Ald. Banks' Family Banking It In

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 14, 2008 9:30PM

Chicago has a long and rich history of nepotism and this latest example shows that it's still business as usual. James J. Banks, the nephew of 36th Ward Ald. William Banks, is known as an attorney who represents developers before the City Council Zoning Committee, which is chaired by his uncle the alderman. But James is also the chairman of the Belmont Bank & Trust, which appears to be a private piggy bank for some developers and the Banks family.

The Sun-Times reports that the Belmont Bank & Trust is a who's who of the Banks family. James's father sits on the bank's board and his cousin is the bank's chief financial officer. The real humdinger, however, is the $7.3 million in loans the bank gave to James's wife, Grace Sergio, and her companies. The couple owns a real-estate agency, Sergio & Banks, which used the loans for condo developments.

While there's nothing illegal about helping a family member get a job, there are federal regulations on how much money can be lent to one person. The Sun-Times points out that Belmont Bank & Trust may have violated lending limits when Sergio received $5.6 million in loans last summer. The paper also shows that the bank did not properly disclose insider loans, which are loans made to bank employees and their family members.

Anyone who knows anything about Chicago knows that nepotism in city hall is as common as the Cubs choking every season. But you never know what downstate Republicans might be cooking up. You've been warned, Todd Stroger.

By Hunter Clauss