SAN DIEGO -- A former consultant for an ex-Poway defense contractor accused of bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham testified Friday that he conspired with the contractor to pressure Pentagon officials to award them lucrative contracts.

Brent Wilkes, 53, is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery of a public official, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions.

Former Wilkes consultant Mitchell Wade, who last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and other charges, testified that pressure from Cunningham on the Defense Department meant "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for his Washington, D.C.-area consulting business and millions of dollars in defense contracts for Wilkes' company, ADCS Inc.

Wade also told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Forge that he was testifying in hopes of getting a reduced sentence, and much of his testimony concerned his own illegal activities.

Wilkes' attorney, Mark Geragos, told the jury in his opening statement that Wade was responsible for 90 percent of the bribery scandal involving Cunningham.

Much of what Wilkes was doing in Washington, D.C., was "business as usual," Geragos said.

Federal prosecutors said Wilkes bribed Cunningham with expensive meals, trips, prostitutes and falsified loan and boat payments to land $85 million in defenses contracts from 1997 to 2004.

Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes and was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison. He is also expected to testify at Wilkes' trial.

Wade testified that he personally bribed Cunningham to secure defense contracts.

When asked why he continued to wine and dine Cunningham, he said, "To solicit his favor in support of our funding."

He said he thought Cunningham had below-average intelligence and that he and Wilkes had to send Cunningham "talking points" so he would know what to say to Pentagon officials when seeking funds for a particular project.

"We had to spell out for Duke exactly what he had to say," Wade testified.

He said he and Wilkes dreaded going to dinner with Cunningham because they would have to listen to the "same jokes and the same stories."

The witness said in 2001, he started cultivating his own relations with Cunningham in hopes of starting his own contracting firm to compete with Wilkes.

Wade said Cunningham asked for $50,000 and he gave it to him, but made the check out to Coastal Capital Corp. so nobody would suspect it came from him.

He said he bought a $140,000 boat for Cunningham, called the "Duke Stir," and registered it in his name.

Wade said he hid the fact that he bought Cunningham's home in Del Mar for an inflated price of $1.675 million and then sold it months later for $600,000-$700,000 less than what he originally paid for it.

Wade said he engaged in the home-buying scheme because Cunningham wanted extra cash to purchase a $2.6 million home in Rancho Santa Fe.

New York-based mortgage broker John Michael is charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly attempting to influence and impede a grand jury investigation. He's accused of providing false and misleading testimony regarding Wilkes' role in paying off the $500,000 second mortgage on Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe mansion.

In a separate indictment, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the former No. 3 man at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Wilkes are charged with conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions.

Foggo allegedly used his seniority within the CIA to influence the awarding of contracts to Wilkes.

Michael is expected to stand trial later, as are Wilkes and Foggo on the separate charges.

If convicted in the current case, Wilkes could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.