Just got back from court. For the Cunningham junkies: The judge shot down Brent Wilkes’ request to have his secret admirer bail him out of prison.

For the rest of you: Wilkes, a former defense contractor, was sentenced in February to 12 years for bribing former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham with hookers, cash, and meals at DC’s Capital Grille. But Wilkes has been eating daily specials at Terminal Island FCI in San Pedro for weeks because he can’t come up with $1.4 million in collateral to secure release.

Some unnamed person was willing to bail Wilkes out, but only if he or she can shield their identity from the public. The judge, Larry Burns, said no. Either you step up and say “I’m with Brent the consequences be damned” or Wilkes stays in the clink. Larry stressed that he’s not trying to make Brent’s life hell, even though he did call him a lying sack of shit who’s an “economic danger” to the community. Whatever that means.

The reporters there asked me if I knew who this person is. I have no idea.

Wilkes’ attorney did offer a clue. He talked about how a person at a “publicly-traded company” might have obligations that go beyond him or herself. Such a person has “fiduciary” duties. Here’s the legal definition of a fiduciary duty:

A fiduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interest of another party. For instance, a corporation’s board member has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders, a trustee has a fiduciary duty to the trust’s beneficiaries, and an attorney has a fiduciary duty to a client….

A person acting in a fiduciary capacity is held to a high standard of honesty and full disclosure in regard to the client and must not obtain a personal benefit at the expense of the client.

Any ideas out there?