Category Archives: Lawyers

Rezko not called as witness by prosecution, Fix in 2006, Obama protected by Justice Department

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

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

“Why were Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko not called as witnesses in the Blagojevich trials? FBI agent Daniel Cain testified in the Rezko trial. Why was agent Cain not questioned more in the Blagojevich trial?…Citizen Wells

Why wasn’t Tony Rezko called as a witness by the prosecution in either Blagojevich trial? To protect Barack Obama. The fix was in in 2006.

Background on the Rigging of the Illinois Health Planning Facilities Board.

Jan. – Aug. 2003:  Obama was Chairman of the IL Senate Health and Human Service Committee.
Feb. 20, 2003: Senate Bill 1332 “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act” filed. Reduced members of IL Health Planning and Facilities Board from 15 to 9.

(Rezko Trial March 13, 2008; 3:09 p.m.)

“Almanaseer was appointed to the planning board in 2003 on Rezko’s recommendation. Prosecutors contend he became part of a five-member voting bloc on the board that followed Rezko’s wishes. Almanaseer said board Chairman Thomas Beck tried to steer his voting.

“He said, ‘If you just don’t know which way to vote, vote the way Mr. Levine votes because that’s the way Tony would want the vote to go,” Almanaseer recalled, referring to Stuart Levine.”

Spring 2003 – Nov 2003: (Rezko trial March 11, 2008; 10:58 a.m.)

“Jennifer Thomas, a former aide to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s patronage chief Joe Cini, continued on the stand Tuesday morning and gave a few more insights into those regular Monday morning meetings she and Cini held in 2003 with Antoin “Tony” Rezko at his office.”

“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.”
May 21, 2003: Senate Bill 1332 passed by House and Senate.
JUNE 27, 2003: Blagojevich made this the effective date of Senate Bill 1332.
June 2003: (Rezko trial March 10, 2008; 4:16 p.m.)

“Ziegelmueller asked Hayden about a 2003 e-mail exchange with Lichtenstein, then the governor’s top lawyer, in which Wilhelm made recommendations for the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
The name of Barack Obama, the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, also appears in the e-mail as a member of a strategic team reviewing hospital board matters with the governor’s staff when he was a state senator. The hospital board was scheduled to be revamped in the summer of 2003.
Obama was then chairman of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services.”
June 30, 2003: Obama gets the following donations.

$5000 Ali Ata was appointed as Director at IFA
$6000 Alison Davis gets appointment on Investment Board
$15,000 Dr. Michael Malek gets appointment on Hospital Facility Board
$5000  Abdelhamid Chaib’s wife gets appointment on Employee Security Board
$10,000 Elie Maloof – Rezko used him as one of several strawmen to donate funds to certain politicians.
$1000  Phil Cacciatore (one of Auchi’s Riverside Park Investors) gets seat on Board
$1000  Velma Butler (one of Auchi’s Riverside Park Investors) was recommended for Board
$1000  Martello Pollack (Vegas Crystal Comm) received Iraqi Construction contracts
$1000 Jack Carriglio gets appointed to Board
$500  Anthony Abboud gets appointed to Board
$3000 Michael Winter, who helped Rezko in funneling kickbacks through investment firm
$1000 Talat Othman gets appointed to Board
$1000 David Gustman, $1000 from Gustman’s wife after he is appointed Board Chairman
Late 2003: Earliest documented awareness by FBI and Patrick Fitzgerald of corruption in Blagojevich admin. Pamela Meyer Davis agreed to secretly record conversations involving state health planning board with an FBI wire.

2004 – 2005: (February 10, 2008 Sun-Times)

“In the media, Obama always 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,“

During his March 14, 2008 interview, the Times told Obama, 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.””

April 8 – May 21, 2004: (Rezko Trial March 12, 2008.)

“FBI Special Agent Daniel Cain, the primary case agent on the investigation into Levine and Rezko, is on the stand now in testimony that is laying the foundation for entering the wiretaps into evidence.

Cain said the investigation, dubbed Operation Board Games by the federal agents, began in December 2003 and was prompted by information gleaned from an informant whom he did not identify. That witness, he said, took part in meetings with two other individuals who were in contact with Levine by phone at his home.

Cain said Levine had three phone lines in his North Shore home. Federal agents recorded conversations on those lines April 8-May 21, 2004. Those dates span the time when Levine, Rezko and others allegedly were working to rig the hospital board vote on a Mercy Health System hospital proposal for Crystal Lake and other kickback schemes prosecutors claim they were engaged in.”

From the Tony Rezko Indictment.

“The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (“Planning Board”) was a
commission of the State of Illinois, established by statute, whose
members were appointed by the Governor of the State of Illinois.”

“Overview of the Scheme

3. It was part of the scheme that defendants REZKO and LEVINE, with the assistance of Cari, Loren, Kiferbaum, Individual A, Individual B,
and others, fraudulently used and sought to use the position and influence of LEVINE and other members of the TRS Board of Trustees and the Planning
Board to obtain financial benefits for REZKO, LEVINE, and their nominees and associates. In the course of the scheme, REZKO and LEVINE solicited
and demanded millions of dollars in undisclosed kickbacks and payments, and received and directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in actual undisclosed
kickbacks and payments, for the benefit of REZKO, LEVINE, and their nominees and associates, from investment firms seeking to do business with TRS, and from Kiferbaum.”

“REZKO used his relationship with certain State of Illinois officials, to ensure that REZKO and LEVINE had the ability to influence the actions of TRS and the Planning Board for the benefit of themselves and their nominees and associates.”

From the Rod Blagojevich Complaint December 8, 2008.

“At the relevant time period, the Planning Board consisted of nine individuals.”

Rod Blagojevich was the presumed presidential candidate prior to 2006.

Oct. 29, 2003: Blagojevich interest in presidency (Blagojevich criminal complaint pg 14).

“During the conversation, Cari and ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed Cari’s fundraising background and work as a national fundraiser. ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed his interest in running for President of the United States.”

Feb. 4, 2006: (Chicago Sun-Times)

“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.”

Reports of corruption in the Blagojevich Administration began surfacing.

Oct. 25, 2005: The Chicago Tribune reports about a federal grand jury investigation into the alleged political hiring practices of the Blagojevich administration.

The tide changes and Blagojevich is running for Governor again.

Feb. 19, 2006: Blago began his 2006 re-election to IL Governor.
Aug. 5, 2006: The Chicago Tribune reports that Stuart Levine is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government.
Aug. 11-20 2006: Illinois State Fair. “We’ve got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois,” Obama told the crowd.

Tony Rezko is indicted on October 11, 2006. This is a turning point. By this point the fix is in or being planned to Protect Obama.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/indict/2006/us_v_levin_et_al_super.pdf

Oct. 22, 2006: Obama publicly states he is considering a run for the Presidency.

Jan. 16, 2007 — Obama announces his intention to run for president.

From 2006 on, every move in the prosecution in “Operation Board Games” of Tony Rezko, et al, was designed to protect Obama. This includes, but is not limited to, delaying the prosection of everyone, especially Rod Blagojevich, not calling Tony Rezko and other key witnesses in the Blagojevich trials, watering down the language in the Blagojevich indictments and dropping counts 1,2 and 4.

This is why Tony Rezko was not called as a witness and the “prosecution” has played out in such a dubious manner.

God help this country.