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Blagojevich accused of not cooperating with bond deal

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* Rod Blagojevich and his wife could be dragged back into court tomorrow…

Federal prosecutors have asked that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, convicted last month of public corruption, appear before a judge this week about his lawyers’ failure to provide paperwork to secure his bond, according to court documents.

After Blagojevich was convicted last month of 17 counts of wire fraud, extortion, bribery and conspiracy charges, U.S. District Judge James Zagel required that he post his personal residence and a second residential property to secure his continued release on bond.

Since then, the government has tried to get current appraisals, title reports and other documents on both properties, according to a prosecution filing this week in federal court. Although the information on Blagojevich’s personal residence has been provided, the government is still seeking details on the undisclosed second property.

I’m pretty sure that second property is his DC condo.

* From the prosecution’s filing…

On June 28, 2011 [the day after Blagojevich’s conviction], the government provided defense counsel a list of four items that the government needed in order to expeditiously prepare the paperwork necessary to post the two properties. These items include: (a) a current title report; (b) a current appraisal; (c) a mortgage statement; and (d) an insurance certificate.

On June 30, 2011, after inquiry from the government, defense counsel informed the government that they were working to get the paperwork together.

On July 5, 2011, after inquiry from the government, defense counsel informed the government that it was continuing to work on the necessary paperwork and would have an update for the government in several days.

On July 11, 2011, and July 12, 2011, the defense provided several documents related to the defendant’s personal residence. To date, the government has not received any documents related to the second residential property at issue.

And the conclusion…

Instead of continuing to wait for paperwork, it is the government’s position that the defendant and any additional necessary parties (e.g. those individuals also on the title to the properties) should appear before the Court on July 15, 2011, and enter forfeiture agreements related to the two properties necessary to secure the defendant’s bond.

WHEREFORE, the government requests that on July 15, 2011, the defendant and all other necessary parties appear before the Court, sign the paperwork to secure the defendant’s bond, and be admonished by the Court regarding the consequences of violations of the defendant’s conditions of release.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:13 pm

Comments

I think Rod’s in a bit of hot water….again

Comment by Stones Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:26 pm
Is he about to be homeless?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:33 pm
The gift that keeps on giving.

Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:34 pm
So what’s the deal on sentencing? I don’t understand why Bond is an issue, because it seems to me that he should be locked up by now.

Comment by JN Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:40 pm
Would be curious if they are getting multiple appraisal on the condo so they can submit the best one. Who knows how leveraged he is on the properties and if it turns out that they have almost no equity that would be a problem.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:46 pm
Soooo. . .the plan is to do something else to irritate the judge before sentancing.

Comment by Way Way Down Here Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:47 pm
Why does he still have that condo in DC? He’s not going back any time soon. Maybe Rob Halpin is his tenant?

Comment by lakeview Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:01 pm
Judge Zagel should give him one more week to compile the documents and, if there is no compliance, revoke his bond. Enough is enough with this guy. At least we haven’t had to listen to his b.s. since the conviction.

Comment by MJB Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:13 pm
I bet OneMan is right. I doubt they have much equity at all in the property.

Comment by Downstate Illinois Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:15 pm
Where is Bill at to give us the insight we need on this topic?

Comment by Publius Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:19 pm
I am guessing your bail is not the first lien on the property (assuming the house still has a mortgage) so there is a chance that if there is no value for the feds to put a lien against (since it appears they put a lien on the real property) That would explain the need for a title report (so the feds could determine their lien position, I suspect it would be last).

The ABA has some info about federal bail here
http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/litigationnews/practice_areas/criminal-first-bail.html

One piece of advice they give is

Defense counsel must act quickly in getting the ball rolling with the defendant’s family and the sureties.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:25 pm
Bond is an issue if he wants to stay out of jail during his appeals. And my understanding is that the bond increased after his convictions.

Comment by Seriously??? Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:26 pm
Is anyone really surprised?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:32 pm
Revoke any bond agreement and off to jail until sentencing….that will settle that!

Comment by one day at a time Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:42 pm
what puzzles me is that Patty still has an active Brokers license. After all the shady deals that came out in court wherein she recieved commission in which she did zero work, how has the IDFPR not done anything? Are they as useless as the local Real Estate Boards that are know for inflating local values and bilking their members for dues?

Comment by RudyKzooti Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:46 pm
Maybe they’re afraid he’ll slip off unnoticed to the Costa Rican jungle.

Comment by walkinfool Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 2:52 pm
Yeah, he could cut his hair, or shave it off and just slip away. No one would ever recognize him. Well, until he opened his mouth, that is

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 3:03 pm
If there is a God in Heaven that condo should be in the Watergate complex!!!!!

Comment by D.P. Gumby Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 3:20 pm
LOL Responsa! Just how long could RB keep his mouth shut?

Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 3:26 pm
Bond deal? They have a part for me in the next James Bond movie? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I hope I get to play the guy with the metal teeth. I wonder who my female co-star will be?

Comment by Joe from Joliet Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 3:28 pm
Maybe Rod thinks he can shake another $50,000 out of the prosecutors by delaying their bond deal.

Comment by anon sequitor Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 3:30 pm
Not that I want to be a defender for Rod but I would guess that he didn’t give 2 seconds thought on this before his conviction. And then it’s does take a little while, along with some cost, to prepare an appraisal. If he has a tenant in DC maybe access to the inside has been a problem. There was a holiday in between. It really hasn’t been that long.

I sound like Bill.

Comment by Been There Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 4:00 pm
===I sound like Bill. ===

Nah. Bill would’ve blasted Fitzgerald for attempting to kick Rod’s kids to the curb, or something.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 4:08 pm
One wonders if the condo is still his? What are their sources of income over the last while for food, electricity, etc.?

Comment by sal-says Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 4:11 pm
Current appraisals tend to come in at about half of what most owners thought the value was. So yes, maybe they’re trying to get a better one. And yes, maybe they don’t have much equity.

Comment by been there Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 5:00 pm
–Is anyone really surprised?–

No, AA, Rod was a Northwest side hustler who got elevated above his ability by his ambitious father-in-law, who later got buyer’s remorse and helped sic the federales on him.

Rod spent six years working (when he worked) daring Fitz to bring the Big Heat. It’s still inexplicable that he thought it would play out any other way, with his Braintrust of Chris Kelly, Tony Rezko and Stu Levine. Bill Cellini must be embarrassed that he made the greedy mistake of hooking up with those Einsteins so late in life.

The dude could have had a nice, lazy, safe, comfortable life as a Congressman. Work as much as you want, pick your fights, no heavy lifting, get to wear a suit every day, lots of staff, special elevators, people open doors, free junkets anywhere in the world, never pick up a check and on and on…..

What more did he really think he could get based on his abilities, work ethic and character?

The delusion that he could be a thieving chief executive in the Time of Fitz is just weird. He was the Big Muskie he wanted on the mantle and Blago literally jumped in the boat. Time for Circular Firing Squad to post the symptoms.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 7:45 pm
Has anyone seen or heard from

Rod’s Friends

Jay ” Press Conference ” Hoffman

and Kyle ” Eddie” Anderson ???

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 7:54 pm
Maybe there are some influential co-owners on the DC condo or tenants that do not want their names in the news?

Comment by waitress practing politics... Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 7:57 pm
Speaking of Stu Levine, what will take lomger — finding our what occurred at the parties at the Purple Hotel or finding out who promoted Angelo Torres?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:23 pm
I’m guessing he doesn’t have enough equity to cover the bond, and he knows it.

Comment by Marie Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:47 pm
Could it be that there was something slippery about the DC condo deal and he is trying to sanitize it ? There may be a smell in the air.

Comment by x ace Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:51 pm
==What more did he really think he could get based on his abilities, work ethic and character?==

He thought he could be President, and some people took it seriously.

Comment by Excessively Rabid Friday, Jul 15, 11 @ 8:27 am