By Alex Knott, CQ Staff

A former defense contractor who pleaded guilty to bribing former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham has been ordered to pay a $1 million fine to the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance violations.

Mitchell Wade, the former president of MZM Inc., agreed to pay the fine — the second largest in FEC history — after the commission ruled that he engaged in an employee reimbursement scheme that funneled $78,000 in corporate contributions to Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. , R-Va., and former Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla. (2003-07).

Goode and Harris have denied any wrongdoing, and the commission found “no evidence” that either of them “knew that the contributions were illegal.”

The FEC investigation found that MZM used corporate funds to reimburse its employees and their spouses for contributions to Goode and Harris made between 2003 and 2005. Federal election law prohibits the use of corporate money in federal campaigns and reimbursements for individual contributions.

In 2006, Wade pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Cunningham, R-Calif. (1991-2005), by making more than $1 million in payoffs to him in exchange for help in securing contracts.