star resort in Greece this summer for his health?
Tommy K's lawyer says his $100 mortgage fraud can't be used against him because he told the prosecutors about it BEFORE his plea agreement.
Roberta wrote on November 29, 2007 3:07 PM:Well, that is strange. Didn't John T. Michael blab about the mortgage deals just a couple of months ago? And didn't he file court documents about his uncle's mortgage fraud? And then didn't the judge say that the prosecutors didn't know about the mortgage fraud (and identity theft). So how could the prosecutors not know about it if Tommy K had admitted it to them way back before Feb?
Gee, if I were Tommy, I'd be worrying more that someone I snitched on would arrange to have me whacked.
Maybe the judge can explain karma to him--while he denies the request.
JW wrote on November 29, 2007 3:08 PM:Johnny Law should leave him alone. Picking on a guy with a heart condition is disgraceful.
Can't we all just get along?
nofltwlt wrote on November 29, 2007 3:30 PM:I believe there was a judge known as Kennesaw Mountain Landis. He gave a man a long sentence. To which, the man said that he could not serve that much time because he was ill and would die first. The judge said to that man, "just do as much as you can".
Kontogiannis should just do his best to serve his sentence.
Ben wrote on November 29, 2007 6:19 PM:Ben .. please give me a call- the situation has worsened.. thanks
DeAnna wrote on November 29, 2007 8:13 PM:I say let him have the surgery. One of my neighbors just had a quadruple bypass and was walking 5 miles a day within a month, and he has the same health issues, but is a little older. He could be sitting at the defendants table within 2 weeks.
Dee Illuminati wrote on November 29, 2007 8:32 PM:Tommy K's just bargaining.. I mean you think this a real trial when all the press has to show of this guy is a picture that he tossed at them like a worn out business card from a wallet that went through the wash to often.
To get the picture of Tommy K you have to look at what your given.
And by the looks of what the media has.. Tommy K's smiling.
Joe Oin west islip wrote on November 29, 2007 9:29 PM:I can just hear the conversation in TK's lawyers office. 'This is what we are going to do. you tell those malakas at the government that I have a bad heart.Someon get me a diet coke and a bucket of chicken. My doctor will say anything i tell him to I have mortgage fraud money to pay him off with. where is my fried chicken."
L.W.P. wrote on November 30, 2007 7:27 AM:Hey T.K. still here, you haven't seen anything yet REMEMBER 1/12/07 it's coming.
At last wrote on November 30, 2007 10:26 AM:When is the garage sale? Remember your words are comming back to bite you.
At last wrote on November 30, 2007 10:26 AM:When is the garage sale? Remember your words are comming back to bite you.
modmom wrote on November 30, 2007 11:41 AM:Can we expect another "Ken Lay" incident over the next holiday, followed by a quick cremation?