Results tagged “stuartlevine”

It's good to be Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak. Facing a potential sentence of between three and four years in prison for his role in a kickback scheme, Fast Eddie walked out of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse yesterday a free man, sentenced to five years probation and fined $50,000, and declaring for reporters, "God is great." In spite of calls from prosecutors to come down heavy on Vrdolyak, U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur called the prosecution's case against him "serious overkill" when announcing the sentence. Vrdolyak pleaded guilty last fall to his role in the kickback scheme, but had refused to cooperate with the feds in any of their additional investigations. Per the Trib:

In court records unsealed recently, it seems that Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak was ultimately done in by "buddy" Stuart Levine, who taped conversations between he and Vrdolyak in 2006. And if that name sounds familiar, yes, it's the same Stuart Levine whose testimony was the crux of the case against one Mr. Tony Rezko. Vrdolyak just pled guilty a few weeks ago to the real estate kickback scheme of Rosalind Franklin University's sale of a Gold Coast building. In the taped conversations, Levine is described as, "pressing his old pal for his share of a bogus finder's fee." The Trib recounts this more succinctly than we ever could.

Levine, a board member at the school, tapped his friend Vrdolyak to find a buyer, Smithfield Properties Development.

Continue reading "Fast Eddie Has A Potty Mouth"

Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, was denied an en banc appeal hearing Monday. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a request that the entire court reconsider the convictions of Sorich and two others. Sorich, who was convicted in 2006 of fraud for his role in covering up political hiring in the city, had asked for a hearing to examine his fraud conviction for depriving the city of "honest services," a hot topic in recent years. While such a hearing is unusual, it isn't unheard of: The court held such a hearing after former governor George Ryan was convicted of racketeering. Two judges, Michael S. Kanne and Richard A. Posner, dissented, saying that the subject was worthy of examination, and that it was unclear if violating a series of 30-year-old court decrees could be the basis for a crime.

Now that Tony Rezko's trial is over, Judge Amy St. Eve has unsealed several defense documents, and boy oh boy, are they a treat.

When we first imagined making a movie of the Tony Rezko trial, it was an intense courtroom drama, rife with "I object!"s and such. Much brooding. Perhaps a lawyer who Reaches! His! Limit! and knocks a water pitcher off a table in a moment of rage, or maybe a bright up-and-coming associate who finally shows she knows how to roll with the big boys. Lots of smarmy judgment every time Rezko's lawyers say "." And maybe a flashback sequence or two to the good old days at the Purple Hotel. (All drug scenes must be set to the opening portion of "Baba O'Riley.")

Tony Rezko's upcoming trial on fraud charges is sure to be sensational, with a veritable who's who of Illinois politicians listed in the indictment, including a sitting governor and a presidential candidate. Key to the prosecution is the government's star witness, Stuart Levine, whom Rezko's defense team has been trying to discredit as a drug user. Those allegations just got, um, sexier yesterday afternoon.

Tony Rezko's rise to power in state politics didn't happen overnight. When got started as a strong advocate of grassroots Arab-American activism in Chicago and was often the largest contributor to Arab-American campaigns. But several years ago, Rezko’s name started showing up on campaign disclosure forms for prominent politicians in Chicago, Cook County and the state.

It seems like everybody in town knows Tony Rezko's name. And why not? Besides being under federal indictment, he's a big player in Illinois politics. He's also gotten some national attention, with Former Gov. Jim Edgar musing that Rezko isn't really Obama's problem, and a photo of him with former President Bill Clinton surfacing on the Today show.

Chicagoist got a blast from the past yesterday when our man in Dirksen, Patrick Fitzgerald, announced the indictment of former 10th Ward Alderman Fast Eddie Vrdolyak on charges of federal fraud and bribery in connection with an alleged scheme to collect kickbacks in exchange for the sale of choice Gold Coast property. The charges allege that Vrdolyak conspired with businessman Stuart Levine to defraud the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science of the full...

Besides appointing Tammy Duckworth to the state Department of Veteran's Affairs, Rod Blagojevich has made the news again recently for some other, not-so-sexy reasons lately, too. Blago gave the boot to two East Coast law firms that had made large donations to the Governor. A third firm had been removed from the state's list of preferred law firms in May. The Sun-Times is reporting that the preferred list kept by the state (which is a...

How often do you really notice the names on plaques honoring benefactors of various public and private attractions? Does it really matter to you who helped fund the So-and-So Family Auditorium or the John Q. Richerthanyou Memorial Park? You hardly notice the embossed faces of the two bluebloods beaming down from their perches. But some people think that the Lincoln Park Zoo ought to reconsider the honor given to a man whose name graces their polar bear exhibit.

After a long-brewing federal investigation, three North Shore businessmen were convicted yesterday for forcing hospitals to provide them millions of dollars of kickbacks so they could build new facilities, and billing other medical facilities millions of dollars of fraudulent charges. Stuart Levine, a former member of the Illinois Hospital Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) allegedly channelled business to contractor Jacob Kiferbaum and Bears Stearns investor Nicholas Hurtgen. After Kiferbaum and Hurtgen got the business, Levine would allegedly receive a kickback, and ensure the hospitals' plans would be approved on the IHFPB. (Indictment text here.)