* This story popped late Monday and then I forgot about it after the Lincoln holiday. So, I’m a couple days late…
Businesses that gave tens of thousands of dollars last year to Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s political fund allegedly are “front companies” in an ongoing, multimillion-dollar “sham” involving profits from a state program, according to a pending federal civil lawsuit.
Investors in a Chicago firm called Vendor Assistance Program LLC filed the suit last year in Philadelphia. They claim their partners in VAP hid money in shell companies in Florida and Puerto Rico to avoid giving them their fair share of profits from a highly lucrative arrangement with the state of Illinois.
VAP was started in 2010 by Brian Hynes, a politically connected lawyer who’s now a central figure in a widening City Hall corruption scandal. Hynes is a longtime supporter of embattled Ald. Danny Solis (25th Ward) and co-founded VAP with Solis’ sister Patti Solis Doyle. As Illinois’ fiscal woes have deepened, the company has profited from a state initiative to speed payments to government vendors who are owed money.
Last month, WBEZ reported that Mendoza — who is running for Chicago mayor in the Feb. 26 election — gave away nearly $74,000 in campaign contributions from Solis-controlled political funds and another $67,650 that she got last year from five companies set up by VAP investors, including Hynes. […]
[The lawsuit] claims three of the five VAP-linked firms that gave to Mendoza are accused of being part of the “sham” to divert profits from former partners in Pennsylvania. […]
But in an interview with WBEZ on Friday, Hynes said it was “absurd” to suggest that he and his partners in VAP had set up front companies.
“We didn’t make decisions to make one guy’s distribution be less than it should be,” Hynes said.
Just keep in mind that anyone can sue anyone for pretty much anything - and say pretty much anything in their suits. Lots of sizzle in this story, so we’ll eventually see if there’s any real meat.
Also, while there is a new law requiring some transparency for the vendor payment program, the companies themselves are often troublingly opaque.
* Related…
* Ex-spokeswoman sues Amara Enyia, alleges candidate failed to pay her $24,000
* Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen backing Bill Daley in Chicago mayor’s race
* Bill Daley deflects criticism from opponents over $1M donation from Illinois’ wealthiest resident
- Juvenal - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:26 pm:
Tru dat.
Lawsuits seem to be really up, up, up this campaign season. I can’t keep track of them all.
- northsider (the original) - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:30 pm:
Unless it’s changed, CMS is the agency that vets and certifies vendor payment companies, not the Comptrollers office.
- steve - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:33 pm:
It would be too bad if Mendoza , herself, is tied up with Danny Solis. You could see how this could happen when Danny was wearing a wire for so long.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:50 pm:
–Pallasch, the comptroller’s spokesman, said Hynes and VAP pressured Mendoza to speed up payments to the company, before and after the contributions to her re-election campaign.
But Pallasch said Mendoza resisted that pressure and instead “fought to pass legislation” that makes public more information about the program.–
Tell us more about the “pressure,” please. Don’t leave anything out.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:53 pm:
Progressive darling Amaya Enyia again in the news for the wrong reasons. Will Chance The Rapper pay to resolve the lawsuit by her former spokeswoman?
- City Zen - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:56 pm:
Finally, Ozzie breaks silence and takes political stance.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 1:59 pm:
–* Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen backing Bill Daley in Chicago mayor’s race–
Love Ozzie as a game-day manager, but the dude “endorsed” Fidel his first week as Miami manager.
So politics…. maybe not so much.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:02 pm:
Ozzie…
I dunno what he gains by picking 1 in 14 candidates.
Ozzie couldn’t wait until it was down to two.
Better odds if he’s wrong.
Oh…
No one really cares who Ozzie is backing, do they?
Is Ozzie still that “much of a thing” he moves the needle… even in a 14 candidate race?
Still, it got a press pop.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:09 pm:
===Tell us more about the “pressure,”===
SJ-R had a story about it last year I think.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:20 pm:
===Tell us more about the “pressure,”===
SJ-R had a story about it last year I think.–
Thanks.
- Abdon - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:28 pm:
@Wordslinger: You can listen to VPP participants testifying at this COGFA hearing in April that Comptroller Mendoza will not pay them their Late Payment Interest Penalties as fast as they would like, even though they understand the state does not pay interest on interest so the Comptroller’s office prioritizes pensions, schools, debt service, social service providers and interest-accruing bills over the non-interest-accruing bills such as the late payments owed to these VPP participants. They mention they’ve considered litigation. http://cgfa.ilga.gov/MeetingInformation.aspx?id=108 As Rich mentioned, you will find press accounts of this hearing on Google. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-budget/illinois-vendor-lifeline-at-risk-as-interest-payments-lag-idUSKBN1HU2YP You can also find numerous press accounts of Comptroller Mendoza’s advocacy over the past two years to pass legislation bringing unprecedented transparency to CMS’ VPP program, allowing taxpayers to see who is profiting from the state’s financial dysfunction.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:30 pm:
Thanks, Abdon.
- Long time R - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 2:52 pm:
If you read the article the part about Solis lending Mendoza approximately 55,000 for the Comptroller race is interesting.Then a few month later the vendors from VAP donated back approximately the same amount of money to Solis 25th Ward Organization. That itself on the surface dosent look good.
- Southfarmllama - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 3:42 pm:
Enyia doesn’t like to pay anyone it seems. She’s all talk.
- Shytown - Thursday, Feb 14, 19 @ 4:36 pm:
Long time R, that donation would only mean something if the donors got anything in return. They didn’t. They didn’t get paid faster. They testified against the comptroller because of that. End of story.
And that new transparency law Rich mentioned was championed by Mendoza.