Not So Fast For Vrdolyak?
Vrdolyak The controversial light sentence handed down earlier this year to former alderman Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak is now coming under scrutiny from an appeals panel. The Tribune reports that a three-member panel from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is digging into concerns over the sentence. Vdrolyak, who pleaded guilty to playing a role in a real estate kickback scheme involving property being sold on behalf of Rosalind Franklin University, received a sentence of five years probation and a $50,000 fine from U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, who defended the sentence by claiming the school suffered no financial loss as a result of the scheme while the school claimed they lost as much as $6 million on the sale.
Prosecutors in the case took the sentence to the appeals court, hoping for a heftier sentence. At oral arguments today, Judge Richard Posner, one of the three judges on the panel, said of the original sentence, "What is probation for such a crime? It's nothing...The punishment was not a punishment for a serious offense." Prosecutors had been seeking 3.5 years in prison for Vrdolyak. A final ruling isn't expected from the appeals court for several months.