Category Archives: Judges

Obama corruption buddies, Ghosts of Christmas past, Rezko Levine Blagojevich Frawley Mahru Cellini

“I’m assuming the information is about the payments made by Rezko to Obama, so we know we’re talking about the right conversation, right?” …Attorney Daniel Konicek, Frawley Deposition

“Why was Obama in constant contact with Tony Rezko in 2004 when Rezko was conspiring with William Cellini to use TRS, Teacher Retirement Fund, assets for political gain and personal enrichment?”…Citizen Wells

“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“I believe I’m more pristine on Rezko than him.”…Rod Blagojevich

Obama and the US Justice Department must believe that they have done a masterful job of protecting Obama while aggressively prosecuting his corruption buddies. But the ghosts of Christmast past keep appearing.

Tony Rezko and Stuart Levine are awaiting sentencing. Rod Blagojevich will certainly appeal his convictions. William Cellini is awaiting trial in October 2011. And Daniel Frawley mentioned Rezko and Obama and $ 1.5 million dollars as well as Rezko’s old partner Daniel Mahru in a deposition December 1, 2010.

From Citizen Wells July 14, 2011.

“UPDATE: After this story was published Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman canceled Daniel T. Frawley’s sentencing hearing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. Court records did not indicate why Guzman did this. Frawley’s sentencing had not been re-scheduled.
Daniel T. Frawley once teamed with Tony Rezko — the political fixer who’s now in jail — in what turned out to be a doomed effort to open a training school for Iraqi security forces in western Illinois. Now, Frawley faces a federal prison stretch of his own.”

“Still, federal prosecutors are seeking a reduced sentence for Frawley — of a year and a half in prison, rather than the 35 years he could face — apparently because Frawley has been secretly cooperating since at least 2006 in their investigation of Rezko, who was found guilty in June 2008 of having used his clout with the Blagojevich administration to enrich himself and his business associates.”

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Here are some interesting exerpts from the Daniel Frawley Deposition.

Attorneys Franklin & Schutte represent Frawley, plaintiff.

Attorney Konicek represents George Weaver, defendant.

Frawley: “George told me that he had a meeting at his office on LaSalle Street with Dan Mahru, with some people from First Bank–I didn’t know how many at the time–and himself. And George instructed me not to attend.”

Konicek: “So who said it to you, and where was it said to you?”

Frawley: “Dan Mahru told me that First Bank was agreeable to a settlement.”

Konicek: “In March 13, 2006, you had a conversation with Mr. Weaver where you say he instructed me not to cooperate.”

Frawley: “Yes, I had a conversation with Mr. Weaver where he instructed me not to cooperate.”
Frawley: “I was on the phone, making a phone call to Tony Rezko. I had a luncheon engagement with him.”

“George was outside of the room where I was making the telephone call, and the purpose of the call was for me to keep my luncheon engagement with Tony Rezko and to go over and to record Tony Rezko.”

“George saw and heard me on the phone, came running in and went like this [demonstrating]: Cut it,”

Franklin: “For the record, the deponent is crossing his hands across his throat.”

Konicek: “And Tony Rezko was where when you were speaking to him?”

Frawley: “He was on the other end of the phone. I don’t recall where he was.”
Konicek: “I’m assuming the information is about the payments made by Rezko to Obama, so we know we’re talking about the right conversation, right?”

Konicek: “Am I correct it was about Obama being paid by Rezko?”

Frawley: “I’m not answering that question, based upon my attorney’s instructions.”

Konicek: “But on March 13, 2006, you’ve already indentified for me being at 219 South Dearborn. You’re talking to Tony rezko on the phone, and Mr. Weaver makes this gesture to you, right?”

Frawley: “Mr. Weaver made the gesture and told me to get off the phone, to end the phone call.”
Konicek: “Okay. And then where were you instructed not to cooperate?”

Frawley: “In the same building, at 219 South Dearborn….in a different room.”
Konicek: “Did you bring to Mr. Weaver in Hinsdale a statement showing payment to Tony Rezko in the amount of $ 1.5 million?”
Konicek: “Are you going to answer?”

Frawley: “No.”

Konicek: “Are you asserting your Fifth Amendment privilege?”

Frawley: “Yes.”

Konicek: “And in the phone call where Mr. Weaver said he wanted to contact Channel 7, was that about the $ 1.5 million from Rezko?”

Frawley: “I don’t know.”

Konicek: “Who, is the question, are the clients that you’re referring to in this paragraph 21?”

Frawley: “If the question is who were the clients that George was representing, the answer to that question is Tony Rezko and himself.”

Konicek: “Give me locations.”

Frawley: “George was my attorney. Georges offices were her in Chicago. And George was being paid by me, and George was supposed to be representing my interests. And George was representing his own and Tony Rezko’s.”

Konicek: “Did you have a meeting in Hinsdale with Mr. Weaver where the subject of disclosing  Rezko’s payment of $ 1.5 million –”

Franklin: “Objection. Fifth Amendment.”

Konicek: “Did you have contact with Mr. Rezko after your arrest in Cook County?”

Franklin: “Objection. Goes to Fifth Amendment.”

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Daniel Mahru, Rezko’s old slum building partner, mentioned above, apparently has been available for questioning.

Reported at the Chicago SunTimes and saved by Free Republic February 24, 2008.
“Indicted developer Tony Rezko is claiming his former business partner, Dan Mahru, became a federal informant and turned on him to avoid being arrested for his own legal problems.
In court documents filed in federal court late Friday, Rezko’s attorney says Mahru began cooperating with federal authorities in December 2005 –10 months before Rezko was indicted — after being confronted by government agents.”

Read more:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975402/posts

More on Mahru, Rezko and other Obama corruption buddies.

From Boston.com June 27, 2008.

“Grim proving ground for Obama’s housing policy

The candidate endorsed subsidies for private entrepreneurs to build low-income units. But, while he garnered support from developers, many projects in his former district have fallen into disrepair.
The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who can’t afford to live anywhere else.

But it’s not safe to live here.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale – a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.”

“One of the largest recipients of the subsidies was Rezmar Corp., founded in 1989 by Tony Rezko, who ran a company that sold snacks at city beaches, and Daniel Mahru, who ran a company that sold ice to Rezko. Neither man had development experience.

Over the next nine years, Rezmar used more than $87 million in government grants, loans, and tax credits to renovate about 1,000 apartments in 30 Chicago buildings. Companies run by the partners also managed many of the buildings, collecting government rent subsidies.

Rezmar collected millions in development fees but fell behind on mortgage payments almost immediately. On its first project, the city government agreed to reduce the company’s monthly payments from almost $3,000 to less than $500.

By the time Obama entered the state Senate in 1997, the buildings were beginning to deteriorate. In January 1997, the city sued Rezmar for failing to provide adequate heat in a South Side building in the middle of an unusually cold winter. It was one of more than two dozen housing-complaint suits filed by the city against Rezmar for violations at its properties.

People who lived in some of the Rezmar buildings say trash was not picked up and maintenance problems were ignored. Roofs leaked, windows whistled, insects moved in.

“In the winter I can feel the cold air coming through the walls and the sockets,” said Anthony Frizzell, 57, who has lived for almost two decades in a Rezmar building on South Greenwood Avenue. “They didn’t insulate it or nothing.”

Sharee Jones, who lives in another former Rezko building one block away, said her apartment was rat-infested for years.”

Read more:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/27/grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy/?page=full