Like flotsam after a shipwreck, some interesting items are washing ashore in the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial. Two pieces involve Democratic US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias. I wrote about the first piece of wreckage, Raghuveer Nayak, yesterday morning. On Wednesday, former state of Illinois employee Rajinder Bedi told Blago trial judge James Zagel that Nayak offered to raise $1 million for then-Governor Blagojevich in an effort to get the hair-brained one to appoint Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Chicago) to Barack Obama's Senate seat.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, two companies owned by Nayak--Rogers Park One Day Surgi-Center and Lakeshore Surgery Center--contributed a combined $23,000 to Alexi Giannoulias' Illinois state campaign committee.
That same day at the Blago trial real estate agent Sean Conlon testified about Brian Hynes, who received a $1.5 million loan from the Giannoulias family's failed bank and contributed $2,500 to Alexi's state campaign fund in 2008. A couple of years earlier, Hynes paid $3,541.50 for a 2006 Giannoulias fundraiser at at Chicago nightclub, according to the state elections board. Conlon told jurors that he paid an extra $64,000 on two real etate deals so Blago's wife Patti could receive a brokerage fee. This was done at the behest of Hynes, according to Conlon. Hynes is a former business associate of convicted political swindler Tony Rezko.
Related post:
Run Jesse run: Bad day for Junior at Blago trial and a new line of T-shirts
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