The best things in life are free
Friday, Apr 3, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This stuff is almost mind-boggling…
Among the most startling information in the indictment is the claim that Blagojevich and others specifically set out to illegally profit through his new administration as early as 2002 — the year he was first elected — with detailed plans to divide the money after he left office.
“In a series of conversations that began in 2002 and continued after defendant Rod Blagojevich was elected governor in November 2002, defendants Blagojevich (and others) … agreed that they would use (his) position as governor … for financial gain, which would be divided among them, with the understanding that the money would be distributed after Rod Blagojevich left public office,” the indictment alleges.
So, Rezko was supposed to bank his ill-gotten gains and then share it with the guv. If true, that’s an amazing story.
* The indictment continues…
In 2003, Blagojevich, Monk, Kelly, Rezko and other co-schemers implemented this agreement by directing lucrative state business relating to the refinancing of billions of dollars in State of Illinois Pension Obligation Bonds to a company whose lobbyist agreed to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to Rezko out of the fee the lobbyist would collect, and Rezko in turn agreed to split the money with Blagojevich, Monk and Kelly
The greed was apparently rampant.
And what’s that about giving the money to Rezko? It wasn’t a loan? From the archives…
…prosecutors allege that Kjellander served as a straw man for Rezko in the bond deal. Rezko, the ruling suggested, directed the investment bank Bear Stearns to give the fee to Kjellander, who then transferred $600,000 of the $809,000 fee to Joseph Aramanda, a Rezko business associate. Aramanda then allegedly turned over $450,000 to four other people designated by Rezko.
In an interview… Kjellander said he made a “loan” to Aramanda “because I got a very favorable interest rate. That loan was repaid before the due date, and I made a very nice profit on the interest.”
“I did nothing improper,” he said. But Kjellander also emphasized he had “no knowledge of what” Aramanda did with the money.
So, what the heck is going on here?
- anon - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:49 am:
Sorry, but I don’t believe in the 2002 let’s get rich scam. I just don’t believe it.
- Bill - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:59 am:
I don’t believe it either.
- anon - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 8:00 am:
Also, these feds have questionable interview tactics. They seem less concerned with getting to the truth, and more interested in getting people to answer questions in a way that supports their suspicions. They can put somebody in a room when they weren’t there by asking “maybe was she there?”. Its unfair and unjust.
Just ask Ted Stevens. That mans life has been ruined, and the feds dropped the charges. The fed world is an imperfect place where innocent people are trampled.
- Irish - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 8:04 am:
Blago and his cronies are of the same cut of cloth as Bernie Madoff. He is despicable in that he too cared nothing of the people who’s investments and pensions he was playing with. He was solely driven by greed and he should be treated the same way as Madoff and be an outcast, a leper. At least Bernie took his lumps with no grandstanding and no plastic smile using children and disabled as props. Apparently there is no limit to the depths this parasite will sink to.
- Sewanee - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 8:11 am:
You don’t believe the 2002 conversations took place? Really? Really?
Mr. Blagojevich didn’t turn corrupt one day on his morning commute. Look at his background, is it any surprise that he was involved in shady dealings?
I’m still surprised at how surprised some people are by this.
- Ms Port Belly Mushroom - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:12 am:
The charges were dropped against Stevens because he was innocent? I see your point anon.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:14 am:
The fact that he made Chris Kelly his right hand man and put him upfront on the dais at the inaugural was all the proof I needed to know that the fix was in from the get go. It really is time for everyone to stop being delusional. These guys viewed government as the place to get rich quick and it worked for them for many years and still works for many.
- Ms Port Belly Mushroom - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:25 am:
Some would still have us believe that Rod and company were only overly aggressive fundraisers doing nothing different than anyone else in history; and that it was only his headbanging with MJM that somehow made his actions look criminal to the G. “It’s all Madigan’s fault,” is still the rumour being floated out there by Rod and Company–even his one-time pals who voted to impeach him.
Still gnawing their little plots and plans and can’t see the man was just plain wrong. Pathetic.
- Conservative Republican - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:25 am:
=Blagojevich and others specifically set out to illegally profit through his new administration as early as 2002 — the year he was first elected =
Not too many are pointing out that throughout 2002, Blagojevitch’s campaign mantra was that George Ryan’s corruption had ruined the state and that he, Blagojevitch, would put the state on a new path of ethics and fiscal responsibility. The irony and the brazen hypocrisy is almost too much. The indictment shows that the US believes it has evidence that when Blago made those high minded promises and assurances in ‘02, on the back of Ryan’s crimes, Blago was lying through his teeth and secretly plotting to double down on the Ryan corruption.
- Levois - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:28 am:
I wonder when did he ever conceive of becoming corrupt. Was it the first day he ever entered politics? What in his background caused this meltdown?
- Capitol View - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:36 am:
I have consistently read that the Blago script called for him to run for president after serving as a no - tax governor and a congressman.
So the dollars may have been hoarded as an initial presidential campaign fund, to pay for New Hampshire and Iowa before he attracted more national attention and fund raising.
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 9:55 am:
Anon, Bill, kickbacks are out of the question here? Why?
I believe it. It makes total sense. Why do you think Mell got so honked off that he was cut out of the action?
Why do you put in Kelly and Rezko as bagmen? To set up the play-to-pay scams for the campaign, of course, but they’re getting big coin for themselves as well. Why would Rod facilitate their getting rich - - with all the risks that entails — and not get a piece of the action for himself?
Kickbacks can come in all sorts of forms. Remember Big Jim and the governor’s shelf. He would select antiques he liked at Belmont Avenue shops and put them on a special shelf. Then, voila, folks who wanted favors from him would buy them give them to him as “gifts.”
How about this — for years, Daley has taken heat for all his cronies getting rich off city contracts. Why would he do that? What’s in it for him?
- Truthful James - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 10:01 am:
If Rezko turns on Blago, the next turn will be on Bob the Shill Lander. If he blows up — that, my friends opens Pandora’s box on the Republican leadership..
This is a serial drama.
- Secret Square - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 11:13 am:
CV, that’s the impression I always had — the pay-to-play-on-steroids fundraising was intended to pile up a war chest for an eventual White House run. He didn’t need $50 million-plus just to hang on to the governor’s seat.
Perhaps the splitting of the loot among Rezko, Kelly, et al, was simply Plan B for what to do with the money if Rod decided not to run for prez? Or maybe “after he left office”, in Rod’s deranged mind, meant “after I have left the White House” in 2012 or 2016?
- Quinn T. Sential - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 11:28 am:
The story concocted by “Individual K” was CYA Bullfeathers from the get go, and was easily refutable, but no one ever seemed to want to bother to ask the important questions in order to do so.
In all the time that he continued to perpetuate that story, I have never seen anyone in the media ask him point blank for a copy of the loan document. I believe he acknowledged that he did not really know “Individual D” prior to making the loan, and I believe that he acknowledged he was introduced to him by Rezko.
If you were foolish enough to make a personal loan of $600,000 to someone you did not previously know, is it possible that you would be foolish enough not to document and record the loan terms in order to secure simple legal protections in the event of a default? If you were going to make that ind of personal loan, wouldn’t make certain that you had a legally enforceable security interest in liquid collateral in a sufficient amount to support the loan?
“Individual K” has said that he got a “very favorable interest rate” from “Individual D”, and the loan was re-paid before it was due. So ostensibly there were loan terms as to interest and repayment. So show us the loan document to support the claims with respect to this loan.
I believe I recall at one point that “Individual K” had indicated that he had not been interviewed by the G-Men with regard to this “loan”. I can’t believe that is because he was never called for an interview, and if true, I can only believe that is because through his counsel he refused to be interviewed.
Who is representing “Individual K” in this or other matters? Did that person; or does that person now have any conflict with anyone else that is also being represented now as this matter has unfolded.
Through the indictment issued yesterday it is obvious that the USAO now knows that the PO Bond scheme was designed to redistribute the “consulting money” provided by “Individual K” to others, and they believe this “loan” explanation has little to no basis in fact. I don’t think much if anything has ever been disclosed as to what “Individual K” ever did to earn the “consulting fee” in this deal.
So who told them; and what did they tell them? Could it have been “Individual K”? Of course it could have, which could be one explanation as to why he has not yet been indicted. We also know that Rezko has recently found some post conviction religion, so it could have been him as well. Levine was cooperating from the very beginning, so it could have been him as well.
Could it have been “Individual D”; an un-indicted co-conspirator? Of course. We know that “IndividualD” contributed $11,500 to Obama campaigns, as well as at least $10,000 to Blago as well. We also know that “Individual D”s son mysteriously eneded up as an intern for Obama as well. We also know that “Individual D” received $250,000 in two payments from Mr. Pekin.
Could it have been any of the people that were used as conduits to get some; or all of the money from “Individual D” back to Rezko or his designees? That’s certainly plausible as well.
At the end of the day; this idictment illustrates with little doubt that the feds no longer believe the “loan” story about the monies distributed by “Individual K” from the PO Bond. The question is; if that is the case, then why haven’t others involved in the scheme been indicted as well?
Rezko was charged with 24 criminal counts, all of which had to do with TRS investment funds, and did not include the “Individual K” client the Carlyle Group. The Rezko charges had nothing to do with the PO Bond.
Rezko was convicted on each of the counts involving TRS investment kickbacks which also involved “Individual D”. He was not charged with or convicted for the PO Bond fee scheme.
Since “Individual D” was not indicted, and Rezko allegedly owed money to “Individual D”, and Rezko was convicted on all counts involving “Individual D” one has to wonder. When Pekin testified under a grant of immunity that he contacted Levine to tell him that “Individual D” was pressuring him to accelerate the TRS kick-back monies to him, Levine testified that he must be paid immediately, and that he needed tobe kept happy because ” we want to continue to do business with these people, and this is going to be big”. One question worth asking was who are “these people” that Levine was referring to? Was he referring only to “Individual D” to whom Rezko owed money, or were there others involved? What more if anything do we know about “Individual D”, or why Rezko owed money to him?
Rezko as you may recall was also a “sub-contractor” on a lobbying deal for clients of “Individual K” in Chicago and the two shared fees. “Individual K” took Rezko, along with Cellini and their wives on a private jet with Levine to a White House Christmas Party as well.
“Individual K” has not been indicted, nor has he testified in court in any of these maters to date that I can recall. Cellini has been indicted twice now however, but has yet to go to trial.
The fact that the feds have now acknowledged that the PO Bond proceeds were all part and parcel of this overall scheme certainly seems to indicate that one or more people are cooperating now beyond whom has already been revealed. Who, and how, could reasonably be discernable based on who has been convicted or indicted, and who has not.
- Gettin interesting - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 2:58 pm:
Individual K was paid by Bear Stearns in the Bond deal. The managing director was Nick Hurtgen who has plead guilty along with Stu and is cooperating…Individaul K…and his good buddy Peter Fox of Knight E/A are very nervous about Hurtgen and Kelly cooperating…Fox always wanted to be a big fish in a small pond…how does it feel Pete?
- Hank - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 2:59 pm:
maybe that explains how Wyma can land over forty clients, charging some as much as 25K a month. Send Wyma the clients, stash the cash, divide it up 8 years later.
- Champaign lover - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 3:10 pm:
Didn’t Fox and Hurtgen own Knight e/a and fly Blago around in Bear Stearns jet? Was Individual K on board?
- Quinn T. Sential - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 3:45 pm:
Thanks for the reminder, I totally forgot that Hurtgen had plead guitly at the end of February. The money quote in his Plea Agreement of course was:
{Defendant agrees he will fully and truthfully cooperate in any matter in which he is called upon to cooperate by a representative of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
This cooperation shall include providing complete and truthful information in any investigation and pre-trial preparation and complete and truthful testimony in any criminal, civil or administrative proceeding.
Defendant agrees to the postponement of his sentencing until after the conclusion of his cooperation.}
Cal Skinner was kind enough to share with us at the time that:
{Hurtgen was the Bear Stearns managing director in Chicago when then-Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander received $809,133.96 for doing no work-
(really; that’s what the documents filed by Bear Stearns Vincent A. Mazzaro, Managing Director/Principal & Controller of the Municipal Division, say)
prior to the bond house selection for newly-sworn in Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $10 billion (1973*MCB Typo) pension bond issuance.
This probably caused some sphincter spams for “Individual K” as well.