Obama Rezko Blagojevich, Rezko sentencing, Blagojevich trial, US Justice Dept
Reported on Citizen News November 5, 2010.
“Tony Rezko, longtime corruption crony of Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama, who was convicted of multiple counts of corruption in 2008, will be sentenced on January 28, 2011, prior to the Blagojevich trial.”
“Rezko has agreed to cooperate against Blagojevich but wasn’t called to testify at the former governor’s trial last summer. With Blagojevich’s retrial set to begin in April, Rezko’s sentencing months before could signal he is unlikely to be called again. Defendants usually aren’t sentencing until after their cooperation has been completed.
A sentencing date was not set today for Rezko’s co-defendants, Stuart Levine, Joseph Cari and Steven Loren, who will next return to federal court for a status hearing in March.”
William Cellini Obama Rezko Levine, et al, All searches lead back to Obama and Rezko
I was following up on news on Obama corruption cronies in Chicago and Illinois and the Blaogojevich trial saga and came across an article that was probably much unnoticed.
From John Kass of the Chicago Tribune August 13, 2010.
“Cellini, 75, a Republican boss, was once Democrat Blagojevich’s co-defendant in the corruption case known as Operation Board Games. And who says the bipartisan Illinois Combine doesn’t exist?
Cellini has been a hobby of mine for years. And although Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak has done excellent work on Cellini’s deals, Cellini has mostly flown under the media radar.
In 2008, Cellini was indicted on federal charges that he conspired with convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko and others to shake down Hollywood movie producer Thomas Rosenberg for $1.5 million in campaign cash for Blagojevich.
Since Blagojevich was arrested, Cellini’s volcano has been dormant. A trial date has not been set. If Blagojevich ends up with a hung jury and the case is retried and drags out for years, Cellini might turn 80 by the time of his trial, if ever.”
“Whether there will actually be a Cellini trial is an open question. If the Blagojevich case withers and dies, the Combine will ask its mouthpieces to call for the head of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. It’s been alleged that they already tried to get rid of Fitzgerald during the Bush administration.
Cellini made friends in all the high places. Yet federal tape recordings previously introduced in court show that he’s a guy who likes to lie low.
In a phone call recorded by the FBI on May 7, 2004, Cellini was reporting back to a fellow Republican, the since-convicted Stuart Levine. They were talking about the alleged shakedown of Rosenberg, who was threatening to go to the feds.”
From the Chicago Tribune November 16, 2008 reported on Citizen Wells April 29, 2010.
“Connections could touch every somebody”
“To fully appreciate our politics you’ve got to look at the connections. Sadly, this task is beyond the national press and some locals besotted with our renowned vintage, Combine Kool Aid.
But you readers have the mental agility to follow along.
So as U.S. District Judge James Zagel accepted the not guilty plea, Cellini stood with his defense lawyer, Dan Webb.
“I had a glass of beer last night,” Cellini told Zagel, saying he had no problem following the court proceedings. The three talked as if they knew each other well. They do.
Cellini is accused of helping shake down a Hollywood producer and politically connected Chicago investor Thomas Rosenberg for $1.5 million in campaign cash for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Cellini also is accused as a point man in a plot to remove U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald as federal prosecutor.”
“Cellini really began to pile up the cash when then-Gov. Thompson gave him a state gaming license. Webb and Zagel were young prosecutors under then-U.S. Atty. Thompson. Later, Zagel was director of the state’s Department of Revenue under Thompson. Webb ran the State Police.
Everybody knows somebody. So, no, Illinois politics isn’t a Robert Ludlum novel.
Illinois is Six Degrees of Bill Cellini.”
“The Combine wants Fitzgerald promoted out of town. But President-elect Barack Obama has promised newspaper editorial boards he would keep Fitzgerald in Chicago to fight political corruption.
That’s the same President-elect Obama with Mayor Daley’s guy Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, and another Daley guy, David Axelrod, as Obama’s chief strategist. The mayor’s brother Billy is one of Obama’s chief economic advisers. Whew!
Some political analysts become quite upset when “Daley machine” and “Obama” are mentioned in my column. They feel compelled to give me a vigorous corrective. But this same Flat Earth society denied the existence of a Combine for years, then shut up for a while when Obama’s real estate fairy Tony Rezko was convicted in the federal government’s Operation Board Games probe.”
(Note the highlighted areas) Obama’s role in rigging the Health Planning Facilities Board
Evelyn Pringle, Obama Curtain Time 2
“Obama was chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee in January 2003. A few articles in the media have mentioned that Obama sat on a committee that reviewed matters related to the Planning Board in conjunction with the Governor’s staff but none have discussed his integral part in getting the bill passed.
A review of senate records from January 2003 to August 2003, shows Obama played a major role as chairman of that committee, in pushing through Senate Bill 1332, that led to the “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, making the votes much easier to rig.
Democratic Senator Susan Garrett sponsored the bill in the senate, and the chief co-sponsor was Republican Senator Dale Righter. These two senators were also on the Human Services Committee with Obama.
The bill was filed with the senate secretary on February 20, 2003, and assigned to Human Services Committee for review on February 27. Less than a month later, as chairman, Obama sent word that the bill should be passed on March 13, 2003.
On May 31, 2003, the House and Senate passed the bill and the only senator listed in the “yes” votes mentioned in the Board Games indictments is Obama.
Blagojevich made the effective date June 27, 2003, and the co-schemers already had the people lined up to stack the Board and rig the votes with full approval from Obama.
As discussed fully in Curtain Time for Obama Part 1, the Republicans and Democrats worked together in setting up the Planning Board scheme because the Combine as a whole would profit.
(Citizen Wells Note – Cellini reference)
During the trial, Stuart Levine testified that when he sought reappointment to the Planning Board, he told Republican co-schemer, Bill Cellini, to tell the Blagojevich administration he would vote however they wanted when approving projects.
He told the jury he had the same understanding with the two prior Republican governors, Jim Edgar, and George Ryan, who is now sitting in prison due to Fitzgerald’s successful prosecution of a corruption case against him.
A June 2003 email exchange produced in the trial shows Obama was one of eight officials who received the names of the nominees for the new Board ahead of time, from the office of David Wilhelm, who headed Blagojevich’s 2002 campaign for governor.
Tony Rezko’s name does not appear in the email. In fact, his attorney made the point to the jury that the exchange was from Blagojevich’s general counsel, Susan Lichtenstein, and Wilhelm’s office, and indicated the appointees were recommended by Wilhelm and supported by those who received the memo.
The memo said, “we worked closely over the past six months” with eight officials including three state senators.
Jennifer Thomas, a former aide in Blagojevich’s patronage office, testified that she attended regular weekly meetings at Rezko’s office between the spring of 2003 and November 2004, and Rezko floated names and specifically said Levine should be reappointed to the new Board.
The Senate bill said, the “Board shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate.” But the Senate Confirmation Hearings were a joke. For instance, the Feds recorded Levine talking to co-schemer, Jon Bauman, the day Levine learned he was approved by the Senate from the executive secretary of the Board.
Levine told Bauman he ran into Jeffrey Marks, who said “congratulations on your appointment,” and Levine asked for what. Marks said, “well the Senate Confirmation Hearings on Health Facility Plan Board members.”
He told Levine Senate President, Emil Jones, only allowed 2 members to be approved and “that was you and the other person he just put in.”
“Isn’t that hysterical ’cause you know they had this big battle going on,” Levine told Bauman.
Laughing away, Levine said, “don’t you just love it.”
“I’m one of those independents and not part of the block.”
“Well, good, you know it’s good to be just a true independent civil servant,” Bauman said laughing along with Levine.
“Is, is that a good thing,” Levine replied, “I’ve never been that.”
Corrupt appointees fund Obama and Blagojevich campaigns
The corrupt new appointees were all contributors to the presidential hopeful, Blagojevich, and the US senate hopeful Obama.
The previous Act allowed the Board itself to select a “Chairman and other officers as deemed necessary.” But the new law stated: “The Governor shall designate one of the members to serve as Chairman and shall name as full-time Executive Secretary.”
The Board’s then sitting-chairman, Thomas Beck, who was originally appointed by a Republican governor, testified under a grant of immunity that he brought a $1,000 check to Rezko on July 15, 2003, to make sure Blagojevich reappointed him.
A few weeks later, Beck said, Rezko called to say he would be reappointed along with a Republican holdover Levine. Beck also testified that Rezko told him Blagojevich was set to appoint Rezko’s three doctor friends to complete the rigged voting bloc. He said he met the doctors in August 2003, at the first meeting of the new Board.
Dr Michel Malek gave Obama $10,000 a little over a month before the first meeting on June 30, 2003. He also donated $25,000 to Blagojevich three weeks later on July 25, 2003, and gave Obama another $500 in September 2003. Malek was an investor in Riverside Park.
Dr Fortunee Massuda donated $25,000 to Blagojevich on July 25, 2003, and gave a total of $2,000 to Obama on different dates. Massuda’s husband, Charles Hannon, is a co-schemer in the pension fund case and testified against Rezko in the trial.
Dr Imad Almanaseer contributed a total of $3,000 to Obama after he landed the appointment. On March 13, 2008, Almanaseer testified against Rezko and told the jury he was an investor in Rezko’s fast-food businesses.
This doctor’s son, Ahmed Almanaseer, was given a trade office intern position with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Ahmed is president of HireIraqis.com a bilingual human resources “site aimed at linking Iraqi job seekers with the companies engaged in the reconstruction [in Iraq] efforts,” according to Rezko Watch/RBO.”
IL senate race debate, Alexi Giannoulias, Mark Kirk, Giannoulias Rezko Obama
Obama is back in Chicago and Illinois stumping again for another corruption crony, Alexi Giannoulias. Obama supporting any candidate should be a politcal kiss of death. However, Alexi Giannoulias, has enough baggage of his own, enough associations with criminals like Tony Rezko and Michael Durango, to alarm concerned citizens.
From the recent debate between Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk provided by the Chicago Tribune.
“>> Phil Ponce: LET’S MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE THAT CONTINUES TO LINGER. MR. GIANNOULIAS, YOU ACKNOWLEDGED THAT YOU KNEW THE CRIMINAL BACKGROUNDS TO MEN TO
WHO YOUR FAMILY’S BANK MADE LOANS UP TO $27 MILLION, WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU KNOW ABOUT MICHAEL DURANGO AND OTHERS?
>> Alexi Giannoulias: LET ME STEP BACK AND TRY TO CLEAR THE AIR BECAUSE THROUGHOUT THIS CAMPAIGN, CONGRESSMAN KIRK AND KARL ROVE AND HIS OUTSIDE GROUPS HAVE
SAID THINGS THAT ARE WRONG, INACCURATE AND OFFENSIVE.
I’M VERY, VERY PROUD OF THE BUSINESS THAT MY FATHER STARTED 30 YEARS AGO.
AND, YOU KNOW, NO ONE NO ONE HAS EVER ACCUSED MY FATHER’S BUSINESS OF EVER DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, ELICIT OR IMPROPER.
HE CAME TO THIS COUNTRY WITH NOTHING.
HE STARTED A COMMUNITY BANK THAT HELPED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ACHIEVED THE AMERICAN DREAM.
BY
>> Phil Ponce: LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR CONDUCT, THOUGH.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: BY HELPING THEM BUY THEIR FIRST HOME.
TO CHERRY PICK A FEW INDIVIDUALS OUT OF THOUSANDS OUT OF THOUSANDS WHILE IT’S EASY TO MAKE A POLITICAL AD, RUNNING A BUSINESS IS NOT A STRAIGHT LINE.
AND MISTAKES ARE MADE, AND INEVITABLY, UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE PEOPLE YOU WISH YOU NEVER HAD DONE BUSINESS WITH, BUT THAT DOESN’T REPRESENT THE THOUSANDS OF
CUSTOMERS THAT ACHIEVE THE AMERICAN DREAM BECAUSE OF MY FATHER.
>> Phil Ponce: AND YET YOU SAID IN A 2006 ARTICLE, THAT YOU DID DISCUSS HIS CRIMINAL BACKGROUND WITH MR. DURANGO.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: NOTHING I SAID IS INCONSISTENT.
THESE ARE NOT THE KIND OF PEOPLE THAT WE WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH, THAT’S NOT MY FATHER’S LEGACY.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE WAY THAT BANKS AND COMMUNITY BANKS MAKE DECISIONS.
THEY LOOK AT THE CREDIT WORTHINESS AND WHETHER THAT INDIVIDUAL CAN PAY THEIR LOAN IN A TIMELY MANNER.
THAT’S HOW CREDIT DECISIONS ARE MADE.
IT’S ALSO IMPORTANT TO POINT OUT THAT NONE OF THE LOANS THAT WERE GIVEN HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS.
NONE OF THEM.
SO, AGAIN, IT’S IMPORTANT TO PUT THAT IN PERSPECTIVE AND I’M VERY PROUD OF MY FATHER’S COMMUNITY BANK.
>> Phil Ponce: WE ARE REALLY TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, HOW YOU PERFORMED AS A SENIOR LOAN OFFICER.
AND DID YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, THE TWO MEN WERE FACING PRISON SENTENCES AT THE TIME THE LOANS WERE MADE?
>> Alexi Giannoulias: AS I SAID, PHIL, IF WE KNEW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW, WE WOULDN’T DO BUSINESS.
>> Phil Ponce: SO YOU DON’T KNOW?
>> Alexi Giannoulias: PHIL, WHEN MAKE A CREDIT DECISION.
YOU LOOK AT THE CREDIT WORTHINESS OF THE BORROWER AND WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN PAY THAT LOAN.
AND WHEN YOU GO TO A LARGER BANK, YOU WILL FIND NOT TWO OR THREE PEOPLE BUT HUNDREDS.
THAT’S HOW THE REALITY OF BUSINESSES.
>> Phil Ponce: ARE YOU SAYING YOU GO TO A LARGER BANK LIKE CHASE, THEY DO BUSINESS WITH HUNDREDS OF CRIMINALS.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: ABSOLUTELY.
I’M SURE THEY HAVE GOTTEN LOANS FROM A LOT OF OTHER BANKS.
>> Phil Ponce: DO YOU HAVE YOUR LIST WITH YOU?
>> Mark Kirk: THIS IS A LIST OF ALL THE LOANS MADE BY BROADWAY BANK.
THE ONES IN YELLOW ARE THE ONES MADE WHEN ALEXI GIANNOULIAS WAS THE SENIOR LOAN OFFICER OF THE BROADWAY BANK.
TO INFAMOUS MOBSTERS LIKE MICHAEL “JAWS” DURANGO AND TO LEARN ABOUT THEM, YOU DON’T HAVE TO PULL THEIR RAP SHEET.
YOU CAN READ ABOUT THEM IN THE “CHICAGO TRIBUNE.”
JOE KLEIN OF “TIME” MAGAZINE SAID AFTER OUR APPEARANCE ON “MEET THE PRESS” IN ALL OF HIS YEARS IN POLITICS, HE DIDN’T SEE SOMEONE RUNNING FOR A NATIONALLY
POLITICAL OFFICE, SAYING I DIDN’T KNOW THE EXTENT OF THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OF THE PEOPLE I WAS LENDING MONEY TO.
AND, REMEMBER, THIS WAS ELECTRIC A FEDERALLY LICENSE FROM A FEDERALLY LICENSED AND FEDERALLY INSURED INSTITUTION THAT THEN COLLAPSED, TRANSFERRING A $390
MILLION BILL ON TO THE BACK OF THE FDIC.
>> Phil Ponce: YOUR RESPONSE.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: SO I’M THRILLED.
YOU KNOW WHAT THE CONGRESSMAN CONTINUES TO CARRY THIS LIST AROUND.
HE TRIES, IT’S GUILT BY ASSOCIATION ATTACKS THAT DON’T WORK.
HE TRIES TO MALIGN MY FAMILY, MY FATHER’S BUSINESS, AND HE READ THE LIST.
I BROUGHT MY LIST AND IF WE WANT TO PLAY THESE GUILT BY ASSOCIATION ATTACKS, LET’S DO IT.
HE TOOK MONEY, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FROM STUART LEVINE WHO PLED GUILTY TO CORRUPTION.
NICHOLAS HERKIN PLED GUILTY TO KICKBACK SCHEMES AND JOHN GLENON PLED GUILTY TO KICKBACK SCHEMES.
I CAN GO ON AND ON.
BUT, LOOK, THESE GUILT BY ASSOCIATION ATTACKS, PEOPLE AREN’T BUYING IT.
THEY ARE SICK OF IT.
LET’S ELEVATE THE CAMPAIGN AND TALK ABOUT IDEAS.
YOU CAN TALK ABOUT CRIMINALS WHO YOU TOOK MONEY FROM.
SO I WOULD LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THE ISSUES AND MOVE THIS CAMPAIGN FORWARD AND TALK ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES BUT ONE OF THE REASONS THAT YOU
ARE GOING TO SEE THAT CONGRESSMAN KIRK TODAY DECIDED TO GO STRAIGHT NEGATIVE THROUGHOUT THIS CAMPAIGN IS BECAUSE HE HAD AN INDEFENSIBLE RECORD IN CONGRESS.
FOR THE RECORD, I HAVE DECIDED FOR THE REST OF THE CAMPAIGN TO GO POSITIVE.
>> Phil Ponce: FOR THE REST
>> Alexi Giannoulias: AND THE CONGRESSMAN.
IT’S IRONIC THAT TODAY HE PULLED ALL OF HIS POSITIVE ADS AND HE’S GOING STRAIGHT NEGATIVE.
>> Phil Ponce: LET’S GET YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT LIST.
ARE YOU AWARE THAT THESE DONORS ACCORDING TO MR. GIANNOULIAS HAVE CRIMINAL BACKGROUNDS?
>> Mark Kirk: WELL, SO MUCH WITH ALEXI GIANNOULIAS, WHEN YOU ARE DEBATING HIM, IT’S LIKE AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY.
IT’S LIKE A PAUL HARVEY EPISODE.
WHAT HE DOESN’T SAY IS WE REFUNDED THE MONEY AS SOON AS WE KNEW ABOUT CRIMINAL PROBLEMS.
MANY OF THEM WE REFUNDED ALMOST A DECADE AGO.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: YOU REFUNDED ALL OF THESE CONTRIBUTIONS?
>> Mark Kirk: WELL, FOR EXAMPLE, STUART LEVINE AND NICHOLAS HERKINS, WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS I DIDN’T LEND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO TONY REZKO.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: YOU RECEIVED A CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION FROM TONY REZKO.
>> Mark Kirk: I DIDN’T INTERRUPT YOU.
I WOULD GIVE YOU THE RESPECT OF NOT INTERRUPTING YOU.
>> Alexi Giannoulias: YOU ALSO HAVE TO ANSWER PHIL’S QUESTION.
>> Mark Kirk: ARE YOU OKAY NOW?
CAN I TALK?
>> Alexi Giannoulias: SURE, GO AHEAD.
BE TRUTHFUL.
>> Mark Kirk: I’M GOING TO RESPECT MY OPPONENT AND LET HIM ANSWER AND THEN I WILL ANSWER.
WE REFUNDED THIS MONEY FROM, FOR EXAMPLE, STUART LEVINE AND WHEN YOU RUN BIG CAMPAIGNS, YOU WILL ACCEPT MONEY FROM A LOT OF PEOPLE BUT THEN WHEN YOU HEAR
ABOUT CRIMINAL PROBLEMS, YOU WILL REFUND IT.
WHAT I DIDN’T DO IS I DIDN’T LOAN MONEY TO TONY REZKO.
WHAT I DIDN’T DO IS RUN A BANK THAT HAD SO MANY RELATIONSHIPS WITH MOBSTERS AND FELONS.
WHAT I DIDN’T DO IS BET THE WHOLE BANK ON RISKY REAL ESTATE LOANS, A BROKERED HOT MONEY DEPOSITS.
“THE NEW YORK TIMES” ANALYSIS SHOWED LED TO THE COLLAPSE OF THIS INSTITUTION.
AND THEN A $390 MILLION BILL PAID BY THE FDIC.
BY THE WAY THAT WAS MY OPPONENT’S FIRST JOB.
HIS SECOND JOB WAS AS TREASURER FOR THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, IN WHICH HE PRESIDED OVER A STEADY COLLAPSE OF OUR STATE’S CREDIT RATING AND A LOSS OF COLLEGE
Giannoulias Rezko Obama. Another of many examples of politicians tied to corruption and crime in Chicago and IL and pay to play politics. Obama has been endorsing Giannoulias for years and both had money ties to rezko.
From Citizen Wells August 3, 2010.
““A new headache for Giannoulias? Another Rezko loan”
“By February 2006, businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko was already politically radioactive, caught up in a federal investigation that would see him criminally charged by the end of that year.
News reports had linked Rezko, a key adviser and campaign fund-raiser for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to shady deals involving state pension funds — among the crimes that ultimately would send him to prison.
This was the Tony Rezko who, looking for millions of dollars for a massive South Loop development, turned to Broadway Bank, owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias, the Democrat now running for U.S. Senate, had left his post as a senior loan officer at the Chicago bank in late 2005 to mount a successful campaign for Illinois state treasurer, though he still held an ownership stake in the bank.
Rezko’s company asked. And Broadway Bank came through.
On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.”
“Giannoulias, who touted his experience at Broadway Bank in his campaign to win election as state treasurer, has said its failure was the result of the national economic slowdown and the pullback in the real estate market, in which it invested heavily.”
“Broadway Bank made the loan even though another Rezko company, Chicago Hudson LLC, had fallen behind on a $10.9 million loan it got from the bank four years earlier. That loan — for a proposed high-rise condo building at 750 N. Hudson on the Near North Side that never got built — ended up in Bankruptcy Court. The property ended up being sold to another developer. Broadway Bank received $11.5 million from the sale, which took place July 31, 2006.
Following Rezko’s indictment in October 2006, he and his lawyers met in January 2007 with U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to discuss his assets. During that closed-door hearing, Rezko disclosed his ownership stake in Riverside District Development, the company that got the $22.75 million loan from Broadway Bank. Rezko’s lawyers said his main partner in Riverside was General Mediterranean Holding, a Luxembourg company controlled by Iraq-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.”
“According to Giannoulias and Auchi, Riverside District Development paid off the Broadway Bank loan with money it obtained from a $27 million loan from another financial institution: Mutual Bank.
Like Broadway Bank, Mutual also ended up getting shut down by federal regulators — though the loan was paid off, records show. Like Rezko, Mutual’s president, Amrish Mahajan, had been a top fund-raiser for Blagojevich.”
For those of you really paying attention, the following exerpt will ring a bell.
“Conner was employed by Mutual bank from on or about August 3, 2000 until involuntarily terminated on October 23, 2007. Conner reported to James Murphy, Senior Vice President, Internal Auditor/Risk Manager, who in turn reported to Amrish Mahajan, President & CEO of Mutual Bank.””
Blagojevich trial update, Judge James Zagel refuses to throw out conviction
From the Chicago Tribune October 27, 2010.
“A federal judge on Wednesday refused to throw out former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s lone conviction from his trial last summer.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel rejected the defense contention that prosecutors brought an overly complicated case that confused the jury and then damaged Blagojevich’s right to defend himself by limiting his lawyers at every turn.
The jury convicted Blagojevich of a single count of lying to the FBI but deadlocked on all 23 other counts. He is set to be retried on those charges April 20.
Blagojevich’s lawyers had maintained that a “plethora of errors” at trial had led to the lone conviction. Blagojevich’s “fundamental right to defend himself through cross-examination was stomped upon by obstructionist (and continuous) objections that were sustained by the court,” the defense wrote.
But Zagel’s two-page opinion concluded that the defense tactics showed it didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.”
Blagojevich trial delayed, Retrial April 2011, Chicago Tribune feedback
From the Chicago Tribune.
“A federal judge agreed Friday to delay former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s retrial until April to give his defense team — down to just two lawyers — more time to prepare.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who had tentatively planned for the retrial to begin in early January, postponed its start until April 20.
Prosecutors objected to the delay, pointing out that Blagojevich’s two remaining attorneys took part in the first trial. “The faulty premise is that they are starting from scratch,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar.
But the defense said the two will have to take on much heavier roles in the retrial.”
“Those of us who work for the Chicago Tribune speak with our readers every day. That conversation survives on our credibility and your trust. We understand the humbling truth that neither of those is assured.
Today we need to talk with you about painful developments that have threatened that credibility, that trust.
On Oct. 6, The New York Times reported that the Tribune Co. had been engulfed by “a culture run amok.””
“Much of the New York Times story was disturbing, but one passage particularly troubled us: It called into question the independence of the newsroom and this editorial board.
In June 2008, according to the story, Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell approached then-Editor Ann Marie Lipinski at a meeting, “saying that the Chicago Tribune should be harder on Gov. Rod Blagojevich. … In a news meeting later the same day, she found out that Mr. Zell was in negotiations to sell Wrigley Field to the state sports authority.” Lipinski says, “It was hard to avoid the conclusion that he was trying to use the newspaper to put pressure on Blagojevich.””
“Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008. Among the charges: that he sought to pressure Tribune Co. to fire members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Tribune editorials had been discussing the governor’s removal from office since October 2007. At the time of his arrest, the Tribune reported that negotiations on Wrigley Field had resumed shortly after the company had rejected the state’s offer.”
“Zell has denied that he sought to use the newspaper for business purposes. No one from the editorial board was present for the conversation between Zell and Lipinski. We can, however, say with certainty that Tribune Co. executives — from Zell on down — have never tried to influence this editorial board. Their approach has been completely hands-off. Completely. They have had no impact whatsoever on our Blagojevich editorials. We realize that we cannot prove a negative. All we can do is tell you the truth and ask you to believe us.”
The Chicago Tribune has done a decent and sometimes excellent job of covering Rod Blagojevich. They can be faulted, along with the rest of the mainstream media for not covering the complete Obama stories.
Blagojevich trial, Retrial hearing, October 22, 2010
The Chicago Tribune reports.
“Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to appear in federal court as the sides prepare for retrial in the corruption case against ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Friday’s status hearing comes a week after prosecutors filed a response to defense claims that multiple legal errors led to Blagojevich’s conviction for lying to the FBI.
The government countered that it was overwhelming evidence that led to the conviction in the first trial and that allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are baseless.”
“A former business partner of convicted influence-peddler Antoin “Tony” Rezko was sentenced to three years of probation Tuesday for his role in a bank fraud scheme over the sale of Rezko’s pizza restaurants.
Abdelhamid “Al” Chaib had pleaded guilty to a single count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service for his role in securing a $2.6 million loan from GE Capital Corp. to finance his bogus purchase of Rezko’s string of Papa John’s pizza franchises. The loan was in fact a scheme to obtain loan money to prop up Rezko’s businesses while Chaib would have no meaningful ownership of the pizzerias.”
Now for the rest of the story. Once again I would like to thank Evelyn Pringle for the fine work that she did early on to expose the truth about Obama. The highlighting is mine.
As you read the following, remember that it was written in mid 2008.
“Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part 4 (Mansion Deal)”
“The solution to the problems arising from the unsuccessful attempts to shut down Operation Board Games would be for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to become president and issue a bipartisan pardon to all members of the “Combine” who funded his seat in the US Senate. The scam worked when Scooter Libby took the fall for the Bush administration.”
“Rezko-Obama Real Estate Deal
When Obama started setting up the purchase of the $2 million mansion with Tony Rezko in December 2004, he did not know he would be the presidential candidate in 2008. He therefore did not think about the repercussions in a presidential campaign. The Combine’s plan was for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to be the candidate at that point. Operation Board Games put an end to that plan.
Mike McIntire and Christopher Drew tracked Rezko’s “financial maneuverings” during the year that Rezko and Obama were entering into the real estate deals through an examination of lawsuits, documents in the Board Games cases, and land records, for a report in the March 8, 2008 New York Times.
They discovered that Rezko was fighting off lenders and investors trying to collect on defaulted loans and failed ventures the whole time. “But he side-stepped that financial dragnet by arranging for the land to be bought in his wife’s name, making it the only property she owned by herself,” they report.
As a result, when the Obamas bought part of the lot in January 2006, “the money they paid was beyond the reach of Mr. Rezko’s creditors, including one conducting a court-ordered hunt for his assets to recover a $3.5 million debt,” the Times notes.
Obama claims he had no idea Rezko was broke. During his March 14, 2008 Sun-Times interview, he said: “I was shocked – as I think a lot of people in Chicago were shocked – to find out the difficult financial straits he was in because I don’t think anybody suspected that at the time.”
Obama told the Tribune on November 1, 2006, that the lot next door had to be sold separately because, “It was already a stretch to buy the house.” However, affidavits filed in the Rezko case in November 2006, show the Rezkos had no money. Rita’s only income was a $37,000-a-year job when she paid $125,000 in cash and obtained a half a million dollar mortgage at the Mutual Bank to buy the $625,000 lot.
When documents unsealed in the case revealed a $3.5 million loan made to Rezko a month before the real estate deal, the money transfer raised “the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago,” a February 26, 2008 report by James Bone and Dominic Kennedy in the Times of London noted.
Obama claims he got the money because he pulled off a marketing coup for book sales with his speech at the July, 2004 Democratic National Convention and got elected.
“Because of the attention I received during Senate campaign and the convention, my book sold well,” he told Sun-Times in an interview on March 14, 2008. “I came into a sizeable amount of money that allowed us to move,” he said.
The way Obama set up the deal, the mansion and the strip of land were placed in a Land Trust with the Northern Trust Corporation. The price of the mansion was $1.65 million, and Obama came up $330,000 to obtain a $1.32 million mortgage at Northern Trust Bank.
Cook County land records show the deed for the lot to Rita was recorded on June 20, 2005 and she conveyed the land to Northern Trust Company Land Trust #10209, on January 11, 2006. According to a web site for Marquette Bank’s Trust Services, a Land Trust provides shared ownership protection when real estate is owned by more than two people, and divorce, legal disability or the death of one can hinder the sale of the property.
With the establishment of a Land Trust, a judgment against one beneficiary cannot create a lien on real estate held in trust and ordinary legal proceedings against one will not cloud the title, according to Marquette site.
The investigation by the New York Times found that between November 2002 and January 2005, at least 12 lawsuits were filed against Rezko and his businesses, including one by the General Electric Commercial Finance Corp.
In fact, GE obtained a $3.5 million judgment in November 2004, but put off collection in the first half of 2005, while negotiating for payments with Rezko, the Times reports. The lawsuit involves loans Rezko obtained for the sale of Papa John’s pizza parlors.
Papa John’s cancelled its franchise agreement with Rezko in 2004 because he was behind in payments. Rezko then transferred the pizza chains to companies owned by “personal friend(s) and long-time business associate(s),” to operate under trade names such as Papa Tony’s and Pizzeria Zia, according to a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Papa John’s.
Papa John’s alleges Rezko controlled the chains and the associates were running “front” companies. The companies in the lawsuit include AR Pizza, Chaib Investments, Newco Pizza and LayaZia. AR Pizza, Newco Pizza and LayaZia have their principal places of business at the same location as Rezko Enterprises.
Auchi’a firm, General Mediterranean Holding, owns 50% of AR Pizza and Rezko owns 50%. Auchi’’s lawyer told the Times of London the $3.5 million loan to Rezko in May 2005 was to “assist the financial position” of AR Pizza.
His attorney told the New York Times that Rezko was supposed to use the money for his pizza business, and said, “as far as my client is aware, Mr. Rezko used the loan for its intended purpose and not for any other purpose.”
However, the Times review showed Rezko only made a $1 million payment to GE months after he received the loan. GE finally obtained a court order in October 2005 and began seizing even the smallest assets. As the Times explains:
“The company’s lawyers filed a claim against the Rezkos’ home and began issuing subpoenas to banks where Mr. Rezko had accounts, finding very little cash.
“Court records show that G.E. was due to be in court on Jan. 5, 2006, for example, obtaining an order to seize $1,297.39 from one … checking accounts.”
“Less than a week later,” the Times wrote, “Mrs. Rezko sold a 10-foot-wide strip of the empty lot to Mr. Obama, for $104,500.”
Now Obama claims he never knew the lot was in Rita Rezko’s name until he read about it in the media. During his March 14, 2008 interview, the Tribune asked him: “When Tony sold the garden lot in his wife’s name, didn’t that strike you as odd?”
“You know,” he said, “I have no idea why he did it. I don’t think he was intending to hide something, because if he was then, you know, using your wife’s name, Rita Rezko, probably wouldn’t have been the best way to do it.””
“Did he ever explain to you what he was doing?” the Tribune asked.
“No,” Obama replied, “I didn’t discover it until the issue of him purchasing this lot broke through, uh, through you.”
Next trial will focus on pizza parlor schemes
Rezko’s next trial will focus on the fraudulent financial transactions with GE and the mystery of what happened to the missing $3.5 million from the loan made to Rezko the month before the mansion deal may be resolved.
The corruption in this case involves the Illinois Finance Authority. The IFA was established, “to support the Governor of Illinois’ economic development agenda,” and “IFA approves about $3 billion in project financing each year,” according to its web site.
Co-schemer Ali Ata was appointed to lead the IFA. He made a $5,000 donation to Obama on June 30, 2003.
Talat Othman was appointed to the IFA Board, and he donated $1,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003.
David Gustman was made chairman, and his wife, Lisa, also gave Obama $1,000 on June 30.
Co-schemer Abdelhamid Chaib is the former the director of Rezko Concessions. Chaib’s wife was appointed to the Department of Employment Security Review Board. Obama received $5,000 from Chaib on June 30, 2003.
This indictment alleges that Rezko fraudulently caused GE to extend more than $10 million in loans to finance what Rezko portrayed as sales of two different groups of Papa John’’s pizza restaurants in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.
After closing on the loan for the Chicago stores, the loan became delinquent, and Rezko caused additional false financial information to be submitted to GE in asking for forebearance on the default, the indictment says. It also alleges that Rezko defrauded investors by concealing that he was transferring the company’s assets to himself and a straw purchaser.
As part of the scheme, Ata signed a letter on Finance Authority letterhead that falsely made it appear that Dr Paul Ray had applied for financing with the IFA for acquisition of the pizza restaurants. The letter stated that Ray’s financing would be recommended for approval by the IFA Board on March 15, 2004, and that the IFA would guarantee 50% of the total $16 million.
Ray contributed $3,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003. Ray also gave Obama $2,000 on October 2003, on top of a donation of $1,000 on December 31, 2002. Ray was an investor in Riverside Park.
During the Rezko trial, Ata testified that he told Rezko that IFA board members were worried over the approval of financing for the Papa John’s deal because there could be negative publicity due to Rezko’s association with the pizza businesses
But Ata said Rezko scoffed at the concerns. “He said as far as the publicity, he will get the governor’s office to approve the transaction, and as far as the board,” Ata told the jury, Rezko said, “We put them there.”
Rezko eventually called Ata and dictated the language of a letter that said IFA was guaranteeing half of the purchase price. But before the deal could go through, Ata brought the chairman, David Gustman, and the board’s financial advisers to Rezko’s office to tell him they did not believe the financing was good for IFA. Ata said Rezko seemed to agree, but he never gave back the letter Ata wrote on Ray’s behalf.
More Combine members throw in the towel
Testimony in the first trial opened the door to evidence in other Board Game cases and more Combine members threw in the towel. Ali Ata entered into a plea agreement in the GE case a week before the trial was set to end and he was the last witness to testify.
Ata pled guilty to charges that included tax fraud, and lying to the FBI in saying he received nothing in return for $50,000 in contributions to Blagojevich when according to the plea agreement, he did “receive something for those contributions, specifically employment with a state agency … with an annual salary of approximately $127,000.”
According to court filings, Ata also lied when he “intentionally concealed that he paid Rezko approximately $125,000 in cash … during 2003 and 2004 so that he could obtain a state appointment and then ensure its continuation.”
On his last day on the stand, Ata told the jury he finally agreed to cooperate with the Feds after a person delivered a threat to him. He told prosecutors he lied to the FBI because he was encouraged to be a “team player” by people acting on Rezko’’s behalf and when he received a grand jury subpoena in late 2005, people contacted him in an effort to stop him from cooperating.
Ata testified he gave Rezko the money because he wanted to keep his job. He told the jury he used to drop by Rezko’s office and would see other top officials waiting to see Rezko and in order to keep their jobs people had to follow orders and become a team player.
For instance, Ata said, he often saw Kelly King Dibble, a former Rezmar employee, who became director of the Illinois Housing Authority. But when Dibble balked at hiring a Rezko relative, Ata said, Rezko passed a message to Dibble “congratulating her on her new assignment,” and the new assignment was unemployment.
“It emphasized that you need to be a team player and follow the rules if you’re going to be a part of the administration,” Ata told the jury on May 1, 2008.
Dibble donated $250 to Obama on June 30, 2003, $250 on January 23, 2004, and $250 on April 25, 2007. She is now an attorney with the Northern Trust, Obama’s Land Trust holder. On September 30, 2007, Dribble donated $1,000 to Obama presidential campaign.
Ata testified that he and Rezko once delivered $50,000 in cash to the home of co-schemer Christopher Kelly and left it in the car while they went inside. Ata said Rezko told him, “there’s somebody from Downstate that’s coming to pick up the money.”
Ata said he delivered another $25,000 to Rezko in early 2004, because Rezko said it was needed to pay contractors to stop them from filing a lien on Blagojevich’s home.
Ata also explained that Rezko made a problem with a state lease disappear in exchange for a 25% ownership in a real estate partnership. When Rezko’s attorney pressed for details about how that worked, Ata said Rezko had gone to Michael Rumman to get the matter resolved, the head of the Department of Central Management Services.
Ata says that after he met with the Feds for the first time, he got a voice-mail from Rumman saying Rumman was traveling with “our friend,” meaning Rezko, asking Ata to delay the meeting with investigators.
The other person who pressured Ata was Orlando Jones, the godson and former chief of staff to the deceased former Cook County Board President, John Stroger. Jones was a former vice president of Rezmar development company and an investor in Riverside Park.
Prosecutors say Jones also wanted Ata to lean on another Rezko associate to get him to stop cooperating. Ata told prosecutors that Jones reassured him that Rezko was working to kill the Board Games investigation by getting the Bush administration to fire Fitzgerald. “Don’t worry, the plan is still in place,” Jones told Ata.
Jones committed suicide in September 2007, after news of a pending indictment in a pay-to-play scheme reaching all the way to Las Vegas hit the media. “The discovery of Jones’ body came just two days after FBI agents approached Jones,” FBI spokesman Frank Bochte told the Sun-Times. Jones “cordially declined” to speak with Chicago agents.
The scheme in Las Vegas involved a company called Crystal Communications, lead by Martello Pollock. On June 30, 2003, Pollock donated $1,000 to Obama.
According to the Sun-Times, Jones had been interviewed by federal authorities a while before his death about fees he received from pension fund deals approved by the Illinois Board of Investments.
Allison Davis, Rezko’s real estate partner, and Obama’s former boss at the Davis, Minor & Barnhill law firm, was appointed to serve on the Board of Investment. Davis is president of the Davis Group. On January 29, 2003, the group donated $2,000 to Obama and on June 30, 2003, it made a contribution of $6,000. Obama also received donations from the group of $2,000 on July 7, 2004, $2,000 on January 29, 2007, and $2,300 on June 30, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that another member of this pension Board, Joe Carriatore made a deal with Rezko where his brother would get a seat on the Board for a $50,000 contribution to Blagojevich. He donated $1,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003. Carriatore was an original investor with Rezko in Riverside Park.
Velma Butler was recommended for this Board, but did not get the job. She gave Obama $1,000 on June 30, 2003, and donated $25,000 to Blagojevich three weeks later on July 25, 2003. Butler was also an investor in Riverside Park.
Combine members of Middle Eastern Descent
Ata is a former president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He represents “a deeper corruption” in the Arab American community, “an aspect of the story that has not received much attention,” according to a May 2, 2008 report by Ray Hanania in the Southwest News-Herald.
Hanania points out that many in the Arab community are calling Ata a “rat.” But he’s not alone, Hanania says:
“The real rats are those who used their positions as “leaders” to rape and pillage their own community. The real rats are the so-called ““leaders” who worked to benefit themselves pretending they were doing it for the benefit of the community.”
In his report, Hanania explains how Ata and others would help organize political dinners attended by Arab Americans from the suburbs at which politicians where “honored.”
“These Arab community “leaders,” he says, “would tell the community that if they bought tickets to their “candidate’s nights,” their organization fundraisers or donated through them to local politicians, these politicians would respond by giving the Arab American community empowerment.”
“In truth,” Hanania says, “these political leaders lied.”
“They did get jobs, contracts and clout,” he notes, “but the people who benefited were not members of the community but rather the relatives, children, friends and business associates of these leaders.”
Ata has done well as a member of the Combine. In 2004, his net worth was $12 million, according to the Tribune. In one state deal, Ata and partners, Faysal Mohamed, Fuad Mohamed and Refat Zayed, “took in more than $3.2 million from taxpayers by leasing a West Side office building to the state over 10 years,” the June 6, 2005 Sun-Times notes.
Rumman is also of Middle Eastern descent. He left his $120,900-a-year job in April 2005, after “Auditor General William Holland accused CMS of wasting taxpayer money, skirting state purchasing laws and failing to document hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged savings the agency attributed to its hiring of high-priced consultants,” the March 11, 2007 Sun-Times reported.
Rumman went on to become a major investor with the Iraqi-born Auchi and Syrian-born Rezko in Riverside Park and Rumman was the point man on a now canceled $200 million power plant contract in Iraq.”
Illinois anti voter fraud campaign, Tea Party, Republicans, Chalice
“The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had
actually been destroyed. For how could you establish, even
the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside
your own memory?”…George Orwell, “1984″
From Mother Jones October 18, 2010.
“The Tea Party Will Be Watching You”
“Republican groups and tea party activists unite to block Democrats…err, voter fraud, at the polls.”
“When the Illinois Republican Party launched its anti-voter-fraud crusade this year, party leaders knew who they could count on to whip up a fervor about rigged elections. Together with a conservative political action committee, the state GOP has teamed up with a infamous anti-Obama birther who’s helped to recruit tea party activists to oversee the vote as official poll workers and independent poll watchers—part of a campaign against election fraud (real or imagined) that’s being whipped up by Republican leaders and activists across the country.
Every election season, the right revives its battle against voter fraud, depicting it as a rampant threat to honest electoral outcomes. (See the previous assault on ACORN, the beleaguered community organizing oufit.) This year, the Republicans have a tea party army on hand to fight this supposed peril. And they’ve taken their campaign a step further. Political parties and outside groups typically dispatch independent poll watchers to keep tabs on any suspicious activity. However, recruiting activists to serve as election judges and poll workers—the people who actually administer the vote at polling stations and are responsible for ensuring that election laws are enforced—is not a routine practice. But that’s what’s happening this year in Illinois, Texas, and elsewhere, with the GOP looking to tea party and conservative grassroots activists to fill key slots.”
“In Minnesota, the North Star Tea Party Patriots have teamed up with two other conservative groups to spearhead a far-reaching anti-fraud operation to recruit and train spotters at the polls, offering $500 for tips leading to voter fraud convinctions. In Illinois, meanwhile, the state GOP has joined with a political action committee called Illinois Republican Renaissance to form an “election fraud prevention task force” that aims to turn right-wing grassroots activists into official election workers and privately paid watchdogs. “As you know, ballot integrity will be a key ingredient to our success, and we need your help,” GOP state chair Pat Brady says on the party’s website. This effort has placed Brady in league with one of the tea party movement’s more unusual characters. The project’s coordinator, Sharon Meroni, is an infamous anti-Obama birther who filed objections against 32 Illinois candidates for failing to provide adequate documentation of their citizenship.
Meroni, who blogs under the pseudonym “Chalice Jackson,” also helped launch a petition demanding Obama’s resignation for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” “Who truly would have believed…that there was ANY chance America could be in the hands of a usurper government?” she wrote in another court filing to contest Obama’s citizenship, which the McHenry County Grand Jury dismissed. Meroni is now helping to select the election judges—as official poll workers are called in Illinois—and poll watchers that the joint project will dispatch on Election Day. (Campaigns have jumped on board the Illinois Republican Party’s effort as well: In a secretly recorded private conference call, GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk said he was pushing to deploy “lawyers and other people” to two predominantly black Chicago neighborhoods to oversee the voting process.)”
“Conservatives do point to a handful of isolated incidents to gin up fears about voting shenanigans. In Texas, an 81-year-old San Antonio woman has been charged with using her dead sister’s identity to vote in 2008. In the Houston area, a tea party-linked non-profit called True the Vote claims to have discovered “most likely tens of thousands, of incomplete, inaccurate, or false voter registration” in one of the city’s poorest black neighborhoods. (The progressive group facilitating the effort has acknowledged that a small number of the registrations were faulty.) In Missouri, a group of Somali immigrant voters was accused of receiving improper assistance during the primary election this year. But while election experts acknowledge that voter fraud certainly exists, some point out that only a tiny handful of fraud cases have ever been proven. And they say conservative activists risk suppressing or intimidating eligible voters by hyping the potential fraud.”
“But there are already warning signs that tea party-related anti-fraud efforts could slip into dirty tricks territory. In Wisconsin, the state Republican Party had been accused of plotting with local tea party groups to disenfranchise voters whose ballots were returned because of a wrong address—an illegal technique known as “vote-caging.” Given the polarized political climate, overzealous activists working the polls could end up overstepping the bounds, intentionally or not. Referring to the GOP and tea party efforts to recruit poll watchers and workers, Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice says, “We haven’t sent this degree of heightened activity for years. It’s just a higher risk situation for voters.””
“We haven’t sent this degree of heightened activity for years. It’s just a higher risk situation for voters.”
Wendy Weiser, et al, allow me to jog your memory.
I will not waste time on the obvious Orwellian (and probably Alinsky) style comments in this article designed to divert attention away from the intent of poll watchers, to make them appear as having more sinister motives. I will respond to the following statement made about Chalice:
“The project’s coordinator, Sharon Meroni, is an infamous anti-Obama birther who filed objections against 32 Illinois candidates for failing to provide adequate documentation of their citizenship.”
I have known Chalice for several years, spoken to her on a number of occasions and been a guest on her radio show. She consistently comes across as a concerned American, who believes in the US Constitution and rule of law, like most of you. She deeply cares about this country and has fought bravely and persistently to save it. The far left continues to smear good people like Chalice and elevate and defend the likes of Obama, a usurper and Chicago Pay to Play corrution crony.
By the way, have you seen any Tea Party members carrying a night stick lately?
Vrdolyak prison sentence, Fast Eddie sentenced to 10 months
From the Chicago Tribune.
“Former Chicago Ald. Ed Vrdolyak was long known as “Fast Eddie” for his ability to work the angles in city politics and remain clear of criminal probes. He burnished that image last year when a judge spurned prosecution calls for prison and sentenced him instead to probation for a fraud conviction.
But his day of reckoning finally came Friday when Vrdolyak, forced by an appeals court to be sentenced again, was given 10 months in prison — followed by 5 months in a work-release center and an additional 5 months in home confinement. He was also fined $250,000.”
“The legendary dealmaker had thought he had escaped prison time after U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur sentenced him to five years of probation for setting up a $1.5 million kickback on a Gold Coast real estate deal.
But prosecutors objected, and the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered that a different judge resentence Vrdolyak, calling Shadur’s punishment a “slap on the wrist” that ignored Vrdolyak’s status as one of Chicago’s most influential insiders and gave too much weight to dozens of letters attesting to his acts of generosity.
On Friday prosecutors again sought about 31/2 years for Vrdolyak. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence of 21/2 years in prison. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said the guidelines were too stiff a punishment for Vrdolyak and imposed the 10-month prison term as well as the additional work release and home confinement.
Monico said Vrdolyak will not appeal the sentence. He was ordered to report to prison Jan. 19.
Vrdolyak had pleaded guilty to steering the sale of a building owned by Rosalind Franklin University to a developer that agreed to secretly pay him a $1.5 million “finders fee.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner said prosecutors were pleased Vrdolyak will serve some time in prison.
“The rich and powerful in this city deserve to be treated the same as anyone else,” Niewoehner had told the judge. “And if somebody else was involved in a fraud for $1.5 million … they would be looking at a long time in prison.””
Hopium, Obama and pals need hopium for election, John Kass
John Kass wrote about hopium prior to the 2008 election and it was reported here.
From John Kass at the Chicago Tribune October 7, 2010.
“Obama and his pals need some scarce Hopium for the next election
As President Barack Obama returns home Thursday for some old-fashioned Chicago politics with his friends, let’s make one thing perfectly clear.
America’s Hopium farmers must increase production, because the nation’s supply is dangerously low, and the November midterm elections are only weeks away.
Even my personal Obama Chia Heads don’t produce as much Hopium as before. And this should worry the president.
Because as readers know, Hopium is the stuff that sends tingles up reporters’ legs and keeps everybody, even taxpayers, feelin’ all right.
If America has a Hopium deficit, we might have no way of altering political reality like we did a few years ago. And these days, reality bites.
There’s the rotten economic news. Unemployment keeps rising and the federal deficit keeps increasing because politicians in Washington keep spending money that we don’t have.
So in a few months, you might need half a bar of gold bullion just to buy a Happy Meal.
Then there are those federal tax hikes coming after the November elections — and don’t tell me that reversing a tax cut isn’t a tax hike. It’s a sign to employers not to hire anyone, not even their idiot brothers-in-law.
The polls say congressional Democrats expect a serious thwacking. And Obama will be blamed by the same journalists who once felt those tingles at his approach.
Here in Illinois, we’ve got Alexi Giannoulias and Rahm Emanuel seeking the president’s help so they can get elected. That way, hope can waft across the state and soothe our fears. Yes, we can.
Alexi, the famed Broadway Bank loan officer with those mob loans dragging him down, sure needs Obama to raise some big money at Thursday’s fundraiser. I’m betting on a staged man-hug for TV, with a couple of shoulder slaps. But open mikes can be treacherous, so they probably won’t be whispering, “Dude, how’s Tony?”
Remember Tony Rezko? He’s Obama’s personal real estate fairy and loyal customer of the Giannoulias family’s now-failed Broadway Bank. Rezko is also the convicted influence peddler who might testify in the retrial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
So fill a bowl of Hopium and tell me the story of how we had all transcended the broken politics of the past.”
Citizen WElls 