Convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a longtime friend of Barack Obama, is believed to be talking to federal authorities and "singing like a canary" about what he knows regarding corruption within Illinois politics. Ever since Rezko's June conviction of fraud and extortion charges, the focus of the ongoing corruption investigation by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been on Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who calls Chicago's Ravenswood Manor neighborhood home.
Home may be where the heart is for the Blagojeviches, but today, it's where the headache is, as the Chicago Sun-Times tells us:
Federal investigators are zeroing in on whether Tony Rezko paid for all or part of a $90,000 rehab of Gov. Blagojevich's Northwest Side bungalow as the corruption probe of the state's first family accelerates.
Since Rezko's felony conviction in June, the FBI has been investigating how the former top Blagojevich fund-raiser billed the governor and his wife for the work, who paid for it and whether Rezko ever arranged for cash to be passed in envelopes to the Blagojeviches, several sources familiar with the probe told the Chicago Sun-Times.
A grand jury has issued at least one subpoena related to the project, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Agents also have inquired about the governor's wife's real estate dealings with Rezko and whether Rezko might have disguised payments for the work through sham billings at a large housing development he was building.
The work was done in 2003 shortly after Rezko, a prominent developer, had succeeded in placing his friends and associates on state-government boards that controlled lucrative deals. Rezko was convicted of wide-ranging fraud involving those boards.
Blagojevich's predecessor, Republican George Ryan, is a resident of the Federal Correctional Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Related post:
Impeachment talk about Gov. Blagojevich continues
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I suppose an interesting question is what happens if this investigation eventually leads to Obama, but only after he is elected. If it's an indictable offense, then perhaps we'll have a repeat of the Spiro Agnew scenario of years ago.
ReplyDeleteHeh, he should have saved his money and moved to the Governor's mansion. lol
ReplyDeleteHeh, he should have saved his money and moved to the Governor's mansion.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Bill Clinton do that in Arkansas? Hey, it's not a bad idea.
governor's mansion, by saving his money !! lol
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