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Rep. Ford’s defense

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Illinois

* Earlier this week, state Rep. LaShawn Ford’s attorney filed a response to the charges against him. Ford has been indicted for fraud and lying to a bank…

Ford’s attorney, Tom Durkin, said in a new court filing that Ford was indicted because he was elected.

“He is the only person, to my knowledge, to ever get charged with anything out of the whole ShoreBank collapse,” Durkin said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Which I find odd.”

ShoreBank provided loans to low income parts of Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. It shuttered after the housing collapse.

Durkin wrote in his court filing that Ford was a long-time customer of ShoreBank. The former head of the bank’s loan committee once said of Ford, “when an individual [like LaShawn Ford] is a well known customer of the bank, the paperwork may be more relaxed and not completed as thoroughly as by newer customers.”

Durkin also requested that prosecutors identify the expenses that were allegedly unrelated to the rehabilitation of Ford’s properties before trial.

Durkin said prosecutors wrongly charged Ford with 17 counts. He said some of those counts are duplicative, and could be in violation of double jeopardy standards.

The original indictment is here.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 3, 13 @ 12:03 pm

Comments

–Durkin also requested that prosecutors identify the expenses that were allegedly unrelated to the rehabilitation of Ford’s properties before trial.–

I would think they would have to do that, wouldn’t they? It seems to be the gist of the indictment.

I can imagine black lawmakers from Chicago have felt they have targets on their backs for a while now.

Digging deeply into an individual’s loan documentation from the Housing Bubble Era seems to be an odd use of resources — particularly since Attorney Gen. Holder has told us that the corporate officers of the big banks that drove the economy into the ditch are too big to prosecute.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 3, 13 @ 12:28 pm
I work in banking reg and fraud arena. This is unheard of. Being a legislator absolutely put a targeting his back from the Feds point of view. I also know lashawn and this sounds like a bright but fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy getting sloppy with the source and proper placement of funds. You could find errors with just about any small time developer. The Feds just want the headline. What a waste of resources.

Comment by Banker Friday, May 3, 13 @ 12:52 pm
I agree with Durkin that it is odd that he’s the only person charged as a result of Shorebank’s collapse. However, I don’t think that’s a good defense strategy.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 3, 13 @ 12:56 pm
White and Latino lawmakers have felt like they have a target on their backs, too. That’s partially because there is general deterrent value to prosecuting public officials. It helps folks understand that violating a particular law is wrong.

Once again, Mr. Durkin is going with something that isn’t a legal defense, hoping that he gets to argue to the jury that the jurors should nullify the law because it’s being applied unfairly. The Seventh Circuit has repeatedly ruled that is improper; most judges won’t let Mr. Durkin make the argument. Nevertheless, it can sometimes be the best argument he has available.

Comment by Anonymour Friday, May 3, 13 @ 1:04 pm
it’s nice to see that somebody besides these thieving bankers may have stolen some money in the great collapse..

Comment by stratten Friday, May 3, 13 @ 1:13 pm
It is not a defense to say I’m the only one being charged but I’m not the only one that is guilty. That appears to be the defense here. They should argue that he is not guilty.

Comment by Just Me Friday, May 3, 13 @ 1:38 pm
I actually think it should be a valid defense to present an argument that the prosecutor is avoiding dealing with real crimes to pursue prosecution for PR or political reasons.

There’s far too little accountability for prosecutors.

I hope the jury does tell the feds to prosecute the big fish before hassling guys like LaShawn Ford.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Friday, May 3, 13 @ 1:53 pm
None of what Tom says in his pleading is remotely a defense to any of the charges.

Comment by Curmudgeon Friday, May 3, 13 @ 1:55 pm
“Digging deeply into an individual’s loan documentation from the Housing Bubble Era seems to be an odd use of resources — particularly since Attorney Gen. Holder has told us that the corporate officers of the big banks that drove the economy into the ditch are too big to prosecute.”

It’s not an ‘odd’ use of resources. It’s an intentional waste of resources by US DOJ, so they won’t have the capability to go after the real criminals in the entire financial meltdown - the crooked, lying, thieving banksters and the credit rating agencies.

LaShawn Ford is just easy pickings - ‘low hanging fruit’, so to speak.

Comment by Judgment Day Friday, May 3, 13 @ 2:06 pm
Being a small time developer (similar in scope to Ford), this is pretty shocking. I can probably name a dozen or more people who did the same thing and know they won’t be charged. They aren’t elected and they mostly lost their money in regular bars, not Indiana casinos.

Comment by k3_Spfld_Chi Friday, May 3, 13 @ 2:19 pm
I’m not saying Ford is without blame, but I have no doubt that there are dozens of Shorebank loan portfolios just like his…inflated appraisals, shoddy paperwork, ect. Half of Wall Street was pulling the same nonsense, only they were dealing with billions instead of thousands of dollars. This is the stuff of the banking crisis.

No doubt, Ford was singled out because he holds office. This should be settled in a civil complaint with some steep fines. That’s how the Wall Street honchos were dealt with…if they were held accountable.

Comment by Frank Friday, May 3, 13 @ 2:44 pm
The DOJ should drop the charges. This is a terrible use of resources. Charge a civil fine. Go prosecute druglords and gangbangers, not real estate developers who happen to be elected officials.

Comment by Dan Johnson Friday, May 3, 13 @ 3:00 pm
My guess is that the FBI and US Attorney discovered this (or perhaps more accurately stumbled into this) as they were digging into every west side pol as part of a corruption investigation. Rickey Hendon was reported to be the subject of an investigation. Derrick Smith walked into an FBI sting. Everybody knew the feds were all over the west side for the past few years.

A real estate developer like Ford probably doesn’t get charged because the feds aren’t going after major bank fraud much less penny ante stuff like this. But they set out to put some political scalps on the wall and they found enough evidence to charge Ford with a crime.

It stinks for him and his family, but it’s an occupational hazard for Illinois politicians.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 3, 13 @ 3:08 pm
It will stink also when he gets convicted and has to serve time in prison.
Innocent until proven guilty.

Comment by inker Friday, May 3, 13 @ 3:20 pm
I agree with 47.

A small fry political scalp.

Look we did something!

Comment by anon for a reason Friday, May 3, 13 @ 4:06 pm
It smells of pol-profiling. This charge is unrelated to his legislative office, yet he is singled out because of his office. I’d love to be on that jury.

Comment by reformer Friday, May 3, 13 @ 4:19 pm