This just in… Chris Kelly pleads guilty
Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 3:44 pm - Chris Kelly has pled guilty to two counts. It’s unclear from early press reports if he has agreed to cooperate in the investigation against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Kelly was a close Blagojevich friend, mega campaign fundraiser and administration fixer.
* Jeff Coen of the Tribune Tweets that Kelly pled guilty in exchange for 57 months. …Adding… That’s on top of the 37 months he got in his tax case.
* Natasha Korecki reports at the Sun-Times that Kelly reports to prison next week…
Kelly still faces trial on charges with the ex-governor — his third indictment. Kelly pleaded guilty in a separate tax scheme earlier this year.
The plea deal was finalized at the last minute, with Kelly initialing portions of it outside the courtroom minutes before court. At one point, Norgle recessed because Kelly said he hadn’t read the whole document.
* Read the plea agreement by clicking here.
…Adding… If you’re reading the plea deal and having trouble remembering who “Co-Schemer A” is, this Sun-Times story from March will refresh your memory…
George M. Criel is a roofing consultant who has worked for Chicago’s Merchandise Mart as well as American Airlines and United Airlines.
Criel has another identity, too. He’s “co-schemer A'’ — the previously unidentified consultant who federal prosecutors say got $450,000 in kickbacks for helping former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top adviser, Christopher Kelly, get $8.5 million in rigged contracts from American and United, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Between 1998 and 2006, Criel and Kelly allegedly ran a scheme to steal from those airlines by inflating the cost of roofing projects and making sure that Kelly’s company — BCI Commercial Roofing — submitted the lowest bids for the work, according to prosecution court filings in the Kelly case. Their actions “guaranteed profits'’ for Kelly and kickbacks for “co-schemer A,” who was working for the airlines, according to prosecutors.
- Pat collins - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 3:52 pm:
pled guilty in exchange for 57 months.
That’s 4 years in the slammer for sure. Ouch. Given that is about how long Fawell got, I guess he must have coughed up something.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 3:53 pm:
Sing! You winged satanic canary of Beelzebub!
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 3:55 pm:
He could have made a lot better deal if he had gotten on the bus earlier. I guess Rod can add him to the list of people out to get him.
- Pat collins - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 3:58 pm:
Upon further review…..
Fawell got 6.5 years, so maybe Kelly didn’t cough up much. Fawell sang for a lighter sentence for his girl, he himself only got 4 months lighter.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 3:59 pm:
This is his second plea deal, don’t forget his first guilty plea on the tax charges. And this conviction is related to his company’s dealings at O’Hare. They might still have something on him related to the Blagojevich administration.
Has he been sentenced on the tax conviction yet? Anybody remember what the sentence was?
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:00 pm:
Sorry, I should use the helpful links that Rich provides. 37 months for the tax charge.
- Boone Logan Square - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:04 pm:
Another reason why Rod’s present defense strategy (as discussed here earlier today) is a recipe for a long, long prison term. If I’m his attorney, I beg him to take a plea deal now…but doing so would go against everything that makes Rod Rod.
- You Go Boy - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:05 pm:
Blago = “The Birdbrain of Alcatraz”
Can you imagine how bored his cellmate(s) are going to be? Prison protocol (inmate) ain’t no
Don and Roma skit.
- dupage dan - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:11 pm:
I wonder if they’ll let RodB do time in the fetal position while jogging in place?
I just caught myself thinking this whole thing is sad - then I remembered who I was thinking about.
- Secret Square - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:23 pm:
Uh, 57 months ON TOP OF 37 months from the tax case equals 94 months, or just short of 8 years. Is that more accurate?
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:26 pm:
Secret, if he’s flipped, I’ll imagine they go concurrent. Generally, only violent crimes get the consecutive sentences.
- downhereforyears - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:33 pm:
Kelly is just as corrupt as Blago….in fact he may be even more of a crook. Blago has the excuse that he is crazy…Kelly is just a bust out thief who used his 15 minutes of fame to rip people off.
- Been There - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:36 pm:
wordslinger, it says consecutive in the agreement. Looks like a long time away for Chris. It doesn’t say anything about cooperating in the agreement that I can find. I don’t know if that would normally be in such an agreement though or if they do that separately.
If he is staying a loyal soldier he must be nuts to do it for Blagojevich. Or maybe he was the one actually manipulating Rod all these years and he feels guilty about it. Who knows as of now.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:38 pm:
True, BT. But, there’s still one more opportunity with the Blagojevich-related indictment.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:40 pm:
BT, thanks for the info. Really hard to figure this guy.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:41 pm:
Note also that the sentence was the lowest possible (57 mos up to 71 mos). And it looks like Kelly gets to keep his house, the seizure of which is black-lined in the agreement. That’s probably what Kelly and Monico were holding out for with the last minute initialling.
- Hon. Cranial Lamb - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:52 pm:
If he got 4+ years on a guilty plea, any idea how long Blago could do if he is convicted and sentenced by a jury? I have been telling people that I think Blago will get 20 years, but that’s only based on my gut and not any real research.
Any one? Anyone?
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 4:57 pm:
HCL
Sentencing guidelines are used to determine the length of a sentence, not how despicable the defendant is or isn’t.
His sentence will be based on the number of counts on which he is convicted. Generally speaking, those who plead guilty and spare the court time receive sentences on the lower end. Those that roll the dice and lose can expect the sentence on the higher end.
So it isn’t productive to speculate without access to the guidelines and a lawyer to explain them. Having said that, 20 years seems reasonable to me.
- Been There - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 5:01 pm:
===And it looks like Kelly gets to keep his house=== 47th ward, I can’t find the link but I am pretty sure Kelly’s house went into foreclosure about a month ago. Maybe the feds didn’t want it and that would allow anyone living there to deal with the bank instead of the feds.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 5:03 pm:
HCL, I think the judge will throw the book at him if and/or when he’s convicted.
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 5:04 pm:
The “concession” on the house may not be that significant, to the extent that even the government is subordinate to the lender(s) and there may be no equity left to seize net of debt.
AA can’t figure out why Kelly hasn’t flipped yet, particularly with the graybar in sight. In any case, I don’t think it’s because “he was the one actually manipulating Rod all these years.” In Blago’s own words, Rezko was the Bobbsey Twin guilty of causing that to happen, not that it would take much to nudge Rod over the line he walked close to his entire political career.
Also interesting to note that Kelly was dirty for several years before Blago became Gov.
- SI misleads - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 5:10 pm:
BTW,
I was on the Southern Illinosian website, and the headline said, “Blago pleads guilty to fraud.” I thought our nightmare was over. Then, I clicked on the actual story and it talked about Kelly. You want to talk about misleading.
- regular democrat - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 5:22 pm:
maybe he can shed some light on how the Daley admin does business. Put Morales and him together in a room and keep the tape machine on for days
- cassandra - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 7:16 pm:
How did American Airlines fail to notice it was being cheated. Aren’t these big corporations supposed to have sophisticated financial tracking systems. And AA, among others, is always whining about costs. Maybe they should look within.
- steve schnorf - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 10:28 pm:
If he submitted the lowest bid and was still guaranteed a profit after paying the “consultant” that seems to me to say a lot more about the higher bidders than it does about Kelly: he was a bargain.
- kid keno - Tuesday, Sep 8, 09 @ 11:43 pm:
Wonder if Jack Hartman, who helped run O’Hare, hears some big footsteps behind him right now.
- Honest Abe - Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 7:25 am:
Is it just me or would a chart of all those indicted/or given letter names in indictments be helpful here? One would guess the USAO’s office has a huge whiteboard to track this…LOL
- disgusted - Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 7:33 am:
any yellow dog democratic appointed by blago or who had anything to do with kelly, rezco, harris, et al has more to worry about than the feds