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Obamas Buddy..............Guilty

Mike

Well-known member
CHICAGO — A prominent fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted Wednesday of fraud and money laundering after a high-profile federal trial provided an unusually detailed glimpse of the pay-to-play politics that has made Illinois infamous.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko showed no emotion as the jury found him guilty of a majority of the 24 counts he faced, including scheming to get kickbacks out of money management firms wanting state business and a contractor who wanted to build a hospital in northern Illinois. He was acquitted of charges that included attempted extortion.

The nine-week trial included explosive testimony about all-night drug parties involving the government's star witness and allegations that the governor discussed a state job for a supporter after the donor handed over a $25,000 check for Blagojevich's campaign.

Testimony barely touched on the relationship between Obama and Rezko, who has known the Democratic presidential candidate since he entered politics and was involved in a 2005 real estate deal with him. Most of the focus was on shakedowns prosecutors said Rezko arranged when he was a top adviser to Blagojevich.

Neither Blagojevich nor Obama has been accused of wrongdoing.

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Courtroom Wire: Notes From Tony Rezko's Corruption Trial Rezko's bond was immediately revoked Wednesday and he was taken into federal custody until his Sept. 3 sentencing.

"Mr. Rezko, on his own, decided that if he was convicted he wanted to immediately start serving his sentence," said defense attorney Joseph Duffy, who added that he would pursue and appeal.

Duffy and other defense attorneys had maintained that the government had little evidence tying him to corruption and that the star witness, admitted political fixer Stuart P. Levine, was not credible because years of drug use had damaged his memory.

Levine was a member of a state board that decided which hospitals got built and on a panel that decided which investment firms got allocations from a $40 billion fund that pays pensions of retired teachers.

Levine testified that Rezko, drawing on the political clout he developed as a Blagojevich fundraiser, stacked both boards with members who could be relied upon to follow orders when big-money decisions came up. Prosecutors said he used that clout to shake down companies and individuals hoping for state business for $7 million in kickbacks.

While Obama's name rarely surfaced, the case focused attention on Obama's relationship with Rezko, a man Hillary Clinton derided in one televised debate as a "slum landlord."

Rezko, a real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur, had been friendly with Obama for years, even offering him a job after Obama finished law school. Obama turned down the offer, but a political friendship developed.

Rezko donated more than $21,000 to Obama and raised far more for his campaigns in Illinois, though not his presidential bid.

He also advised Obama on the purchase of a new Chicago home and, in his wife's name, purchased a vacant lot next to the new Obama home at the same time from a couple who insisted on selling both pieces of property simultaneously. The purchase raised questions about the extent of his help.

The charges against Rezko had nothing to do with Obama, who has donated $150,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity.

Rezko, 52, was charged with scheming with Levine to split a $1.5 million kickback from a contractor who wanted to build a hospital in northern Illinois and to shake down money management firms wanting to invest in the teacher pension fund.

Rezko denied he had anything to do with such a scheme.

Rezko attorneys claimed that once FBI wiretaps picked up Levine talking about payoffs and other corruption he needed to provide federal prosecutors with a "big fish" like Rezko in order to get a deal and avoid a possible life sentence.

Levine did make a deal with prosecutors under which instead of life he will probably get a 5 1/2-year prison sentence and forfeit $5 million. He admitted on the stand that for 30 years he attended twice-a-month marathon drug parties, where he shared drugs including cocaine and crystal methamphetamine with male companions.

Rezko attorneys said Levine's brain had been so badly damaged that he couldn't recall what Rezko had said and done years ago.

The scandal is the second to swirl around an Illinois governor in 10 years. Former Gov. George Ryan, Blagojevich's predecessor, is currently serving a 6 1/2-year prison term for corruption.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
I guess when Barry-O talks about "change", politicians hanging out and doing business with criminals isn't part of that change ......
 

Mike

Well-known member
The friends of Barack Obama

Among Barack Obama's most intimate spiritual mentors and closest friends are Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, and Tony Rezko. He has known each of them for more than fifteen years. Over the past few weeks, Obama has made public statements suggesting that over the years he failed to discern the offensive qualities that have made them notorious. He somehow really didn't know them very well.

The Chicago Tribune interviewed Obama about Rezko this past March. In the interview Obama admitted that Rezko had raised more money for him than had been previously known (as much as $250,000) for the first three offices he sought. As late as 2005 when Rezko was already under investigation, Rezko purchased the lot adjoining the house the Obamas purchased on the same day. Rather, Rita Rezko purchased the lot: "Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, bought the side lot for $625,000. A $37,000- a-year Cook County employee, she secured a $500,000 mortgage from Mutual Bank of Harvey."

Obama bought his house for $300,000 less than the asking price when Rezko bought the adjoining lot for the asking price. "Frankly I don't think he was doing me a favor," Obama said. "There was simply no connection between our purchase of the house, the price of the house and the purchase of the lot." After the reports of Rezko's questionable political dealings first emerged in 2005, the Tribune reports, Obama said he asked Rezko about them. Rezko assured him there was nothing wrong. "My instinct was to believe him," he said.

Yesterday Rezko was convicted in federal court on 16 felony corruption counts including fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery. Obama's comment on Rezko's conviction reaches a new height of absurdity:

I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.

The extravagant corruption involved in the Rezko case extends to the office of the Illinois governor. The behavior in issue is already illegal. The needed reform that "once again" moves into the spotlight is the reform of Obama's friends, and of Obama's alleged failure to perceive their character.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
That wasn't the Rev. Wright that he knew, now it isn't the Tony Rezko that he knew. Is this guy that poor a judge of character or is he just making excuses for the criminals and racists that he is involved with?
 
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