A Chicago bank owned by Democratic state treasurer candidate Alexi Giannoulias and his family loaned more than $20 million to firms controlled by two local developers who are awaiting trial on federal money laundering charges.
Boris Stratievsky, 44, and Lev Stratievsky, 67, who were arrested last June and charged with money laundering and forgery, obtained six mortgage loans from Broadway Bank between 2001 and 2005 to finance real estate purchases in Chicago, Buffalo Grove and Wheeling, according to county records.
As Broadway Bank vice president, Giannoulias oversees the loan department at the bank, 5960 N. Broadway, Chicago. Between August 2002 and April 2004, he served on the bank’s loan committee, which decides whether applicants will receive mortgage loans, according to a statement from the Giannoulias campaign.
Giannoulias, 30, a senior loan officer and vice president of Broadway Bank, 5960 N. Broadway, Chicago, did not respond to calls to his personal cell phone regarding his bank’s dealings with the Stratievskies.
But a campaign spokesman, Christopher Lackner, said bank officials handled the situation appropriately.
“Broadway follows policies that are designed and put in place to help catch and convict criminals,” he said. “Both the bank and (Giannoulias) were shocked and appalled to hear this stuff. The bank is working with the authorities on this issue.” […]
Boris Stratievsky and Lev Stratievsky, both of Highland Park, are in federal custody for allegedly laundering $210,000 in cash that they believed to be proceeds from illicit drug sales and distributing phony passports.
Both men are being held at the Metropolitan Corrections Center in Chicago without bail, awaiting an Oct. 3 trial. According to court documents, they are considered dangerous to the community and flight risks.
If convicted on charges of federal conspiracy to launder money and forgery, each Stratievsky could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s office would not comment on the case.
- HeKnowsBarack - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 9:22 am:
These explanations are sounding sillier and sillier. Wonder if it is time for Alexander to TTFN?
- frustrated GOP - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 9:23 am:
I really just want to know if he gets elected what is the spread to the State for laundering the mob’s money 20-30 baisis pts. What a great way to develop new revenue sources for the State.
- HeKnowsBarack - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 9:26 am:
I think the spokesman meant to Broadway Bank has a policy of attracting criminals to be customers. Maybe they should take the ATM out of the MCC!
- Anon - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 9:36 am:
Can we say TOAST!!!
With all of Blago’s scandals and now Alexi - things are finally looking up for the Repubs.
- Leroy - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 9:42 am:
If this guy is crooked, why aren’t the feds all over him?
He is, after all, running a BANK.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:26 am:
The silence from Saint Obama is deafening.
- Just Observing - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:29 am:
:)
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:34 am:
Today, Governor Blagojevich expressed shock and sadness at news that his campaign bus accidentially ran over Alexi Giannoulais, ending his campaign for Illinois Treasurer.
“Whats so sad is this is the same bus that had struck my father in law, the AFSCME leadership and Illinois taxpayers”, he noted briefly. “But whats even funnier, is that when I was coming down here, we stopped at a red light and I rolled down my window. A little African American girl, about 12-13 years old looked at me and said, “My God! There’s the guy that throws everyone under a bus to save his skin!”
- anon - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:35 am:
What does TTFN mean?
- ChicagoCynic - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:39 am:
I love Chris Lackner, but that was an assinine comment. What Alexi and the bank have demonstrated consistently through these stories is that they have no concept of the term “due dilligence.” Or if they do, they’ve never heard of Google. It’s not that it’s very hard to check people out these days. About fifteen minutes a crack should do it.
Alexi is toast. The only question is whether he’ll pull out or not. Barack screwed up on this and really needs to deal with this soon or he will be damaged.
BTW VanillaMan, very funny.
- Connect the dots - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:39 am:
Interesting
- bored now - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 11:07 am:
were the loans illegal? is there a criminal investigation over the bank’s activities? did the bank fail to assist prosecutors in their investigation(s)? iow, where’s the news?
and, just for kicks, please name a sizable bank that has none of these problems? i know, i know, he’s not an “insider.” we can’t have that…
- Truthful James - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 11:16 am:
Lev was a long time business person in the Chicago area operating and managing Banquet Halls very successfully. The last Banquet Hall project was the construction in Buffalo Grove of L’Ermitage. The business was sold in 2005 after the incareration and is now operating under a new name with better events.
Boris, his son, is another story entirely, commuting from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Chicago and doing unknown business.
Broadway funded the purchase of the shopping plaza and the financing of the construction of the Banquet Hall. The whole kit and caboodle was sold in 2004.
At some time thereafter (not known if this was before or after the sting caught them) the pair bought the Cole Taylor Bank Building in Wheeling and bought property just north on Milwaukee Avenue constructing a strip shopping center. Broadway may have financed one or both of these.
- 3rd Ward - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 11:18 am:
Where is Christine Radogno? I thought the Republicans would have been rallying around her by now.
I checked her website and only found a couple of fundraisers on her schedule.
The Democrats win in November, the only people paying attention to this stuff are political junkies like us.
Christine has not and can not make in roads with cook county dems the way JBT did.
The only question is, who will Alexi surround himself with win he takes office
- Carl Nyberg - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 11:39 am:
Time out.
Is there an allegation that Giannoulias did anything illegal or even improper here?
How is this anything more than guilt by association?
What criminal background checks is a bank required to do on its clients? What are the accepted industry standards?
If Giannoulias and his daddy’s bank followed the law and best practices, this article is nothing more than a cheap shot.
Also, when are we going to get articles analyzing who pulled Chris Radogno strings to get her to endorse Michael LaPidus over Commissioneer Tony Peraica for Lyons Township Committeeman?
And which of Radogno’s string pullers are connected to banks like International Bank of Chicago?
The strings pulling on Radogno would seem to put state money at higher risk of ending up in questionable banks than the strings pulling on Giannoulias.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 12:10 pm:
I agree..where is Ms. Radogno. And where is JBT, generally.
The Democratics are tossing them some great opportunities including the clout list and Alexi’s iffy loans but they seem unable to
take advantage of them.
- ChicagoCynic - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 3:30 pm:
The issue is quite simple. The job of Treasurer is to manage our investment portfolio and exercise sound judgment on what investments the state should and should not be making. Alexi’s race was publicly predicated on his so called “banking experience.” That’s what the endorsement editorials seized on and that’s what he touted in his campaign.
The stories that have come out have shown either lackluster due dilligence or questionable judgment or both. If he wants to run on his experience, he gets to be judged on the success or failure of that experience.
Alexi has compounded his problems with his extremely clumsy answers to the questions such as when he excused his endorsement of some of the mob loans by saying that they were only judging their credit worthiness. Well gee, why don’t we just invest in Las Vegas brothels and gentlemen’s clubs - I’m sure they have a great rate of return!
In short, Alexi wasn’t ready for prime time and Barack should have been more careful before using his precious political capital on this kid. He’s toast.
- anon - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 4:13 pm:
I do not know if Alexi is going to win or not. No one does, if you say you do, then you are sayin it for yourself rather than others. The bottom line to me is, it is unfortunate that we are having to see this public blood letting. It is simple Democratic party members, now that that Alexi and his ilk has vanished Madigan’s Mangieri, suck it up and get behind your, I repeat, YOUR candidate. John Fritchey, Jan Schakowsky, Larry Sufferdrine, and Senator O’Bama where are you now. You need to be out in the front of all of this and support your guy. Either you were and are with him or you make us sick.
- anonymous - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 4:36 pm:
Who is Christopher Lackner and what campaigns has he workded on prior to this one? Name sounds familiar.
- ChicagoCynic - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 4:42 pm:
anon 413, give me a friggin break. I’m a staunch Democratic activist, but if our party nominates an unqualified kid with bad judgment as our nominee for such an important position, it says more about the weakness of our party than anything else. It sure as hell doesn’t mean I have to support the guy.
By the same logic, do I have to support whomever the Dem Committeemen decide to nominate to take Stroger’s place? If I live in Lipinski’s district does that mean I have to vote for the guy just because daddy wrigged the system to put his right wing whack job son in the job? If I lived in Congressmen Jefferson’s district in Louisiana, would I have to vote for him even though the feds have him on tape taking $100,000 in cash bribes and they found $90,000 in literally cold, hard cash in his freezer?
Sorry, I expect at least some merit from the candidates we as a party nominate. It’s this kind of attitude like yours that has kept us on the losing end nationally for more than a decade. That said, I’m sure I’ll vote for every other Dem on the ticket. But Alexi is just too much to stomach.
- ChicagoCynic - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 4:44 pm:
Lackner is a solid PR guy who has most recently done freelance work with some city agencies and now works for Carolyn Grisko.
- bored now - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 5:24 pm:
ChicagoCynic wrote: “The issue is quite simple. The job of Treasurer is to manage our investment portfolio and exercise sound judgment on what investments the state should and should not be making.”
great! let’s use that as our standard. how has broadway bank’s loans lacked prudent fiscal judgment? you’re not honestly trying to argue that they should have done a thorough criminal background check on the people they’ve loaned to. i’m assuming you’ve actually gotten a bank loan — did they do a criminal background check on you?
(the obvious conclusion here is that you have double standards.)
Alexi’s race was publicly predicated on his so called “banking experience.†That’s what the endorsement editorials seized on and that’s what he touted in his campaign.
right, which is why i asked if the loans where illegal, if the bank was under criminal investigation, or did they block any investigation. instead of answering those, you repeat meaningless innuendo. it’s almost like you don’t understand the subject!
Alexi has compounded his problems with his extremely clumsy answers to the questions such as when he excused his endorsement of some of the mob loans by saying that they were only judging their credit worthiness.
so you admit it! you don’t understand the subject matter! while i agree that alexi’s responses have lacked political sophistication, i’m not at all convinced that we should overturn our sparse privacy standards for your rhetorical benefit. every major bank has these kinds of loans on their books (according to one former mob prosecutor) — does that mean bankers are disqualified?
you have very queer standards…
- ChicagoCynic - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 5:52 pm:
Yes, I have double standards. I have one standard for my bank and a different standard for my elected officials. I’m not too interested in who my banker lends money to, but I sure as hell am interested in who my Treasurer invests my tax dollars with. Your failure to understand this difference is emblematic of what’s wrong with your campaign.
- anon - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 8:51 pm:
ChicagoCynic at 4:42 p.m.
Thank you. You understand. My anon 4:13 was bait. You took it, but thank you for your honesty and I agree. We need to admit our mistakes and move on. Curt Granberg or Debbie Halvorson would serve well as a replacement.
- Carl Nyberg - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:10 pm:
In the case of the loans in question, what judgment error was made on the part of Giannoulias or his daddy’s bank?
Banks loan money to people. Some people do stuff that gets them indicted.
There are a ton of white collar crimes that happen. Do we normally afix blame to the loan officers?
If you’re gonna say Giannoulias made a bad judgment call please explain what decision you are talking about.
If he’s a crook or controlled by crooks, I’m open to an explanation. But so far the attacks seem to be crazy guilt by association attacks.
Are banks required or expected to do criminal background checks on people requesting loans?
Let’s compare how Giannoulias is treated to how Rod Blagojevich, Lisa Madigan and Dan Hynes were treated. I expect there were plenty of white collar criminals and outright organized crime people who had financial relations with Dick Mell, Michael Madigan and Tom Hynes.
But if the relations with the politician weren’t criminal, the mere association with a criminal didn’t taint Blagojevich, L. Madigan or D. Hynes.
But it seems a completely different standard is being used to attack Giannoulias. And at the same time Radogno’s willingness to take orders from shady figures that would love to get ahold of state money is being ignored.
It seems like the journalists in question are chummy with certain insider politicians and they are either conspiring with the insiders or getting played.
- Carl Nyberg - Tuesday, May 23, 06 @ 10:12 pm:
Again the rap against Giannoulias being unqualified rings a tad hollow. Was Rod Blagojevich qualified? Lisa Madigan? Dan Hynes?
- bored now - Wednesday, May 24, 06 @ 6:47 am:
oh, i see. you’ve made a logical error. for some reason, you’ve decided that who broadway bank loans money to (people who ask) somehow infers how alexi would invest the state’s funds. that’s fairly naive. but you obviously don’t understand either side of this equation — how banks lend money OR how institutions invest their funds. got it.
i myself try not to speak out on issues i don’t know anything about. (obviously, newspapers can’t follow such a policy…)
- ChicagoCynic - Wednesday, May 24, 06 @ 10:23 am:
Actually, having worked for years in the loan department at two banks and having worked extensively with government and private sector investing, I’m pretty darned clear how these decisions get made. That’s why I don’t think Alexi deserves our votes.
- Conservative Republican - Wednesday, May 24, 06 @ 10:38 am:
To you Chicago Democrats that are decrying “guilt by association”….
Are you the same guys who are screaming “Roskam worked for DeLay” (24 yrs ago for 7 mos)?
Just wondering.
- bored now - Wednesday, May 24, 06 @ 11:38 am:
that’s very strange, cc. it begs the question why you’ve been unable to answer any of the questions i posed. how many loans did *your* banks make to criminals? and what kind of criminal background investigation did you bank do? i’ll take the word of a former mob prosecutor who assures me that every major bank out there has made these kinds of loans, and that this is nothing out of the ordinary.
and you still suffer from the logical fallacy that broadway bank’s loans determine what kind of judgment alexi will use to invest our state monies. but that’s a minor issue.
of course, you could offer up something a little more conclusive for people to chew on. i understand that you’ve already made up your mind…
- sam - Thursday, May 25, 06 @ 11:06 pm:
boris stratievsky is not yet proven guilty…
the deals where completely legitemate…
Dont trust evrything you read…
the charges are bogushe is geting sued for his dad running his mouth while drunk
- abram - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 2:41 pm:
the “bash alexi” bandwagon is coming crashing down. he helped run one of the most successful banks in the state if not country. making a big loan to a guy with good credit and a story to build condos is LEGAL. i didnt realize banks also have private investigators and spy equipment. he’s 30 with little public speaking experience, which is expected. if he just said the loans were legal 2 months ago, he’d be coasting.
- Carlos Mario STRATIEVSKY - Tuesday, May 1, 07 @ 1:29 pm:
Comunication whith my family