Theodore F. Stevens, a U.S. Senator from Alaska, was indicted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, of seven counts of making false statements related to Stevens’ financial disclosure forms. Stevens is a Republican Senator. Will Stevens be pressured to resign? William Jefferson (D-LA) in the House, was indicted on corruption charges. He remains in Congress and still has his committee assignments. Stevens was stripped of his committee assignments by Senate leadership.
Pay close attention to the following:
Obama has a long time close association to convicted corruption figure Tony Rezko. Obama is tied to recently convicted Dr. Robert Weinstein, who also worked with Michelle Obama. Look at the conviction counts of Tony Rezko, the indictment of Weinstein and then compare them to the indictment of Theodore F. Stevens. After reviewing them look at the petition to impeach Barack Obama.
Here is the Department of Justice announcement of Steven’s indictment:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOVCRM
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888
U.S. Senator Indicted on False Statement Charges
WASHINGTON – United States Senator Theodore F. Stevens of Alaska was charged today in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia with seven counts of making false statements related to Stevens’ financial disclosure forms, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced.
The seven-count indictment charges Sen. Stevens, the former chairperson of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, with engaging in a nearly eight-year scheme to conceal his receipt of more than $250,000 in things of value from VECO Corporation, formerly a multi-national oil services company based in Alaska, and Bill J. Allen, the Chief Executive Officer of VECO at the time. According to the indictment, Stevens concealed these things of value from his publicly filed United States Senate financial disclosure forms. The things of value that Stevens allegedly received included: substantial home improvements to property Stevens owns in Girdwood, Alaska; automobile exchanges in which Stevens received new vehicles worth far more than the used vehicles Stevens provided in exchange; and household goods. The indictment also alleges that Sen. Stevens, during the same time that he was concealing his continuing receipt of these things of value from VECO and Allen, received solicitations for official actions from Allen and other VECO employees, and that Sen. Stevens used his position and office on behalf of VECO during that same time period.
The indictment specifically charges Stevens with making false statements on his financial disclosure forms for calendar years 2001 to 2006. The indictment alleges that, during each of those years, Stevens knowingly failed to report his receipt of any thing of value from Allen, VECO or two other individuals, despite the fact that the forms required Stevens to report his receipt of such things of value.
As set forth in the indictment, the Ethics in Government Act requires all members of the United States Senate to file a financial disclosure form, detailing specified financial transactions that the elected official engaged in during the prior calendar year, including disclosure of gifts over a specified monetary amount and disclosure of liabilities in excess of $10,000 owed during any point of a calendar year.
The indictment is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation in the state of Alaska. An indictment is merely an allegation. Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
To date, there have been seven criminal convictions arising out of the ongoing investigation. Thomas T. Anderson, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, was convicted in July 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison for extortion, conspiracy, bribery and money laundering for soliciting and receiving money from an FBI confidential source in exchange for agreeing to perform official acts to further a business interest represented by the source. Peter Kott, a former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, was convicted in September 2007 and sentenced to six years in prison for extortion, bribery and conspiracy. Victor H. Kohring, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, was convicted at trial in November 2007 for attempted extortion, bribery and conspiracy, and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. In March 2008, James A. Clark, chief of staff to the former governor of Alaska, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud. In addition, former Anchorage lobbyist William Bobrick pleaded guilty in May 2007 to felony public corruption charges.
Former VECO Chief Executive Officer Bill J. Allen and former VECO Vice President of Community Affairs and Government Relations Richard L. Smith, pleaded guilty in May 2007 to providing more than $400,000 in corrupt payments to public officials from the state of Alaska.
This case is being prosecuted by Principal Deputy Chief Brenda K. Morris, Trial Attorneys Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, headed by Chief William M. Welch II, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini and James A. Goeke from the District of Alaska. The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative Division.”
Here are the counts of corruption Tony Rezko was convicted of:
The Rezko verdict, count by count
June 5, 2008
Here’s how Tony Rezko fared on each of the 24 charges he faced and what each involved:
GUILTY:
COUNT 1, Mail Fraud: A completed questionnaire sent July 18, 2003 via United Parcel Service from Glencoe Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm, to the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System’s Springfield office.
COUNT 2, Mail Fraud: Glencoe Capital presentation materials sent to TRS via United Parcel Service July 30, 2003.
COUNT 4, Wire Fraud: An April 14, 2004, phone call from Stuart Levine in Highland Park to attorney Joseph Cari in Hong Kong to discuss the name of a consultant to receive a finder’s fee from the Virginia-based investment firm, JER Partners, in exchange for an allocation from TRS.
COUNT 5, Wire Fraud: A $750,000 compensation agreement faxed May 19, 2004, from a firm in the Turks & Caicos Islands, British West Indies, to JER in Virginia on May 19, 2004.
COUNT 6, Wire Fraud: A May 20, 2004, phone call from Chicago attorney Joseph Cari pressuring JER to sign the compensation agreement.
COUNT 7, Mail Fraud: A May 10, 2004, Federal Express shipment of materials related to investment firm Sterling Financial’s application for an allocation of TRS assets.
COUNT 8, Mail Fraud: A May 19, 2004, Federal Express envelope from Sterling to TRS containing materials related to its planned presentation at the May 2004 TRS board meeting.
COUNT 11, Mail Fraud: A Nov. 25, 2003, letter from contractor Jacob Kiferbaum seeking the contract for construction of a hospital in Crystal Lake and offering help in obtaining approval for the project from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
COUNT 12, Mail Fraud: A May 24, 2004, letter from the planning board to Mercy Hospital confirming that the board approved the hospital project.
COUNT 13, Wire Fraud: An April 17, 2004, phone call from Levine to friend and partner Dr. Robert Weinstein to discuss the applications of three money management firms, Stockwell, IMH and Capri Capital for TRS allocations.
COUNT 14, Wire Fraud: An April 21 phone call from Levine to Weinstein to discuss IMH and Mercy Hospital.
COUNT 15, Wire Fraud: A May 21, 2004, phone call from Levine to Weinstein to discuss JER, IMH, Capri, Mercy Hospital and TRS assets.
COUNT 17, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: Plan under which Chicago money manager Sheldon Pekin was told by Levine to split a finder’s fee from Glencoe Capital and pay Rezko business associate Joseph Aramanda $250,000.
COUNT 20, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: The illegal solicitation by Levine of funds from JER to be paid to a consultant named by Rezko and Levine.
COUNT 23, Money Laundering: A March 24, 2004, check from Pekin to Aramanda for $125,000, part of a fee from Glencoe Capital.
COUNT 24, Money Laundering: An April 26, 2004, check from Pekin to Aramanda for $125,000, part of a fee from Glencoe Capital.
Here is the Department of Justice announcement of Weinstein’s indictment:
“United States Attorney
Northern District of Illinois
Patrick J. Fitzgerald
United States Attorney
Federal Building
219 South Dearborn Street, Fifth Floor Chicago, Illinois 60604
(312) 353-5300
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY JUNE 27, 2008
www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln PRESS CONTACTS:
AUSA Daniel Gillogly
AUSA/PIO Randall Samborn (312)886-1328
(312)353-5318
DR. ROBERT WEINSTEIN INDICTED FOR ALLEGED ROLE IN DEFRAUDING MEDICAL SCHOOL AND CHARITY OF MILLIONS WITH STUART LEVINE
CHICAGO – An area physician and businessman was indicted on federal charges for his alleged role in defrauding a north suburban medical school and a charitable organization in a multimillion dollar scheme with his longtime business partner and others, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced today. The defendant, Robert J. Weinstein, and his partner, Stuart Levine, were both trustees of the two alleged fraud victims – the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, formerly known as the Finch University of Health Sciences/the Chicago Medical School (CMS) in North Chicago, and the Northshore Supporting Organization (NSO), which Weinstein created in 2001 ostensibly to provide financial support to CMS. Weinstein and Levine, who has pleaded guilty in related cases and is cooperating with the Government, and others allegedly fraudulently obtained millions of dollars for Weinstein and Levine by misusing their trustee positions and taking money belonging to CMS and NSO. Weinstein was also charged with lying to federal agents about whether Levine ever told him about the influence that recently convicted businessman and political fund-raiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko had over the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, on which Levine served.
Weinstein, 62, of Northbrook and Delray Beach, Fla., was charged with one count each of wire fraud, mail fraud and making false statements, in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury late yesterday. He will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court.
The indictment is part of Operation Board Games, an ongoing federal public corruption investigation of insider-dealing, influence-peddling and kickbacks involving private interests and public duties related to various state boards and non-profit organizations.
Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Thomas P. Brady, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago.
Between early 2000 and March 2003, Weinstein and Levine allegedly engaged in two specific fraudulent transactions that deprived CMS and NSO of money and the honest services of the two trustees.
In one deal, according to the indictment, in 2000, Weinstein and Levine sought to obtain millions of dollars for themselves in connection with CMS’s proposed development of property it owned at 2020 West Ogden Ave., Chicago, near various hospitals and healthcare facilities. They allegedly used their influence as trustees of CMS to require Developer A, as a condition of doing business with CMS, to pay their designee, Co-Schemer S, approximately 20 percent of the net profits of the development, even though Co-Schemer S had nothing to do with the project and never even met with representatives of the developer. Unbeknownst to CMS and Developer A, Co-Schemer S was acting secretly as a middleman for Weinstein and Levine to conceal their financial interest in the project, and Co-Schemer S would transfer some or all of the proceeds he received to them. Weinstein and Levine used John Glennon, who has pleaded guilty to other charges related to CMS and was CMS’s consultant on the development project, to convey their unlawful demands to Developer A, thus concealing their roles in demanding to receive any proceeds, the charges allege.
In the second deal, Weinstein and Levine, assisted by C-Schemer S, allegedly looted $6 million from NSO by causing NSO to transfer $3 million to each of them in exchange for two $3 million promissory notes, which neither of them intended to repay. Weinstein and Levine allegedly concealed this fraud by orchestrating a series of sham transactions among NSO, CMS, and Co-Schemer S, which ultimately resulted in neither Weinstein nor Levine having to repay the $6 million, thus allowing them to misappropriate the money from NSO for themselves.
The false statements count alleges that on May 24, 2004, Weinstein lied to an FBI agent when he said that Levine never told him that Rezko had influence over the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, the state board that regulates hospital construction and expansion. In fact, the indictment alleges Weinstein knew that he and Levine had discussed Rezko’s influence over the Planning Board, including in a recorded conversation on April 21, 2004, in which Levine explicitly advised Weinstein of Rezko’s role in manipulating the Planning Board’s vote earlier that day on the Certificate of Need application of Mercy Health System Corp. Hospital and other matters. The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaarina Salovaara.
If convicted, mail fraud and wire fraud each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or an alternative maximum fine of twice the gross profit to any defendant or twice the loss to any victim. Making false statements carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
There should be one standard for all, Senators and Representatives, Republican and Democrat.
Will Obama be indicted next?
Next, go to the Petition to Impeach Senator Obama site. Read the petition and compare it to what you have just read.
How can you not sign the petition and followup with a hand signed letter?
Citizen WElls 