Rezko trial: Levine tells of "finder's fee" pressure

The star witness for the prosecution in the corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Stuart P. Levine, was back on the stand today, and he explained how he tried to strongarm a company into paying a $750,000 "finders fee."

From AP:

Millionaire attorney Stuart P. Levine testified that Rezko had designated businessman Charles Hannon and an offshore company Hannon ran to receive a "finder's fee" from a money management firm that wanted state business. Hannon was to keep half and send the remainder along to a Levine associate, Levine said.

"Mr. Hannon understood that he was going to receive a fee from someone for something," Levine told the biggest political corruption trial in Illinois since former Gov. George Ryan's racketeering and fraud conviction.

Hannon was to have no real role in helping the money management firm, JER Partners, but was to merely collect the fee, which prosecutors say Rezko really intended to be a kickback.

Under the plan, JER Partners was to pay the "finder's fee" for getting an $80 million allocation of assets from the $40 billion State Teachers Retirement Plan, which pays the pensions of thousands of retired downstate and suburban school teachers.

Although they got a lot of heat for not "playing ball" in this scheme, JER got the business anyway--and they didn't have to pay up.

According to court documents, attorney Joseph Cari, who has pleaded guilty to one count of attempted extortion, told JER, "This is how things are done in Illinois."

Somehow that lesson was left out of my grade school civics class when I was a younger Marathon Pundit.

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