Category Archives: Judges

Stuart Levine sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, Rezko Blagojevich Obama crony, Levine involved in massive corruption and drug use, Levine activity leads to Obama

Posted on July 20, 2012 | 64 comments

Stuart Levine sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, Rezko Blagojevich Obama crony, Levine involved in massive corruption and drug use, Levine activity leads to Obama

“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

“Thomas said Rezko floated the names of several people to sit on the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which the government claims Rezko corrupted with the help of board member Stuart Levine. And Thomas said Rezko at one point made it clear that he wanted to see Levine reappointed to the panel, which was being overhauled by the governor in 2003.”…Rezko trial March 11, 2008

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“At Rod Blagojevich’s December sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar called Levine one of the most significant cooperators the Dirksen Federal Courthouse had ever seen.”…Natasha Korecki, Chicago SunTimes

From the Chicago Tribune July 20, 2012.

“Stuart Levine stood before a federal judge Thursday in an ill-fitting suit eight years after FBI agents knocked on his door with news that they had undercover recordings and other evidence of his massive criminal scheming with top Illinois officials.

His day of reckoning had finally come. Swinging in the balance was the chance for a significantly reduced 51/2-year prison sentence that his attorney and prosecutors had agreed on after his extensive cooperation helped unravel the corrupt Blagojevich administration.

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve was left to reconcile how the former Republican fundraiser became one of the most significant government informants in Chicago’s sordid history of public corruption in part because he was also one of the most corrupt political insiders the city has known.

“You defrauded the good people of the state of Illinois. You stole from close friends. You stole from charities. The havoc that you wreaked is certainly substantial,” St. Eve declared. “You were certainly one of the most corrupt individuals this district has ever seen.”

Yet minutes later the judge imposed the 51/2-year prison term on Levine, saying she was convinced that he was not the same arrogant and egotistical defendant she met four years ago when he testified in her courtroom.

“I have thought long and hard,” she said. “And I don’t grant it lightly.”

Of the cast of characters to emerge in the government’s eight-year federal investigation, Levine was among the most infamous because of the sordid details that came out about his personal life.

Before his arrest, Levine appeared to the public to be a successful businessman living in a North Shore mansion who served on the boards of charities and key state agencies.

But behind the scenes he was using the access and influence he had amassed to steal from a long list of victims. He teamed up in kickback schemes with some of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top advisers, squeezing millions of dollars from people seeking to do business with the state. And he stole $2 million from the estate of a close friend.

The total take in his illegal schemes would have been more than $20 million if he had gotten away with them.

And all the while, Levine also was living a secret life fueled by the abuse of cocaine and other narcotics. He hosted 24-hour drug binges at the former Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood.

Levine, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to one count each of mail fraud and money laundering, testified about it all at the trials of Blagojevich adviser Antoin “Tony” Rezko and Springfield power broker William Cellini. As a government witness, he explained to juries how pay-to-play worked in Illinois.

On Wednesday, prosecutors called Levine’s testimony essential to securing convictions not only on Rezko and Cellini but also on former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak; Dr. Robert Weinstein, Levine’s longtime business partner; and the biggest catch of all — Blagojevich.

“All of these people could not have been convicted” without Levine’s assistance, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner assured the judge. “It is really a hall of fame of public corruption.”

Niewoehner argued for leniency also because it could send a strong message that “honorable” cooperation can pay off.

“There will come a day when another Stuart Levine is confronted by the FBI,” he said.

His sentencing Thursday marked the first time that Levine publicly addressed his extensive crimes in his own words and not in answer to questions from prosecutors. In brief remarks he expressed regret and remorse to the people of Illinois, to the various boards and charities he served on and to the friends he hurt.

He broke down when he addressed his adult children, who have stood by him.

“I deeply regret the crisis and difficulty I caused my own dear children,” he said. “I thank them for their continued love, which has sustained me.”

In the eight years since he was arrested, Levine has traded the North Shore mansion for a small apartment. He has had to borrow money for groceries and hit three-for-one sales for suits.

His wife served him with divorce papers during the Rezko trial. While he was cooperating with the government, a threat was made against Levine, forcing federal authorities to investigate. Levine also contemplated suicide.

In arguing for leniency, Levine’s attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, pointed to all those consequences. He also pledged that his client has embraced a new life.

“He prays every day,” Steinback said. “Nor for leniency but for forgiveness and redemption and the ability to be compassionate and think of others first.”

Levine is scheduled to surrender to prison Sept. 27.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-stuart-levine-sentencing-0720-20120720,0,2034921.story

From above:

“and the biggest catch of all — Blagojevich.”

That is incorrect.

The biggest catch is Barack Obama.

64 Comments

Posted in Attorneys, Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Crime, Criminal Complaint, FBI, Illinois, Judges, Lawyers, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama thugs, Patrick Fitzgerald, Pay to play politics, Rezko, Stuart Levine, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US Department of Justice, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Stuart Levine sentencing July 19, 2012, Obama corruption buddy and drug user, Key witness Rezko trial, Long time associations with Rezko and Obama

Posted on July 19, 2012 | 69 comments

Stuart Levine sentencing July 19, 2012, Obama corruption buddy and drug user, Key witness Rezko trial, Long time associations with Rezko and Obama

“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

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“At Rod Blagojevich’s December sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar called Levine one of the most significant cooperators the Dirksen Federal Courthouse had ever seen.”…Natasha Korecki, Chicago SunTimes

Will Stuart Levine actually be sentenced today?

Stuart Levine, corruption buddy of Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama is scheduled for sentencing today,  Thursday, July 19, 2012.

Daily Calendar

Thursday, July 19, 2012 (As of 07/19/12 at 05:48:25 AM)

Honorable Amy J. St. Eve                    Courtroom 1241 (ASE)

1:05-cr-00691 USA v. Levine 10:15 Sentencing

http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/home/DailyCal/0.htm

From Citizen Wells June 22, 2012.

“Prosecutors: Levine among ‘most valuable’ witnesses in 3 decades”

“Prosecutors called their key witness against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and two top advisers “one of the most valuable cooperators” in three decades of public-corruption prosecutions in a late-Friday filing arguing for a light sentence.

Stuart Levine could have faced life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 5 years and 7 months in exchange for Levine’s cooperation. Friday’s filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, during a hearing in April, asked for a “lengthy recitation of Levine’s cooperation.”

Levine didn’t testify against Blagojevich, but prosecutors noted “the case against Blagojevich was made possible only by Levine’s cooperation.”

“The government not only used information provided initially by Levine in the case against Blagojevich, it was Levine’s decision to cooperate that set in motion the series of events that led directly to the government obtaining the evidence and witnesses it needed to prosecute Blagojevich,” prosecutors wrote.

Friday’s filing, in advance of Levine’s June 28 sentencing, recognizes both Levine’s cooperation and his extensive criminal history.

Levine testified against former Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is now in federal prison, and was the star witness against Springfield power broker, William Cellini, who is awaiting sentencing. During his testimony at Cellini’s trial, Levine described in detail the million-dollar bribes he tried to orchestrate and told of his extensive drug use and cocaine parties he attended.

“Levine’s cooperation has proven to be every bit as important as the government hoped it would be. As a result of (his) assistance, the government charged and convicted people of extremely serious crimes who otherwise would not have been caught.””

“Federal prosecutors have lauded Stuart Levine as a great, cooperative witness. Why then did they not prosecute Blagojevich first to protect the citizens of Illinois and then wait until after the 2008 election to arrest him?

Couple the value given to Levine by the prosecutors with the timeline. There is only one logical conclusion to come to. The prosecution of Rod Blagojevich was delayed to protect Barack Obama.”

“2006 is the pivotal turning point.

1. Blagojevich and his corruption buddies are in trouble.

2. Blagojevich, the presumptive presidential candidate, is out and Obama, the unknown, is in. So is the fix.

Rod Blagojevich was elected governor of Illinois in 2002.

From the Blagojevich Criminal Complaint.

“Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations
of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has conspired with multiple individuals”
From the Washington Post December 22, 2008.

“The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.
Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.

Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.”

“June 7, 2004: Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican reappointed to the powerful Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, abruptly resigns on the eve of several important hospital expansion votes. The revelation is the first indication that the Blagojevich administration is under federal criminal investigation.

June 27, 2004: The Tribune discloses that an official for one hospital seeking permission to expand was wearing a federal bug during meetings in an effort to expose extortion attempts by Levine and others for contributions to Blagojevich.

July 2, 2004: Levine resigns from his seat on the board of the state Teachers’ Retirement System. It remains undisclosed that federal authorities had secretly taped Levine’s conversations.

May 9, 2005: Levine is indicted on corruption charges. Federal subpoenas are issued to numerous administration sources, including top Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko”

“Aug. 5, 2006: The Tribune reports that Levine is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/stuart-levine-sentencing-june-28-2011-rezko-blagojevich-obama-crony-levine-among-most-valuable-witnesses-in-3-decades-blagojevich-arrest-delayed/

69 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Courts, Crime, Criminal Complaint, Federal Court, Illinois, Judges, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama thugs, Patrick Fitzgerald, Pay to play politics, Rezko, Stuart Levine, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US Department of Justice, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,

William Cellini motion for sentencing delay July 18, 2012, Obama corruption crony, Judge James B. Zagel, Teachers Retirement System kickbacks

Posted on July 18, 2012 | 83 comments

William Cellini motion for sentencing delay July 18, 2012, Obama corruption crony, Judge James B. Zagel, Teachers Retirement System kickbacks

“Why was Obama promoting Capri Capital and other investment firms at the same time that Rezko, Levine and Cellini were shaking them down?”…Citizen Wells

“The citizens of Illinois deserve public officials who act solely in the public’s interest, without putting a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions.”…Patrick Fitzgerald

“There is enough corruption in Illinois so that all it takes is someone who is serious about finding it to uncover it. If a U.S. attorney is not finding corruption in Illinois, they’re not seriously looking for it.”…Northwestern Law Professor James Lindgren

William Cellini, who was convicted of 2 counts of conspiracy to commit extortion and aiding and abetting the solicitation of a bribe on November 1, 2011,  will request a sentencing delay today, July 18, 2012 in the courtroom of Judge James Zagel. Cellini recently suffered a heart attack.

Daily Calendar

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 (As of 07/18/12 at 08:47:10 AM)

Honorable James B. Zagel                    Courtroom 2503 (JBZ)

1:08-cr-00888   USA v. Cellini                         10:15   Notice of Motion

http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/home/DailyCal/0.htm

From Citizen Wells January 5, 2012.

“Following Obama’s efforts, the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System gave Ariel Capital $112.5 million to manage, and added hundreds of millions more over the next few years.”

“Three other minority-run firms — Holland Capital, Loop Capital and Capri Capital Partners — also saw hundreds of millions of assets turned over to them to manage after meeting with Obama and the state pension boards.”

“Capri Capital is a little more interesting.

From the William Cellini Indictment Press Release:”
“Cellini’s alleged crimes – essentially conspiring with others to force Capri Capital, also a real estate investment firm, and Thomas Rosenberg, a principal and part owner of Capri, to raise or donate substantial political contributions for Public Official A – were the subject of testimony earlier this year at the trial of alleged co-conspirator Antoin “Tony” Rezko. Cellini was charged with conspiring with Rezko, former TRS trustee Stuart Levine, the pension fund’s outside lawyer Steven Loren and others between the spring of 2003 and the summer of 2005 to defraud TRS beneficiaries and the people of Illinois of Levine’s honest services as a TRS trustee. TRS, a public pension plan for teachers and administrators in public schools statewide except in Chicago, serves hundreds of thousands of members and beneficiaries and has assets in excess of $30 billion.”

“March 6, 2008”

“Prosecutor Carrie Hamilton talks about how Highland Park businessman
Stuart Levine is central to the government case “

“She also explains how William Cellini, a powerful Republican power
broker, was also allegedly central to many of the alleged kickback
schemes at the Teacher’s Retirement System.
Hamilton finished remarks after an hour. She did not mention the name
of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, whose U.S. Senate
campaign in 2004 allegedly was the beneficiary of $20,000 in campaign
cash from intermediaries in the kickback schemes the government says
were orchestrated by Rezko.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/january-6-2012-obama-corruption-ties-william-cellini-hearing-judge-james-zagel-media-and-justice-department-protect-obama/

 

83 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Illinois, Judges, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama thugs, Pay to play politics, Rezko, Stuart Levine, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, William Cellini

Tagged , , , ,

July 17, 2012, Obama past hidden records and corruption ties convergence, Sheriff Joe Arpaio News conference, Ali Ata sentencing, Rezko lot sale to Obamas FDIC lawsuit Kenneth J Conner lawsuit

Posted on July 14, 2012 | 173 comments

July 17, 2012, Obama past hidden records and corruption ties convergence, Sheriff Joe Arpaio News conference, Ali Ata sentencing, Rezko lot sale to Obamas FDIC lawsuit Kenneth J Conner lawsuit

“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense,  to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells

“Ata also donated $5,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2003 and Rezko asked Ata to make straw donation to Obama’s campaign for $10,000″…Tony Rezko trial

“Why did Mutual Bank fire whistleblower Kenneth J Connor after he
challenged the appraisal on the land purchased by Rita Rezko, just
prior to the land sale to Obama?”…Citizen Wells

July 17, 2012 represents a convergence of Obama’s corrupt and hidden past. Sheriff Joe Arpaio will present a news conference, which according to lead investigator Mike Zullo will reveal shocking revelations. Ali Ata, a key witness in the Tony Rezko trial, who was seen coming and going from Rezko’s office frequently, as was Barack Obama, and who made standard and straw donations to Obama, is scheduled to be sentenced. Within a few days a status hearing on the FDIC lawsuit against Amrish Mahajan, who was president of Mutual Bank at the time of the loan to Rita Rezko for the lot that was purchased by the Obama’s, will be held in the courtroom of Judge Kendall. This is the same Mahajan and Mutual Bank that fired whistleblower Kenneth J. Conner, who as a whistleblower, questioned the appraised value of the lot.

From WND July 1, 2012.

“SHERIFF JOE SET TO RELEASE MORE OBAMA ‘SHOCKERS'”

“Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Cold Case Posse investigating Barack Obama’s presidential eligibility have been promising more major revelations since their March 1 press conference, and now another event has been scheduled to unveil new information.

Arpaio told WND a press conference will be held July 17 at 2:30 p.m. local time at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Phoenix, Ariz.

WND will once again provide live Web streaming of the event.

The evidence will include information gathered in the posse’s recent investigative trip to Hawaii as well as an update on the ongoing investigation.

At the March 1 conference, as WND reported March 1, Arpaio and his Cold Case Posse announced there is probable cause that the document released by the White House in April 2011 purporting to be Obama’s original, long-form birth certificate is a forgery. The posse said it also found probable cause that Obama’s Selective Service registration form is fraudulent.

WND reported last month that a letter from Hawaii’s Department of Health verifying Obama’s birth in Honolulu has “opened the door” to some “shocking revelations” the posse is promising to disclose.

Among the details leaked early by Cold Case Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo: There are allegedly several stamps bearing Registrar Alvin Onaka’s name “floating around” inside the Hawaii Department of Health.

“I can’t disclose to you what we’ve discovered, but it’s going to be a shocking revelation at our press conference,” Zullo told Tea Party Power Hour host Mark Gillar in a telephone interview from Hawaii.

Three weeks after the March 1 press conference, Arpaio said there was “tons” more potentially shocking information on Obama in connection with his probe into the president’s eligibility.

Zullo has said he and his investigators have reservations about a letter stamped with Onaka’s name that was sent to Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett as verification of Obama’s Hawaiian birth.

Zulllo said the letter fails to list Obama’s birth date, and it’s merely stamped with the registrar’s name, while another set of initials – not Onaka’s – appears next to the signature.

“From what you’re telling me,” Gillar said, “it sounds like the next press conference is going to be even more amazing than the last press conference back on March 1st.”

“It will be,” Zullo responded. “The information … is going to be breathtaking when it’s released.””

Read more:

http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/sheriff-joe-set-to-release-more-obama-shockers/

Ali Ata sentencing and ties to Obama, Rezko, et al.

From Citizen Wells July 13, 2012.

“In the media, Obama made it sound like he rarely saw Rezko, saying they met for breakfast or lunch once or twice a year. However, the FBI mole John Thomas helped investigators “build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru’s Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005,“…Chicago SunTimes February 10, 2008
“Thomas is an FBI mole and he “recently told us that he saw you coming and going from Rezko’s office a lot.””

“And three other sources told us that you and Rezko spoke on the phone daily.””…Chicago SunTimes March 14, 2008

“From the Tony Rezko trial.

“The witness some refer to as the government’s secret weapon — Ali Ata — is now on the stand.
Ata was very close with Tony Rezko, visiting Rezko’s Chicago office at least once a week to discuss business. Ata recently pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud and lying to FBI agents about Rezko’s influence. Today Ata is testifying about his relationship with Rezko.”

“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.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/obama-chicago-corruption-buddy-ali-ata-sentencing-july-17-2012-obama-and-ata-frequent-rezko-visitors-ata-real-and-straw-donations-to-obama-ata-obama-arab-connection/

Barack and Michelle Obama lot purchase from Tony and Rita Rezko, FDIC lawsuit against Amrish Mahajan, et al and Kenneth J. Conner lawsuit.

From Citizen Wells July 12, 2012.

“Here is what we know about the purchase of a lot by Barack and Michelle Obama from Rita Rezko in 2006:

1. “In June, 2005, Mutual Bank President and CEO Amrish Mahajan and
other Mutual Bank officers approved a loan to Rita Malki Rezko (Rita
Rezko) which was guaranteed by Antonin Rezko so that Rita Rezko could
purchase a 9,090 square foot vacant parcel of real estate at 5050 S.
Greenwood Avenue, Chicago.” (Conner lawsuit)

2. “On or about January 4, 2006, Rita Rezko entered into an
agreement with Senator Barack and Michelle Obama (Obamas) to sell a
ten-foot strip of the 5050 S. Greenwood property to the Obamas.”
(Conner lawsuit)

3. “In late 2005 or early 2006, Conner performed an appraisal review
of the Adams Appraisal (Exhibit C) per the directive of Richard Barth
and James Murphy. Conner prepared a written Appraisal Review report
(ARR) opining that the Adams Appraisal overvalued the Greenwood lot by
a minimum of $ 125,000.00 and that a reasonable and fair valuation for
Mutual Banks’s underwriting purposes should be no greater than $
500,000.00 for the entire 5050 S. Greenwood parcel as originally
purchased by Rita Rezko.” (Conner lawsuit)

4. “On or about October 19, 2006, Mutual Bank received a Grand Jury
Subpoena (GJS) requiring Mutual Bank to produce the Rezko 5050
Greenwood loan file, as well as a Rita Rezko Riverside District
Development LLC checking account and loan file.” (Conner lawsuit)

5. “In October, 2007, Conner had various communications with Mutual
Bank’s Human Resources Department representative, Lana Schlabach. In
an email communication of October 15, 2007, Conner directly referenced
“Resentment over my mentioned discovery of the removal/replacement of
an appraisal review that I conducted. That appraisal review contained
substantial observations and suggestions. The transaction and parties
involved were high profile in the media.I am under the impression that
the FBI has since looked at the file.”” On October 23, 2007, eight days after Conner’s October 15, 2007 email to Schlabach attached as Exhibit J, Mutual Bank terminated Conner’s employment for pretextual reasons.” (Conner lawsuit)

6. “On October 23, 2007, eight days after Conner’s October 15, 2007
email to Schlabach attached as Exhibit J, Mutual Bank terminated
Conner’s employment for pretextual reasons.” (Conner lawsuit)

7. The FDIC has filed a lawsuit against Mutual Bank, Amrish Mahajan, Richard Barth, et al.”

From the FDIC lawsuit against Amrish Mahajan, et al.

“6. The Director Defendants also wasted corporate assets and drained the Bank’s capital by…(c) authorizing $ 495,000 in “bonuses” to pay for the criminal defense costs for the Defendant Amrish Mahajan’s wife who was indicted for Medicaid fraud”

“32. The Director and Officer Defendants failed to establish procedures that would have lessened the risks of the Bank’s improvidant lending practices. The terms of transactions were not accurately documented. Status reports were missing so that records of how an asset was progressing were not available. Terms of loans were changed at closing without board or loan committee approvals or any rcord in the file. Loan guarantees were frequently missing from the files. Appraisers were retained by brokers with an interest in seeing transactions consummated, not by the bank. Appraisals were often received after the loan was funded. Loans were typically non-recourse and dependent on guarantor abilities to repay in the event that the collateral was insufficient. Yet, little or no attention was paid to whether guarantors had sufficient liquidity to protect the Bank’s interest; the officers and the Board did little or no analysis of guarantor or borrower financial strength.”

From the Washington Times November 4, 2008.

“A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko’s wife and later sold to the couple’s next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.””

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/obama-land-deal-loan-president-mahajan-fdic-lawsuit-status-hearing-july-19-2012-judge-virginia-m-kendall-rezkos-sold-lot-to-obamas/

Finding many reports of this in the mainstream media lately?

173 Comments

Posted in Ali Ata, Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Crime, FBI, Hawaii, Health Department, Illinois, Judges, Lawsuits, Lies, Michelle Obama, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Pay to play politics, Rezko, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , ,

Obama Chicago corruption buddy Ali Ata sentencing July 17, 2012, Obama and Ata frequent Rezko visitors, Ata real and straw donations to Obama, Ata Obama Arab connection

Posted on July 13, 2012 | 57 comments

Obama Chicago corruption buddy Ali Ata sentencing July 17, 2012, Obama and Ata frequent Rezko visitors, Ata real and straw donations to Obama, Ata Obama Arab connection

“Ata was very close with Tony Rezko, visiting Rezko’s Chicago office at least once a week to discuss business.”…Fox News Rezko trial

“In the media, Obama made it sound like he rarely saw Rezko, saying they met for breakfast or lunch once or twice a year. However, the FBI mole John Thomas helped investigators “build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru’s Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005,“…Chicago SunTimes February 10, 2008
“Thomas is an FBI mole and he “recently told us that he saw you coming and going from Rezko’s office a lot.””

“And three other sources told us that you and Rezko spoke on the phone daily.””…Chicago SunTimes March 14, 2008

“Ata also donated $5,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2003 and Rezko asked Ata to make straw donation to Obama’s campaign for $10,000″…Tony Rezko trial

Ali Ata, a key witness at the Tony Rezko trial,  contributor to Barack Obama and Obama Arab special interest connection is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday, July 17, 2012, in the courtroom of Judge James Zagel.

Daily Calendar

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 (As of 07/13/12 at 08:48:05 AM)

Honorable James B. Zagel                    Courtroom 2503 (JBZ)

1:06-cr-00729   USA v. Ata                             01:45   Sentencing

http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/home/DailyCal/0.htm

From Citizen Wells June 9, 2012.

From the Tony Rezko trial.

“The witness some refer to as the government’s secret weapon — Ali Ata — is now on the stand.
Ata was very close with Tony Rezko, visiting Rezko’s Chicago office at least once a week to discuss business. Ata recently pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud and lying to FBI agents about Rezko’s influence. Today Ata is testifying about his relationship with Rezko.
Born and raised in Jordan, Ata, 56, moved to the U.S. in 1970 to go to college at UIC in Chicago. Ata first became friends with Rezko after Ata was let go from his job as a chemical engineer in 2001. Ata testified that a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks FBI agents visited him at his work to question him. Ata shares the same last name as one of the 9/11 hijackers. Two weeks after the FBI’s visit, Ata’s employer offered him an early retirement package. Ata called it “devastating.”
As part of his plea agreement, Ata has agreed to testify against Rezko in exchange for a lighter prison sentence of 12-18 months (The maximum sentence was eight years).
Ata says in 2002 he donated $50,000 to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign. In return Tony Rezko secured Ata a position as the head of the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA). Between 2003-2004 Ata says he contributed $125,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign based on requests from Rezko.
Ata also donated $5,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2003 and Rezko asked Ata to make straw donation to Obama’s campaign for $10,000, he said. The Democratic presidential candidate has donated Rezko-related contributions to charity.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/obama-contributor-ali-ata-to-be-sentenced-june-14-2012-tony-rezko-trial-witness-ata-donated-5000-to-obama-straw-donations-to-obama-ifa-job/

Ali Ata plea agreement.
From Citizen Wells October 20, 2010.
“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.”
“When Obama started setting up the purchase of the $2 million mansion withTony 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 RodBlagojevich to be the candidate at that point. Operation Board Games put an end to that plan.”

“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 toObama 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 RezkoConcessions. 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, andRezko caused additional false financial information to be submitted to GE in asking for forebearance on the default, the indictment says. It also alleges thatRezko 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 Blagojevichwhen 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 onRezko’’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 Rezkosaid it was needed to pay contractors to stop them from filing a lien onBlagojevich’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’sattorney 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 thatRezko 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 toObama.

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.”

“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.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/abdelhamid-chaib-sentenced-rezko-coschemer-obama-contributor-nadhmi-auchi-citizen-wells-open-thread-october-20-2010/

57 Comments

Posted in Ali Ata, Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, FBI, Federal Court, Illinois, Judges, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama thugs, Patrick Fitzgerald, Pay to play politics, Rezko, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US Department of Justice

Tagged , , , ,

Obama land deal loan president Mahajan FDIC lawsuit, Status hearing, July 19, 2012, Judge Virginia M. Kendall, Rezkos sold lot to Obamas

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 38 comments

Obama land deal loan president Mahajan FDIC lawsuit, Status hearing, July 19, 2012, Judge Virginia M. Kendall, Rezkos sold lot to Obamas

“Why wasn’t Rod Blagojevich, Governor of IL, prosecuted before Tony Rezko, a businessman?”…Citizen Wells

“Why was Tony Rezko’s sentencing delayed?”…Citizen Wells

“Why did Mutual Bank fire whistleblower Kenneth J Connor after he
challenged the appraisal on the land purchased by Rita Rezko, just
prior to the land sale to Obama?”…Citizen Wells

The FDIC lawsuit against Amrish Mahajan, former president of Mutual Bank, et al is scheduled for a status hearing in the courtroom of Judge Virginia M. Kendall on July 19, 2012. Mutual Bank loaned Rita Rezko the money for the lot that was purchased by the Obama’s. It is also the bank that fired whistleblower Kenneth J. Conner after he questioned the appraisal of that lot.

Daily Calendar

Thursday, July 19, 2012 (As of 07/12/12 at 06:48:37 AM )

Honorable Virginia M. Kendall               Courtroom 2319 (VMK)

1:11-cv-07590 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporatio 09:00 Status Hearing

http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/home/DailyCal/0.htm

From Citizen Wells June 5, 2012.

The Obama camp, with the full cooperation of the mainstream media and US Justice Dept., has done their best to distance Obama from his numerous close corruption ties in Chicago and Illinois. The delayed and dragged out prosecution of Rod Blagojevich with his mutual ties to Tony Rezko, the failure to call Rezko as a witness and the dropping of counts against Blagojevich that are most damning for Obama, is one good example.

With the best attempts to divert attention away from Obama’s corrupt past, the Ghosts of Obama’s Christmas past continue to linger.

From an article written by truthteller and presented on NoQuarter USA on October 12, 2008.

“”Because I tend to rely on evidence and not on hearsay, I believe we should focus our attention on Amrish Mahajan and the Mutual Bank of Harvey, not on Giannoulias and the Broadway Bank, if we are to assign names to the financial institution about which Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Timeshas heard “rumblings.” Although Mahajan is not known to readers ofNo Quarter and to the national media, I imagine they will desire more information on the unscrupulous banker once they read the information I unpack below the fold. And yes, Obama is involved, deeply involved.”

My interest in Amrish Mahajan and the Mutual Bank of Harvey was picqued by this list of contributors in Rezko’s bundling network provided by the Chicago Sun-Times last March. View the second page of the document, and notice the following entry:

Last name First name Obama donations Rezko connection
Mahajan Amrish $2,500 Banker whose bank loaned money to Rezko companies. The bank also loaned Rezko’s wife money to buy a vacant lot next to Obama’s home.

The data available in the Sun-Times spreadsheet is corroborated by the following data, which is democratically available at the Federal Election Commission‘s website:

MAHAJAN, AMRISH
CHICAGO, IL 60607
MUTUAL BANK

OBAMA, BARACK
VIA OBAMA FOR ILLINOIS INC
12/20/2003 500.00 24020030170
04/14/2004 1000.00 24020461757

Not only was Mahajan a member of Rezko’s bundling network; his bank, the Mutual Bank of Harvey, granted Rita Rezko the $500,000 mortgage she neededin order to purchase the lot on which the Obama mansion in Chicago sits. As many of you may recall, the Obamas could not have purchased the mansion they could not afford unless transactions for the mansion and the lot closed on the same day. Obama needed to locate someone who would buy the lot, and he approached Rezko, the convicted slumlord with whom Obama toured the property before they mutually agreed to the following arrangement:

The home and lot sales closed on June 15, 2005. A land trust controlled by the Obamas bought the house for $1.65 million, and the Obamas secured a $1.32 million mortgage from Northern Trust to complete that purchase. That same day, Rezko’s wife, Rita Rezko, bought the side lot for $625,000. A $37,000- a-year Cook County employee, she secured a $500,000 mortgage from Mutual Bank of Harvey.

The structure of this transaction begs the following question: What bank would lend a government employee who earns $37,000 per annum a $500,000 mortgage? What bank would assume such a risk?

The Mutual Bank of Harvey, of course, for the Mutual Bank of Harvey’s President is a man who is deeply connected to the Chicago machine that backed Barack Obama. Indeed, Amrish Mahajan was one of Mayor Daley’s first political appointments in 1989, when he was named to a seat on Chicago’s Plan Commission, where he would be joined by Obama’s former boss and Rezko’s business partner Allison Davis and by Valerie Jarrett, Daley’s Chief of Staff whochaired the Commission from 1991-1995. Mahajan, in other words, worked with those who devised and profited from Daley’s failed public housing experiment in Chicago, a public housing policy Obama helped fund as state Senator and US Senator.

Rezko, according to the Boston Globe, was one of the major beneficiaries of Obama’s legislative advocacy for funding of Daley’s public housing experiment. Other major beneficiaries are Jarrett and Allison Davis. Mahajan was also a beneficiary, for his bank had made $3.4 million dollars in loans to Tony Rezko’s slum landlord business since 2002. A banker for one of the slumlords who benefitted from the Daley housing program Obama helped bankroll, Mahajan was returning a favor when he wrote a $500,000 mortgage in 2005 for the wife of one of his clients. Although Tony’s financial problems were mounting in 2005, and although Rita earned only $35,000 per annum, Mahajan underwrote the mortgage. Favors must be reciprocated, I guess, especially when one can satisfy two parties at once: the person with whom one has a complicated relationship in real estate and the politician who helped finance that complicated relationship as state Senator and US Senator.

I doubt federal investigators are interested in the Mahajans solely for their involvement in the property deal involving Obama, Mahajan and the Rezkos. The Mahajans, I believe, are the foci of their probe for many reasons.

The real estate transaction involving Rita Rezko, the Obamas and Mutual Bank of Harvey is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the Mutual Bank of Harvey seems to be at the center of all the corruption in Chicago. To quote former Donald Perillo, Chicago insurance mogul and son of the lawyer for Al Capone, in the Chicago Tribune article I cite above:

Donald Parrillo said he isn’t surprised to see Mahajan mix it up with politics and business. “He got that attitude from the Parrillo family,” the former alderman said. “He wanted to get in the game.”

And Mahajan certainly is in the game. The banker of the Chicago machine, he is also the man who wrote the mortgage for Rita Rezko that facilitated Obama’s purchase the mansion he could not afford. This is why I believe prosecutors are interested in Harvey Mutual Bank. Not only did Rezko receive loans from this institution; this bank is heavily involved in problematic real estate dealings involving Blagojevich and Obama. And if I may quote Rezko in the 9 JUN letter he wrote to Judge Amy St. Eve:

Your Honor, the prosecutors have been overzealous in pursuing a crime that never happened. They are pressuring me to tell them the “wrong” things that I supposedly know aboutGovernor Blagojevich and Senator Obama. I have never been party to any wrongdoing that involved the Governor or the Senator. I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take what comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people. I am not Levine, Loren, Mahru , or Winter.”

Rezko is now talking, and prosecutors are presently interested in a politically connected financial institution. I bet Obama now regrets paying Rita Rezko $104,500 for the strip of the land in the lot on which his house sits in January 2006. Acquired with the assistance of a questionable $500,000 mortgage from Amrish Mahajan’s Mutual Bank of Harvey, this lot and Obama’s desire to expand his yard by bit was the catalyst for all the investigative reports into Obama’s deep ties to Rezko. By the way, Rita’s lot is only accessible through the front gate of Obama’s home; it is not a separate property, and it was never intended to be a separate property.

“It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor,” Obama says of the real estate transactions with Rezko. I wonder if now he also believes it was a mistake for him to serve as the legislator who represented and bankrolled Richard Daley, Amrish Mahajan, Valerie Jarrett, Allison Davis and the Chicago Plan Commission. But at least he and Michelle have a house, a house the Mutual Bank of Harvey, the politically connected bank that wrote loans for Rezko, helped them procure in 2005. Too bad that house will be the end of Barack Obama.

obama-home.jpg

“

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/5382/about-the-financial-institution-mentioned-in-the-sun-times-obama-tony-rezko-amrish-mahajan-the-kenwood-mansion-rita-rezko/

From Citizen Wells November 1, 2011.

“Here is what we know about the purchase of a lot by Barack and Michelle Obama from Rita Rezko in 2006:

1. “In June, 2005, Mutual Bank President and CEO Amrish Mahajan and
other Mutual Bank officers approved a loan to Rita Malki Rezko (Rita
Rezko) which was guaranteed by Antonin Rezko so that Rita Rezko could
purchase a 9,090 square foot vacant parcel of real estate at 5050 S.
Greenwood Avenue, Chicago.” (Conner lawsuit)

2. “On or about January 4, 2006, Rita Rezko entered into an
agreement with Senator Barack and Michelle Obama (Obamas) to sell a
ten-foot strip of the 5050 S. Greenwood property to the Obamas.”
(Conner lawsuit)

3. “In late 2005 or early 2006, Conner performed an appraisal review
of the Adams Appraisal (Exhibit C) per the directive of Richard Barth
and James Murphy. Conner prepared a written Appraisal Review report
(ARR) opining that the Adams Appraisal overvalued the Greenwood lot by
a minimum of $ 125,000.00 and that a reasonable and fair valuation for
Mutual Banks’s underwriting purposes should be no greater than $
500,000.00 for the entire 5050 S. Greenwood parcel as originally
purchased by Rita Rezko.” (Conner lawsuit)

4. “On or about October 19, 2006, Mutual Bank received a Grand Jury
Subpoena (GJS) requiring Mutual Bank to produce the Rezko 5050
Greenwood loan file, as well as a Rita Rezko Riverside District
Development LLC checking account and loan file.” (Conner lawsuit)

5. “In October, 2007, Conner had various communications with Mutual
Bank’s Human Resources Department representative, Lana Schlabach. In
an email communication of October 15, 2007, Conner directly referenced
“Resentment over my mentioned discovery of the removal/replacement of
an appraisal review that I conducted. That appraisal review contained
substantial observations and suggestions. The transaction and parties
involved were high profile in the media.I am under the impression that
the FBI has since looked at the file.”” On October 23, 2007, eight days after Conner’s October 15, 2007 email to Schlabach attached as Exhibit J, Mutual Bank terminated Conner’s employment for pretextual reasons.” (Conner lawsuit)

6. “On October 23, 2007, eight days after Conner’s October 15, 2007
email to Schlabach attached as Exhibit J, Mutual Bank terminated
Conner’s employment for pretextual reasons.” (Conner lawsuit)

7. The FDIC has filed a lawsuit against Mutual Bank, Amrish Mahajan, Richard Barth, et al.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/fdic-mutual-bank-lawsuit-reveals-rezko-obama-corruption-kenneth-j-conner-lawsuit-amrish-mahajan-richard-barth-where-did-rezkos-get-the-money/

From ABC News Chicago August 22, 2011.

“Anita Mahajan, a Chicago businesswoman with ties to former governor Rod Blagojevich, pleaded guilty to bilking the state of Illinois by submitting bogus bills.

“I’m sorry,” Mahajan said in court Monday while pleading guilty to felony theft for pilfering about $100,000 in taxpayer money through her drug-testing company, K.K. Bio-Science. That company is now defunct.

The 60-year-old received four years of probation, agreed to pay $200,000 in fines and perform 1,500 hours of community service.

Mahajan’s husband, Amrish, was a banker and significant fundraiser for Blagojevich. Also, Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, made more than $100,000 in commissions handling real estate deals for the Mahajans in 2006, which caused a stir in the Blagojevich re-election campaign. The following year, Mahajan was charged with cheating the state of out of $2 million for drug tests that were never performed.

“People of this state were being cheated,” Dick Devine said in 2007 when he was the state’s attorney while announcing a seven-count indictment against Mahajan. The attorney general sued to recover the state’s lost money.

Four years later, Mahajan pleaded guilty to a single, reduced charge of theft instead of the felonies that would have sent her to prison for at least six years.

“Anita Mahajan is another example of the collateral damage that’s been left in the wake of the Rod Blagojevich Tsunami,” Steve Miller, Mahajan’s attorney, said.””

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8320596&rss=rss-wls-article-8320596

From the FDIC lawsuit against Amrish Mahajan, et al.

“6. The Director Defendants also wasted corporate assets and drained the Bank’s capital by…(c) authorizing $ 495,000 in “bonuses” to pay for the criminal defense costs for the Defendant Amrish Mahajan’s wife who was indicted for Medicaid fraud”

“32. The Director and Officer Defendants failed to establish procedures that would have lessened the risks of the Bank’s improvidant lending practices. The terms of transactions were not accurately documented. Status reports were missing so that records of how an asset was progressing were not available. Terms of loans were changed at closing without board or loan committee approvals or any rcord in the file. Loan guarantees were frequently missing from the files. Appraisers were retained by brokers with an interest in seeing transactions consummated, not by the bank. Appraisals were often received after the loan was funded. Loans were typically non-recourse and dependent on guarantor abilities to repay in the event that the collateral was insufficient. Yet, little or no attention was paid to whether guarantors had sufficient liquidity to protect the Bank’s interest; the officers and the Board did little or no analysis of guarantor or borrower financial strength.”

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/26/FDIC.pdf

From the Washington Times November 4, 2008.

“A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko’s wife and later sold to the couple’s next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.””

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/04/fbi-asked-questions-on-rezko-land-deal/

The Kenneth J. Conner lawsuit is still active.

https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/Finddock.asp?DocketKey=CAAI0L0ABBEHA0LD

38 Comments

Posted in Banks, Barack Obama, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Federal Court, Illinois, Judges, Lawsuits, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Pay to play politics, Rezko, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko

Tagged , , , , ,

Chief Justice Roberts decision that of Washington Insider, John Roberts in DC too long, John Hammer Rhino Times, Greensboro Obamacare truth in print

Posted on July 5, 2012 | 140 comments

Chief Justice Roberts decision that of Washington Insider, John Roberts in DC too long, John Hammer Rhino Times, Greensboro Obamacare truth in print

“Nobody who makes under $200,000 a year will see their taxes go up as long as I’m president.”…Barack Obama

“I absolutely reject that notion [mandate is a tax].”…Barack Obama

“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity
expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each.”…Marbury vs Madison

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times, in print in Greensboro, NC, July 5, 2012.

“Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts threw everybody for a loop last week.

Both Fox and CNN reported on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare wrong the first time around. Which is understandable because days later pundits are still trying to make sense of what happened.

One of my favorite pieces so far is by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, who, of course, praises Roberts for putting his country above partisan politics by using creativity and “finding a way to greenlight Obama’s Affordable Care Act.”

Friedman credits Roberts with putting partisan politics aside and doing what was best for the country. It is such an arrogant, closed-minded liberal world view it would be funny if it weren’t such a serious issue. Shoot, it is funny. According to Friedman the liberal view is what is best for the country. This is a fact. So Roberts is to be congratulated for putting his conservative ideals, which are by definition bad for the country, aside and figuring out a way to twist the law into a pretzel that says Obamacare is constitutional. To believe Friedman you have to accept his premise that what conservatives believe is not and cannot be good for the country, and when conservatives can put aside their own beliefs they can sometimes manage to work for the good of the country. You either have to laugh or cry. I choose laughing.

Here’s an explanation I haven’t read anywhere, but it seems possible. The problem is that Roberts has spent too much time in Washington. People talk about getting inside-the-Beltway syndrome, and maybe Roberts has been in Washington for so long he believes that the extreme left-wing views that dominate Washington are the norm for the nation. Or he doesn’t believe it, but like living in a town with a paper mill, after a while you think stench is normal. It’s tough for conservatives living in Washington because it doesn’t matter how big a majority the Republicans have in Congress, in Washington conservatives are a tiny minority of the population that usually dash to Capital Hill and then back to Reagan National Airport and somewhere more normal.

Maybe Roberts has been in Washington so long, he believes that the opinions you hear in restaurants, coffee shops and on the metro are the norm. Of course, it’s hard to imagine Roberts in a coffee shop or on the metro, but it could happen.

Look at President George Walker Bush. He was convinced that people wouldn’t be that upset about a tax increase. It’s hard for a president to get out and mingle, but he should have been told that the rest of the country didn’t like the idea of a tax increase from a president who had been in every corner of the country saying, “read my lips, no new taxes.” In Washington, it was considered par for the course. There are politicians everywhere in Washington and nobody except someone straight in from the countryside believes anything they say. The voters in Washington elected Marion Barry after he had been convicted of possession of cocaine. It’s a different world.

On the good side of the Roberts’ judicial reasoning is that it has now been established without a doubt that Obamacare is being paid for with a tax. It is also definitely a tax on the middle class, and President Barack Hussein Obama has promised over and over he would not raise taxes on the middle class. According to some estimates this represents by far the largest tax increase in history and will result in over $1 trillion in new taxes.

Imagine how much more power it gives to the federal government to take an additional $1 trillion out of the private economy and decide where and how it will be spent.

The other parts of the ruling really are good news. Finally there is some check on the federal government forcing the states to do whatever it wants by withholding funds. The federal government might have to use reason or compromise in the future. One state legislator has told me that North Carolina won’t be able to afford the new Medicaid provisions, and North Carolina is not alone.

One of the most interesting articles to come out of the Supreme Court decision is by Jan Crawford of CBS News, who evidently has great sources inside the Supreme Court. She reports that Justice Anthony Kennedy was relentless in his pursuit of Roberts, attempting to get Roberts back in the conservative fold.

Those on the outside had figured that Kennedy would be the conservative judge to vote with the liberals, but according to this report, which seems to be generally accepted as true, Kennedy was the one who wouldn’t accept the fact that Roberts had changed sides.

Here is another theory about Roberts. This was his one attempt at being a wild and crazy guy. Some men have a midlife crisis and go after younger women and some buy a red convertible. Perhaps some very conservative chief justices of the Supreme Court who, from reading their bios, never really did anything fun in their lives, decide to try something “Crazy, man, crazy” and vote with the liberals on a big case.

Human beings are very strange creatures and anything is possible.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-07-03-212390.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

140 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, constitution, Government, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, John Roberts, Judges, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, Rhino Times, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Justice, The Case Against Barack Obama, U.S. Supreme Court, Washington DC

Tagged , , ,

US Supreme Court declares Obama a liar, Obamacare is a tax, Obama lied about tax increases, Obama fraud and taxes have devastated economy and job market

Posted on June 28, 2012 | 74 comments

US Supreme Court declares Obama a liar, Obamacare is a tax, Obama lied about tax increases, Obama fraud and taxes have devastated economy and job market

“But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.”…2001 Obama interview on Chicago public radio .

“I absolutely reject that notion [mandate is a tax].”…Barack Obama

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

All you need to know about Obama to understand what makes him tick is the following. Obama is a :

Narcissist.

Socialist.

Liar.

When Obama first began trying to force his socialist healthcare agenda upon us, it was clear that he was imposing another tax.

From The Blaze June 28, 2012.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/flashback-video-absolutely-reject-that-notion-obama-hhs-sec-budget-director-all-say-mandate-not-a-tax/

The US Supreme Court today, June 28, 2012, in their ruling today effectively called Obama a liar.

From Rush Limbaugh June 28, 2012.

“RUSH: Hey, folks, have you seen the economic news today? Have you heard about the unemployment numbers today? (laughing) Gross domestic product, have you heard about any of that? Because I have it here, and it sucks. It’s a disaster. The economy of this country remains a disaster. And we, the American people, have just been deceived in ways that nobody contemplated. And what we now have is the biggest tax increase in the history of the world. What we have been told by the chief justice of the Supreme Court and four liberals on the court: Obamacare is just a massive tax increase. That’s all it is. Obama lied to us about that. The Democrats lied. “It wasn’t a tax. There was no way it was a tax.”

The chief justice was hell-bent to find a way to make this law applicable, so he just decided, you know what, as a tax increase, it works, because there’s no limit on the federal government’s ability to tax. And it’s right there in the preamble of the Constitution, right there, Article 1, Section 8, the general welfare clause, it’s been established Congress can tax whatever, whoever, whenever, how much they want. Even when they don’t ask for it, the Supreme Court is gonna find a way to make what they want to do legal because John Roberts said it’s not our job here to forbid this. It’s not our job to protect people from outcomes. It’s not our job to determine whether it is right or wrong or any of that. We just get to look at it. We can’t forbid this. This is what the elected representatives of the people want.

No, the elected representatives of the people were deceived. Remember yesterday I asked you, if this decision went this way, what was your initial reaction going to be. And how many of you were deflated as you can be because of the way this was reported? The first thing that came down, the mandate, unconstitutional, that was the first thing everybody reported. Mandate unconstitutional, big sigh of relief. And then within moments, wait a minute, wait a minute, we’re reading further. Hold it just a second. The mandate’s unconstitutional, but the court has decided it’s a tax, and therefore it’s okay.

So Obamacare is nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world. And the people who were characterizing it as such were right and were telling the truth. We have the biggest tax increase in the history of the world right in the middle of one of this country’s worst recessions. In fact, as the vice president said yesterday, a depression for millions of Americans. The chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts, said, “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” Not our job.

Well, what about when we are deceived? The court upheld a law that was not what we were told it would be. What has been upheld here is fraud, and the Internal Revenue Service has just become Barack Obama’s domestic army. That is what we face now. We were deceived. Obamacare was a lie. It was a stealth tax on all Americans, and nobody knew it until today. Not officially. Obama told George Stephanopoulos it wasn’t a tax. And Stephanopoulos was trouble-making for trying to suggest otherwise.

Let’s go to the audio sound bites. September 20th, 2009, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, interviewing President Obama, discussion about the health care reform bill, Stephanopoulos said, “Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money and fining them if they don’t. How is that not a tax increase?”

OBAMA: No, tha-tha-that’s not true, George. Eh, for us to say that you’ve gotta take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is is that we’re not gonna have other people carrying your burdens for you, any more than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, “That is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that I’m not covering all the costs.”

RUSH: Stephanopoulos then said, “Well, it may be fair, and it may be good public policy, but for you to say that this isn’t a tax. This just…”

OBAMA: No, no. B-b-but George y-y-y-you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: “Tax: A charge, usually of money, imposed by authority —

OBAMA: (snickering)

STEPHANOPOULOS: — on persons or property for public purposes.”

OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Miriam’s dictionary (sic), the definition of tax increase indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise you wouldn’ta gone to the dictionary to check on the definition! I mean —

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no.

OBAMA: If — if what you’re saying is —

STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself, but your critics say it is a tax increase.

OBAMA: My critics say everything’s a tax increase! My critics say that I’m taking over, uhh, every sector of the economy. You know that! Uh, eh, eh… Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we’re gonna have an individual mandate or not but —

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that it’s a tax increase?

OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.”

Read more:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/06/28/the_court_rules_obamacare_is_the_largest_tax_increase_in_the_history_of_the_world

Some are fretting about this decision and the role Chief Justice Roberts played. I am not. Obama, et al have shot themselves in the foot and it is a near certainty that Obamacare will be repealed.

It is Obama’s tax and spend policies that have destroyed the economy and job market.

Now we have the US Supreme Court calling Obamacare what it is.

A big tax increase.

Thanks to commenter Starla, et al.

74 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, constitution, Courts, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, Judges, Lies, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, ObamaCare, Presidential candidate, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Justice, The Case Against Barack Obama, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Obama and attorneys unholy alliance, Obama makes Daniel Frawley attorney federal judge, Robert Bauer heads up 2012 election attorney legion, Rulers Of Darkness

Posted on June 26, 2012 | 232 comments

Obama and attorneys unholy alliance, Obama makes Daniel Frawley attorney federal judge, Robert Bauer heads up 2012 election attorney legion, Rulers Of Darkness

“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense,  to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“Best case scenario: A high percentage of law school graduates, new attorneys, have already sold their soul to the devil or are in the process of doing so. Any auguments?”…Citizen Wells

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms”…Ephesians 6:12

Recall some of the biggest controversies in national politics over the past 15 to 20 years. At the highest level in US government. Especially focus on the 2008 election cycle moving forward. Who comes to mind? What are their backgrounds?

Of course Bill Clinton was impeached and lost his law license. His wife, Hillary, another attorney, has now been tied to the fast and furious scandal.

John Edwards, one of the 2008 presidential contenders, cheated on his wife, who was fighting cancer, and was recently prosecuted.

And of course, the latest duo of scumbag attorneys, Barack and Michelle Obama both surrendered their law licenses. Barack lied on his IL bar application.

Obama and attorneys unholy alliance

Obama’s support from the legions of darkness was revealed in 2008.

Robert Bauer, who in 2008 as an attorney for Perkins Coie, helped Obama keep his records hidden in court challenges, who assisted Obama as general counsel beginning in 2009, has now been chosen to head up a legion of attorneys for the 2012 election.

From the AP June 26, 2012.

“Obama prepping thousands of lawyers for election”
“President Barack Obama’s campaign has recruited a legion of lawyers to be on standby for this year’s election as legal disputes surrounding the voting process escalate.

Thousands of attorneys and support staffers have agreed to aid in the effort, providing a mass of legal support that appears to be unrivaled by Republicans or precedent. Obama’s campaign says it is particularly concerned about the implementation of new voter ID laws across the country, the possibility of anti-fraud activists challenging legitimate voters and the handling of voter registrations in the most competitive states.”

“Former White House counsel Robert Bauer, who is organizing the Obama campaign’s legal deployment, said there is great concern this year because he believes GOP leaders around the county have pursued new laws to impede the right to vote.

“The Republican Party and their allies have mapped out their vote suppression campaign as a response to our success in 2008 with grass-roots organization and successful turnout,” Bauer said. “This is their response to defeat: changing the rules of participation so that fewer participate.””

Read more:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_LAWYERING_UP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-26-12-58-13

Patrick Fitzgerald, who delayed the prosecution of Rod Blagojevich until after the 2008 election, was given an assignment by Obama in 2009.

“US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who brought criminal fraud charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will stay on with the Obama administration”…Pete Williams, NBC

On July 30, 2009 Patrick Fitzgerald was named interim chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC).

Obama recently nominated Thomas Durkin for a federal judge position. You remember Durkin, one of Daniel Frawley’s attorneys. The Daniel Frawley who mentioned money that Tony Rezko gave to Obama in a sworn deposition.

From the Chicago Tribune May 21, 2012.

“Obama nominates Chicago lawyer for federal bench”

“On Monday, Obama nominated Thomas M. Durkin, who was a federal prosecutor here from 1980 until 1993, to fill one of three remaining vacant judicial seats on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  A Downers Grove resident, Durkin, 58, has the support of both Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-obama-nominates-chicago-lawyer-for-federal-bench-20120521,0,3549643.story

Of course you noted that the Tribune did not mention Daniel Frawley. As stated at Citizen Wells before, the Chicago Tribune has made a habit out of that.

However, the Chicago SunTimes did tie Durkin to Frawley and ultimately to Rezko and Obama.

From the Chicago SunTimes July 11, 2011.
“Frawley says in the deposition that on March 13, 2006, he was in the Dirksen Federal Building at 219 S. Dearborn, making a phone call to Rezko’s cell phone and secretly recording him when attorney Weaver walked in and interrupted him.

Also in the room at the time, according to Frawley, were: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Stern; James “Sam” Dorger Jr., of the Illinois attorney general’s office’s public-integrity unit; an “FBI agent whose name I do not recall”; and Thomas Durkin, a criminal attorney also representing Frawley.

“I was on the phone, making a phone call to Tony Rezko,” Frawley says, according to the transcript. “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,” drawing his hand across his throat.

Later in the deposition, Weaver’s lawyer, Daniel F. Konicek, asks Frawley about what specific information Weaver is supposed to have told Frawley to withhold from federal authorities.

“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 asks Frawley.

Frawley doesn’t answer. So Konicek presses him: “Am I correct it was about Obama being paid by Rezko?”

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

Nobody directly involved with the deposition — including Frawley and his lawyers, Weaver and his lawyers, and the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office — would comment.”

Read more:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/6394342-452/ex-rezko-partner-being-sentenced-tuesday.html

And folks, let’s not forget the legion of US Justice Attorneys who have assisted Obama since January 2009 in keeping his records hidden at taxpayer expense.

Thanks to commenters Philo-Publius and bessie.

232 Comments

Posted in Attorney General, Attorneys, Barack Obama, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Clintons, corruption, Election 2008, Election 2012, Federal Court, Judges, Law firms, Lawyers, Lucifer, Michelle Obama, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Patrick Fitzgerald, Pay to play politics, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US Department of Justice, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Stuart Levine sentencing June 28, 2011, Rezko Blagojevich Obama crony, Levine among most valuable witnesses in 3 decades, Blagojevich arrest delayed

Posted on June 22, 2012 | 55 comments

Stuart Levine sentencing June 28, 2011, Rezko Blagojevich Obama crony, Levine among most valuable witnesses in 3 decades, Blagojevich arrest delayed

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald, instead of protecting the citizens of Illinois as he has touted, prosecute Tony Rezko first, a businessman, instead of Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.”…Citizen Wells

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“At Rod Blagojevich’s December sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar called Levine one of the most significant cooperators the Dirksen Federal Courthouse had ever seen.”…Natasha Korecki, Chicago SunTimes

Stuart Levine, corruption buddy of Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama is finally being sentenced on Thursday, June 28, 2012.

Daily Calendar

Thursday, June 28, 2012 (As of 06/22/12 at 01:48:43 PM)

Honorable Amy J. St. Eve                    Courtroom 1241 (ASE)

1:05-cr-00691   USA v. Levine                          10:00   Sentencing

http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/home/DailyCal/0.htm

From the Chicago Tribune June 16, 2012.

“Prosecutors: Levine among ‘most valuable’ witnesses in 3 decades”

“Prosecutors called their key witness against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and two top advisers “one of the most valuable cooperators” in three decades of public-corruption prosecutions in a late-Friday filing arguing for a light sentence.

Stuart Levine could have faced life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 5 years and 7 months in exchange for Levine’s cooperation. Friday’s filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, during a hearing in April, asked for a “lengthy recitation of Levine’s cooperation.”

Levine didn’t testify against Blagojevich, but prosecutors noted “the case against Blagojevich was made possible only by Levine’s cooperation.”

“The government not only used information provided initially by Levine in the case against Blagojevich, it was Levine’s decision to cooperate that set in motion the series of events that led directly to the government obtaining the evidence and witnesses it needed to prosecute Blagojevich,” prosecutors wrote.

Friday’s filing, in advance of Levine’s June 28 sentencing, recognizes both Levine’s cooperation and his extensive criminal history.

Levine testified against former Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is now in federal prison, and was the star witness against Springfield power broker, William Cellini, who is awaiting sentencing. During his testimony at Cellini’s trial, Levine described in detail the million-dollar bribes he tried to orchestrate and told of his extensive drug use and cocaine parties he attended.

“Levine’s cooperation has proven to be every bit as important as the government hoped it would be. As a result of (his) assistance, the government charged and convicted people of extremely serious crimes who otherwise would not have been caught.””

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-prosecutors-levine-among-most-valuable-witnesses-in-3-decades-20120615,0,829553.story

Federal prosecutors have lauded Stuart Levine as a great, cooperative witness. Why then did they not prosecute Blagojevich first to protect the citizens of Illinois and then wait until after the 2008 election to arrest him?

Couple the value given to Levine by the prosecutors with the timeline. There is only one logical conclusion to come to. The prosecution of Rod Blagojevich was delayed to protect Barack Obama.

From Citizen Wells December 10, 2011.

“2006 is the pivotal turning point.

1. Blagojevich and his corruption buddies are in trouble.

2. Blagojevich, the presumptive presidential candidate, is out and Obama, the unknown, is in. So is the fix.

Rod Blagojevich was elected governor of Illinois in 2002.

From the Blagojevich Criminal Complaint.

“Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations
of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has conspired with multiple individuals”
From the Washington Post December 22, 2008.

“The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.
Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.

Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122102334.html?w

The following events leading up to 2006 are damning!

June 7, 2004: Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican reappointed to the powerful Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, abruptly resigns on the eve of several important hospital expansion votes. The revelation is the first indication that the Blagojevich administration is under federal criminal investigation.

June 27, 2004: The Tribune discloses that an official for one hospital seeking permission to expand was wearing a federal bug during meetings in an effort to expose extortion attempts by Levine and others for contributions to Blagojevich.

July 2, 2004: Levine resigns from his seat on the board of the state Teachers’ Retirement System. It remains undisclosed that federal authorities had secretly taped Levine’s conversations.

May 9, 2005: Levine is indicted on corruption charges. Federal subpoenas are issued to numerous administration sources, including top Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko

May 20, 2005: The governor’s office acknowledges to the Tribune that Rezko has an ongoing eight-year professional relationship with Patricia Blagojevich’s home-based real estate brokerage, River Realty Inc.

Sept 15, 2005: Prominent Democratic fundraiser Joseph Cari and a former lawyer for the state’s teacher’s pension board pleads guilty in an extortion scheme that steered state pension business to favored companies in exchange for campaign contributions to a high-ranking public official described in court documents only as “Public official A.”

Oct. 25, 2005: The Tribune discloses a federal grand jury investigation into the alleged political hiring practices of the Blagojevich administration, including the governor’s top hiring aide, Joseph Cini.

Aug. 5, 2006: The Tribune reports that Levine is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government.

Sept. 10, 2006: The Tribune reveals that the FBI is investigating allegations by a one-time Blagojevich family friend that she had concerns her state job may have come in return for a $1,500 personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich’s children.

Sept. 17, 2006: The Tribune reports that the Blagojevich administration skirted state hiring rules to give jobs to at least 360 people whose applications were sent through back channels by the governor’s offices and politically connected officials.

Oct. 11, 2006: Blagojevich confidant and top fundraiser Rezko is indicted on federal charges he sought millions of dollars in kickbacks and campaign donations from firms seeking state business.

Oct. 27, 2006: Political insider Levine pleads guilty in a scheme to squeeze millions of dollars from firms seeking state business. In court papers, federal authorities spell out allegations that Rezko and another schemer, identified by sources as Blagojevich confidant and top fundraiser Christopher Kelly, were using their influence for corrupt purposes.

Oct. 27, 2006: The Tribune reveals that Blagojevich’s wife, Patricia, earned more than $113,000 in real estate commissions in 2006 through a woman with a no-bid state contract whose banker husband–a major Blagojevich fundraiser–has business pending before state regulators. Both the FBI and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office begin investigations.”

Next examine what else happens in 2006.

“Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has always been rumored to be interested in higher office. A single entry in a campaign-finance report he filed this week could add fuel to the speculation.

Blagojevich paid $7,500 in December to one of the top Democratic political strategists in Iowa, where contacts are important for anyone with presidential aspirations.”

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2006/02/blagojevich_for_president.html

“In the Summer of 2006, then-U.S. Sen. Obama backed Blagojevich even though there were serious questions at the time about Blago’s hiring practices.

At the time, numerous state agencies had had records subpoenaed, with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald telling authorities he was looking into “very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud” with a “number of credible witnesses.”

In an interview with the Chicago Daily Herald in July 2006, then-Sen. Obama said, “I have not followed closely enough what’s been taking place in these investigations to comment on them. Obviously I’m concerned about reports that hiring practices at the state weren’t, at times, following appropriate procedures. How high up that went, the degree at which the governor was involved, is not something I’m going to speculate on.

“If I received information that made me believe that any Democrat had not been acting in the public interest, I’d be concerned,” Obama said.

That said, Mr. Obama said, “If the governor asks me to work on his behalf, I’ll be happy to do it.”

Apparently the governor did. At the Illinois State Fair in August 2006, Obama spoke on Blagojevich’s behalf.

“We’ve got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois,” Obama told the crowd.

In January 2007, Blagojevich’s office reserved the Old State Capitol for Mr. Obama’s presidential announcement at Obama’s request.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html

Instead of protecting the citizens of Illinois as he has touted, Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted Rezko, a businessman, instead of Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.

From Patrick Fitzgerald’s Government Sentencing Memorandum.

“Antoin Rezko, …recently received a sentence of 126 months’ imprisonment for corrupt activity that he engaged in directly with Blagojevich or with  lagojevich’s tacit approval. Yet, Rezko: (a) held no elected office of trust;”

By prosecuting Rezko first and not calling him as a witness, they kept him incarcerated with no ability to rat on Obama.

They delayed the arrest of Blagojevich until after the 2008 election.

The prosecution botched the first Blagojevich trial and did not call Rezko as a witness.

Counts 1,2 and 4, the ones with the oldest corruption activity and the strongest ties to Obama, were dropped. The alleged excuse was to streamline and simplify the case. Of course if Blagojevich had been arrested by 2007 that would not have happened and Obama would not have been elected.

The second Blagojevich trial also did not call Rezko as a witness. This added to the delays. Blagojevich has just been sentenced.

The day of Blagojevich’s sentencing, we learn that Tony Rezko has filed an appeal. A Blagojevich appeal is sure to follow.

The Blagojevich and Rezko appeal process will go late into or past the 2012 election cycle. Once again protecting Obama.

This is simple enough even for a fifth grader, maybe even a congressman to follow.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/blagojevich-rezko-obama-patrick-fitzgerald-justice-department-near-perfect-crime-obama-protected-delayed-prosecution-of-blagojevich-rezko-behind-bars/

 
Thanks to commenter Rebel Mope.

55 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Crime, FBI, Federal Court, Illinois, Judges, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama thugs, Patrick Fitzgerald, Pay to play politics, Rezko, Stuart Levine, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US Department of Justice, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,