ILL-inois: Dixon to get $40 million settlement in municipal embezzlement case

Author in Dixon in 2009

For the second time this evening I have to point out that Illinois public corruption isn't just a Chicago thing. One hundred miles to the west is Dixon--the small city's longtime comptroller embezzled over $50 million to fund her lavish horse breeding business.

Until this crime, Dixon was chiefly known as the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.

But Dixon is going to get much of its money back.

From SaukValley.com:

DIXON – The city reached a $40 million out-of-court settlement this morning with its former auditors and Fifth Third Bank, who the city said were to blame for former Comptroller Rita Crundwell's theft of nearly $54 million over two decades.

Mayor Jim Burke made the announcement this morning during a special meeting of the Dixon City Council, during which the council approved the settlement.

The agreement was reached Friday in Chicago, Burke said.

Including about $10 million more the city expects to receive from the sale of Crundwell's assets, the city could recover about $50 million. The city's attorneys will receive about $10 million from the settlement, meaning Dixon actually would recover about $40 million.

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