Results tagged “corruption”

The conviction of former Streets and Sanitation commissioner Al Sanchez is set to be reviewed by a judge today. Defense attorneys have asked for the review claiming prosecutors failed to reveal certain information about Brian Gabriel, one of their witnesses. According to WBEZ:

The Tribune has discovered that Michael Scott has more of an interest in the Olympics than civic pride. Scott, a Chicago 2016 committee member, president of the Chicago Public Schools and a "friend of Richie", also served as a consultant to a condominium developer near the proposed Olympic Village site, a deal that could result in the project being worth far more than it currently is. For his part, Scott says that there's no conflict, given the depth of his role in the project. "I had no financial interest. I didn't do any real work," Scott told the Tribune. This, of course, is all in addition to the story from earlier this summer that Scott owns land located near the proposed Olympic cycling venue, something that Scott and others have said was not a conflict of interest.

Six aldermen have been subpoenaed in the trial of developer Calvin Boender as his attorneys attempt to extricate him from a fraud conviction. Boender was indicted with Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) on charges related to the Galewood Yards project on the West Side. The aldermen, who have not yet been identified by the city, have been ordered to provide trial testimony.

All those public appearance fees and book profits may be for naught for former governor Rod Blagojevich. A new law just signed by Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday would prevent convicted public officials from making any sort of profit from crimes. If Blago's convicted, according to the Tribune:

The state put the brakes on county spending for the Presidents Office of Employment and Training (POET) Tuesday, citing corruption and mismanagement of the funds. “POET has been a mismanaged agency for a long time,” said Republican County Commissioner Timothy Schneider of Streamwood. “This department has seen rampant waste, corruption and mismanagement for many years.” Earlier this year Shirley Glover, who oversaw the program, pleaded guilty to charges of stealing $100,000 and was sentenced to four years in prison. And in January of last year, three former POET employees were charged along with two ministers of conspiracy to funnel more than $2 million from banks and taxpayers for bogus training.

The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization will file suit against the City of Chicago today, alleging that the deal inked with Morgan Stanley to lease the city's parking meters for the next 75 years is illegal. According to a press release the organization will make copies of the suit public at a 10:30 a.m. press conference. The organization is working with Clint Krislov, of Krislov & Associates, Ltd.

The sale of convicted felon Tony Rezko's North Shore mansion at auction was supposed to happen yesterday, but the sale was postponed until August 17. Rezko has exhausted his funds on legal fees and other costs. Bank of America won a foreclosure judgment on the home earlier this year after he defaulted on the nearly $6 million loan. There is just over $5 million still owed on the property. According to Crain's, several Wilmette real estate brokers believe the home could sell for between $3 and $4 million. “It’s a small market for homes that are in that upper bracket,” Sharon Freidman, a sales associate in the Winnetka South office of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC told Crain's. “There aren’t that many people out there with a lot of money. The dot-commers have come and gone.” Maybe Yelp can buy it and have another Halloween bash, up in Wilmette this year.

Robert Vanecko, the mayor's nephew who's use of city pension funds for real estate investments is now under federal investigation, is moving forward with a planned development in the South Loop. According to the Sun-Times, DV Urban Reality, the real estate investment firm run by Vanecko and Daley ally Allison Davis, are moving forward with plans to demolish the Chicago Letter Carrier's union building to construct a 220-unit apartment building. The letter carriers will move to a new building at 38th and Wabash.

Renewing his previous calls for federal funds to expand O'Hare, Mayor Daley told a room full of airline executives that it seems like the government has forgotten about the airline industry. Citing the jobs created by his airport expansion, (which is behind schedule, over budget and under a federal corruption investigation), the mayor bemoaned the paltry $12 million he got from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a sum he touted as "better than nothing".

As the date of the formal announcement of which city will host the 2016 Summer Olympics approaches, it seems that there are still unanswered questions about who will finance the Games and how it will all be paid for. Among the members of the city council, 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores has been perhaps one of the most outspoken proponents of transparency and accountability in the bid process. Flores has already introduced an ordinance that would cap the city's liabilities for the Games at $500 million, the amount previously approved by the city council. Now Flores is raising the stakes in his calls for accountability for the Games. In an editorial published in the Tribune yesterday, he outlines five points that he believes will protect taxpayers and provide the protections needed to support a city guarantee for the Games.

Conventional wisdom around Cook County is that Todd Stroger is toast in the next election. But voter sentiment might not be the only thing at play in the primaries. That's because, according to an investigation by the Daily Herald and the Better Government Association, county contractors have not only benefited from contracts that weren't the best price, they've also been making contributions to Todd Stroger's campaign. Of 11 contracts for professional services, only three went to the low-bidder, and all 11 went to politically connected businesses. Two contracts in particular stand out, according to the Herald, because they will be paid substantially more than the original price quoted:

Los Angeles-based Wilton Partners may have to default on a $83.2 million loan it took out five years ago to finance the overhaul of seven Illinois tollroad oases. Wilton Partners owes iStar FM Loans LLC nearly $95 million in principal and interest payments, according to a foreclosure suit filed in April. Wilton also owes the state over $1 million in back rent and other payments. The slow economy has left the developer holding the bag on space that it can't lease out in the tollway oases. The kicker? The firm made huge campaign contributions to former governor Rod Blagojevich. Wilton Partners and its owner, Jay Wilton, gave Blagojevich $85,000 to his campaign in 2003 and '04. That included hosting a fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hilton in 2004. Wilton has also been connected to Tony Rezko. The firm cut rents in half for Subway and Panda Express restaurants that were owned by the convicted businessman.

Come on, feel the Illinoize indeed. Nevermind those 44 arrests in New Jersey last week. It seems that although that would seem to give The Garden State an advantage in corruption over Illinois, the FBI's statistics say otherwise. According to a report in the Sun-Times, Illinois still ranks pretty high in corruption if you're going by the number of FBI agents tracking political corruption cases. Chicago ranks 2nd in terms of U.S. cities, only behind Washington, D.C., putting Illinois near the top. Not only that, but former Springfield bureau chief Weysan Dun is now in charge in Newark so it's pretty easy to see where he cut his chops in preparation for last week's big bust.

We've all heard about the Clout List in the admissions office at University of Illinois. But it's never been clear where the students came from. The Trib's database project, the first that we've seen from Olde Chicago Journalism lately, lets you check out your metro-area high school's clout statistics - while encouraging tutt-tutting and tsk-tsking from, well, everyone else.

Former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez, who was convicted earlier this year on federal corruption charges, is asking for a new trial in light of new developments in the case. Sanchez, who was convicted in March of rigging hiring through his position as a city commissioner and his role in the Hispanic Democratic Organization, has asked the judge for a new trial, citing prosecutors failure to disclose that a key government witness was a high-ranking gang member and drug-trafficker. According to Sanchez's lawyer Thomas Breen, Brian Gabriel, who testified against Sanchez in the corruption trial, was a member of the Spanish Vice Lords. "It is hard to imagine information that is more impeaching of a witness than self-admitted gang membership, even if such membership is in the past," Breen said. "The evidence of gang membership was also no doubt suppressed by the government. The prosecution learned of Gabriel's gang affiliation prior to trial and prior to Gabriel's testimony yet did not disclose it to the defense."

While Laborers Union Local 1001 was one of the city unions that agreed to concessions as part of Mayor Daley's master plan to save the budget, the city did give one concession to Streets and Sanitation workers, without even being asked by the union. With Newly appointed Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne has implemented a disciplinary amnesty. In a department where nearly one third of the workforce is absent. Every day.

City Hall is ending its month to month lease at a warehouse on South Pulaski that Mayor Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko owned. Vanecko, you may remember, headed a real estate investment firm with Daley fundraiser Allison Davis. Davis and Vanecko got nearly $70 million in investment funding from five city pension funds. Both the city inspector general and federal prosecutors are investigating the deal, and Vanecko has since left the investment firm. Nevertheless, the city has determined that it no longer wants to be in the lease deal. But it's not because of the controversy. Certainly not.

Mayor Daley's beautification program has done wonders for downtown and tourism, but for Candy Basselen, who runs Springfield Supply, a steel fabrication company, Daley's love for wrought-iron fencing and fancy landscaping has cost her her business. That's because the city wouldn't grant her a new business license after she moved her business to a warehouse at 3348 S. Pulaski, the same warehouse owned by Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko. And until the warehouse had sufficient amounts of wrought-iron fencing and pleasant landscaping, the city told her, the building wouldn't be up to code. And therefore she couldn't get a business license.

In a move to tackle poor supervision and excessive spending, Mayor Daley rearranged his cabinet yesterday, removing Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi and replacing him with Thomas Byrne, who is currently head of the city's Transportation Department. Picardi, who has been the Streets and San boss since 2005, was criticized after the city inspector general dinged Picardi for lax field supervision, after investigators witnessed garbage crews taking long lunches, drinking beer on the job and urinating in the streets last fall.

The ongoing city scandal over real estate and leases involving the mayor's nephew has drawn the ire of 31st Ward Alderman Ray Suarez. Reacting to the questionable month-to-month lease the Department of General Services established back in November of 2007, Suarez told the Sun-Times that he should have signed off on it. Suarez is chair of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate.

In a column run yesterday on Crain's Taking Names blog, Greg Hinz pretty much summed up the mess Mayor Daley is returning to here in the City by the Lake.

As if the ongoing rift in the Daley family over mayoral nephew Robert Vanecko's connections weren't bad enough, the Bright One brings us more evidence of corruption in the mayor's family. According to records obtained by the Sun-Times, the city has been leasing property from clouted landlords, often at rental rates higher than market. Adding to the problems for the mayor is a warehouse at 3348 S. Pulaski that Vanecko and his business partners acquired, and which the city has paid more than $480,000 in rent over the past 15 months. The city uses that space to park dump trucks.

The political embarrassment of Mayor Daley has been brewing publicly for a few months now (not counting the earlier charges that his son and nephew had hidden ownership stakes in a company that did millions of dollars of business in contracts to clean city sewers). To wit, Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko, has been at the center of an investigation by city Inspector General David Hoffman, and now federal prosecutors, over a real estate investment firm he ran with Daley fundraiser Allison Davis, DV Urban Realty. That company, which bought up South side properties which eventually lost money in the hosuing meltdown last year, was financed with nearly $70 million in city pension funds.

The hunt is on for Dr. Charles Flowers, the county's Regional Superintendent of Suburban Cook County Schools after a state audit showed that he may have misused county funds for personal gains. The office, which issues teaching certificates, approves school calendars and reviews school districts' finances in suburban Cook County, was deemed so useless that it was eliminated in 1994. A political deal in Springfield later resurrected it. Flowers, who's is the head of the office, is suspected of using tens of thousands of dollars in state money to hire relatives and pay for personal expenses. Included in the spending is a vehicle, furniture and personal cash advances.

Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko announced his resignation Wednesday from DV Urban Realty, the real estate investment firm that is the subject of a federal investigation. DV Urban Realty, which is headed by Vanecko and City Hall insider Allison Davis, has come under scrutiny recently for nearly $70 million in investments it's obtained from five city pension funds, including police, teachers, laborers, municipal workers and CTA employees. Federal prosecutors, working with Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, subpoenaed records related to those investments almost two weeks ago.

A federal grand jury subpoenaed files related to four city pension funds that are invested in DV Urban Reality in late May. DV Urban Reality is the real estate invest firm headed by the mayor's nephew, Robert Vanecko. The city's Inspector General, David Hoffman (himself a former federal prosecutor) has been trying to get those records for several months now; the pension funds, which include teachers, municipal employees, laborers and CTA workers, have refused, saying Hoffman lacked the authority to subpoena the records. Hoffman has been investigating how's DV Urban Reality, which is headed by Vanecko and mayoral buddy Allison Davis, got nearly $70 million in funding from municipal pension funds. Hoffman has said that his office is now jointly conducting an investigation into the pension fund investments with federal prosecutors.

Amongst the many revelations in yesterday's unsealing of court documents relating to the indictment of Ald. Ike Carothers (29th) was the fact that Carothers had been helping investigators by wearing a wire for over a year, capturing public officials and real estate developers in recordings. Yet, it still wasn't enough for him to dodge the charges the U.S. Attorney levied against him. A motion from February and unsealed yesterday refers to the investigation against Galewood Yards developer Calvin Boender, also indicted yesterday, and to "Public Official A," who wore the wire. The motion says [via Chicago Breaking News]:

• Sen. Burris' explanation for that phone call with Rob Blagojevich? It was all a ruse.
• President Obama has nominated retired Chicago investment banker Louis Susman to be ambassador to Britain.
• As if the City Council didn't have enough to worry about today, aldermen are now complaining about fees to Noelle Brennan, the federal hiring monitor who has come down hard on City Hall's hiring abuses.

U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald announced today the indictment of Ald. Ike Carothers (29th) and Galewood Yards developer Calvin Boender on corruption and bribery charges. Specifically, Carothers was charged with four counts of wire or mail fraud and one count each of accepting a bribe and filing a false federal income tax return and Boender was charged with four counts of wire or mail fraud, two counts of obstruction of justice, two misdemeanor counts of violating federal campaign finance laws, and one count of paying a bribe. According to the U.S. Attorney's press release [PDF]:

As some commenters pointed out in our Burris Book post, the U.S. Atttorney's office has called a 2 p.m. press conference to announce a new indictment of a political figure. The Sun-Times is reporting it'll be against Ald. Ike Carothers (29th), who also serves as the chairman of the City Council's police and fire committee.