Blago Indictment Coming Today?

[Kathianne]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6741019


Blagojevich indictment imminent
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | 10:30 PM
By Ravi Baichwal
April 1, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- An indictment charging former Governor Rod Blagojevich with corruption is expected as early as Thursday.

The indictment would replace a complaint charging Blagojevich with crimes including an effort to sell President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

The buzz around the federal courts is that with a deadline looming, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will hand up an indictment against the former governor....

Buzz around here, could be today.

[Kathianne]

Finally.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040201763_pf.html



Blagojevich Indicted on Fraud, Extortion and Racketeering Charges
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 2, 2009; 6:55 PM

CHICAGO, April 2 -- A federal grand jury charged former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich on Thursday with racketeering, extortion and fraud, opening a new chapter in the prosecution of the voluble Democrat who could spend years behind bars if convicted.

The 75-page indictment, which also charged Blagojevich's brother and several close aides, describes a political operation designed from the beginning of his first term to strengthen the governor's hold on power and make money that Blagojevich would receive after he left office.

Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office after his Dec. 9 arrest, was charged with 16 counts, including 11 counts of wire fraud, three counts of extortion and one count of lying to federal investigators.

He remains free on bond. No court hearing has been scheduled.

The indictment charges that Blagojevich gave two friends, convicted developer Antoin Rezko and indicted businessman Christopher Kelly, significant authority over state boards and commissions, knowing they would profit from their roles.

In return, prosecutors contend, Rezko and Kelly generated millions in campaign contributions and provided "financial benefits" to Blagojevich and his family.

According to the indictment, Blagojevich began to profit from Rezko's work early in the first of his two terms as governor. In August 2003, Rezko paid Blagojevich's wife Patty $14,396 for a real estate deal in Chicago, although she had not performed any services.

The payments soon grew, rising to $12,000 a month for a stretch of time in 2003 and 2004 for real estate brokerage services. He also allegedly gave her $40,000 in January 2004 for brokerage services, although her role was minor, prosecutors contend.

Rezko also allegedly gave Blagojevich's former counsel and chief of staff, Lon Monk, a series of $10,000 payments totaling $70,000 to $90,000.

Monk was charged in the indictment. Also charged was Blagojevich's brother Robert, who became chairman of the governor's campaign fund in August.

Another former chief of staff, John Harris, and businessmen Christopher Kelly and William Cellini, were also charged.

Rezko, a prodigious Democratic fundraiser convicted of influence peddling, has been interviewed by prosecutors. He became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign because of his former ties to President Obama, for whom he raised money.

In what Obama has described as a "boneheaded" move on his part, the future presidential candidate and Rezko bought adjacent properties in Chicago's Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood from the same owner in July 2005.

Obama paid $1.6 million for a house and Rezko bought the vacant lot next door. Obama later purchased a slice of Rezko's property to expand his yard. He said Rezko did not ask for any favors and was not granted any.

Blagojevich lay at the center of a painstaking, years-long investigation of corruption in a state that has become infamous for it. It was a world he knew well and campaigned against -- his predecessors in Congress and the governor's residence were both convicted of federal crimes -- but in the words of prosecutors, he was worse.

"Even those of us who had questions about the governor's ethics could not have imagined how nakedly he would have approached this," said Dave Lundy, acting executive director of the Better Government Association. "This spells out a guy who looked at the governor's office as something he could sell."

The six-year investigation, dubbed Operation Board Games, has led to charges against 17 people, and Lundy said, "It's pretty clear this is not the end of this process. There are many more shoes to drop."....

[Kathianne]

I'm amazed at how many bought Blago's nonsense on his media tour, granted few, if any here, but on more liberal boards, yowser. Now with the indictment confirmation that Rham was 'Congressman A'. Well that was pretty common knowledge around Chicago:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/Indictment_suggests_Rahm_brother_were_victims_of_e xtortion_attempt.html


Indictment suggests Rahm, brother were victims of extortion attempt
Rahm Emanuel appears to have been a victim of one of the extortion attempts with which former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was charged tonight.

Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment refers to two incidents involving "Congressman A": In one, Blagojevich discusses approaching the unnamed congressman to broker a deal for Obama's Senate seat.

In another, unrelated, charge, Blagojevich in 2006 allegedly demanded that the congressman or his brother -- Emanuel's high-profile sibling is super-agent Ari Emanuel -- hold a fundraiser for the governor in exchange for releasing $2 million to support a publicly funded school....

More interesting is this though, note the question posed at the bottom, directed to the MSM:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_29-2009_04_04.shtml#1238736448


[Jim Lindgren, April 3, 2009 at 1:40am] Trackbacks
Indictment Suggests Rahm Emanuel Was Extortion Victim. Ben Smith at Politico is reporting that Congressman A in the Blagojevich indictment is Rahm Emanuel. In 2006, he and his brother were allegedly victims of an extortion scheme:

....I wonder if this 2006 alleged extortion attempt was brought to Fitzgerald by Emanuel after the larger scandal broke last December, or whether they knew of it all along.

The more recent extortion attempt against Emanuel (and Obama) was to be made through intermediaries (as was the approach to Jarrett), so the Obama report, limited as it was only to direct contacts with Blagojevich, failed to mention whether these attempted shakedowns occurred.

Perhaps someday the press will get around to asking Obama about the shakedown attempts specifically alleged by the US Attorney. After all, it's already April.


BTW, Lindgren is a law prof at Northwestern, thus has a bit of 'insight' into Chicago politics. :laugh2: