Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Catching up with Jon Seidel: Cullerton; Burke; Thompson; Czernek; Fraud

Posted in:

Illinois

* The Sun-Times’ Jon Seidel…

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton to up to 18 months in prison in his $248,000 embezzlement case involving the Teamsters labor union, which cost him his seat in Springfield.

In doing so, the feds revealed that former Chicago Teamsters boss John T. Coli claimed Cullerton had been hired for what turned out to be a do-nothing Teamsters job as a favor to an unnamed senator, identified in a court memo only as “Senator A.”

“[Cullerton,] who was a state senator at the time of his illegal conduct, clearly realized that he would be able to get away with pocketing this money without doing any work simply because he was an elected official,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu wrote. […]

But Bhachu wrote Tuesday that Cullerton went on to land “another do-nothing job” as a salesman for a video gaming company in 2017. There, Bhachu said Cullerton’s salary doubled from $1,000 a week to $2,000 a week, in what the company owner called a mistake.

“Senator A.” Hmm.

* Also Jon Seidel…

Dealing a crucial blow to Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) and his legal team, a federal judge Monday rejected hundreds of pages of defense motions in the once-powerful politician’s criminal case, finally clearing the way for a potential trial.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow wrote that the combined motions from Burke, political aide Peter Andrews and developer Charles Cui “would have this court dismiss almost every charge of the indictment against all defendants.”

But the judge concluded that the motions “largely go to the strength of the evidence” and should be considered by a fact-finder — like a jury.

“It is a fact-finder’s role to assess whether the government has proven the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, not this court’s at the pleadings stage,” Dow wrote.

* And, hey, while we’re at it, here’s another one from Jon Seidel…

Federal prosecutors say former Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson should go to prison for two years for cheating on his taxes and lying to federal regulators.

But Thompson asked a federal judge to give him probation instead.

The two sides made their recommendations Monday ahead of Thompson’s sentencing before U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama, which is set for July 6.

“[Thompson’s] criminal conduct was repetitive and willful,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Petersen wrote in a court memo. “The defendant’s dishonesty was not a single lapse of judgment, but rather, involved years of deceit. He simply thought he could get away with paying less than what he owed. The sentence imposed must show otherwise.”

Chris Gair, Thompson’s lawyer, wrote in his own memo that Thompson has “suffered tremendous public humiliation as a result of his conviction” in February.

* One more from Jon Seidel…

A couple accused of paying more than $281,000 in kickbacks to Bloomingdale Township’s disgraced former highway commissioner pointed the finger right back at him Friday, calling Robert Czernek a liar who can’t be trusted as their federal fraud trial got underway.

Debra Fazio and Mario Giannini were charged along with Czernek back in August 2020 and accused of an eight-year scheme in which Bloomingdale Township improperly paid more than $700,000 to Bulldog Earth Movers, an excavation company owned by Fazio.

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Saurish Appleby-Bhattacharjee kicked off opening statements in the trial of Fazio and Giannini. He told jurors “greed” led the couple “to seek out easy money.”

Giannini’s attorney countered the case was really about “trust” — and whether jurors could believe Czernek, who is now the feds’ key witness in the trial.

* OK, last Jon Seidel story for now…

Twelve Illinois residents are among nearly two dozen people who face federal charges for an alleged $26 million insurance-fraud scheme that lasted nearly a decade.

Prosecutors say the defendants filed false applications to get life insurance policies and then tricked carriers into paying death benefits by lying about the identities of deceased people.

The feds say the defendants would pay premiums on the policies for two years, until the period for contestability expired. Claims for death benefits would then be submitted using false death certificates. The defendants are also accused of lying to law enforcement, first responders, medical personnel, funeral home staff and cemetery employees.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of at least $26 million in alleged ill-gotten gains, as well as nine luxury vehicles, eight Rolex watches and properties in Orland Park, Bridgeview and Burbank.

Those charged from the Chicago area include James Mills, Juley Ely, Ginger Ely and Joe Rouga of Oak Lawn; Frank Costello of Hoffman Estates; Mary Bacco of Bridgeview; Steve Montega, Niko Ristick and Ricky Blanca of Orland Park; Mark Blanca and Diana Lumas of Burbank; and Joe John of Arlington Heights.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 10:00 am

Comments

The courthouse beat in the Northern District of Illinois is a target-rich environment for juicy corruption stories. This well will never run dry.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 10:08 am
First I have heard about not one but two ghost patrolling jobs for Senator Cullerton

Sad state of affairs how little traction ethics reform received this session despite the obvious crisis given all of the lawmakers indicted

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 10:26 am
Will Alderman Burke appeal the ruling? Interesting that no trial date is set so far.

Comment by Steve Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 10:45 am
Wonder if Eddie Burke will shuffle into the Dirksen Federal Building on a walker? Always the showman, now is Eddie’s time in the arena.

Might be time to leave the Rolex and pinky ring at home.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 10:55 am
Steve - there’s no basis for an appeal on these pretrial rulings until after the trial.

Judge Dow needs to get this case tried. He allowed the pretrial period to drag on far too long.

Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 11:01 am
==Interesting that no trial date is set so far.==

I thought I read that the judge said the trial would likely be next year sometime.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 11:02 am
Coli and the Teamsters are connected to multiple recent corruption trials. The Cinespace bribery and now Cullerton.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 11:42 am
It is important to familiarize myself with the list of indictments As I am out canvassing this weekend. Things are heating up.

Comment by 14th ward Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 11:59 am
== Coli and the Teamsters are connected to multiple recent corruption trials. The Cinespace bribery and now Cullerton. ==

Yeah, but when Coli first got nabbed the thinking was he would take down a bunch of pols, union folks and other power brokers. That didn’t happen.

Comment by TNR Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 2:15 pm
How on earth did the fraudsters (Life Insurance story) manage to do this that many times without being caught?
False death certificates? I always assumed those would be water marked/stamped like real ones. And I would think insurance companies would be hard people to steal from. Those folks are by definition bean counters.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Jun 8, 22 @ 3:25 pm