12May/12

Rezko’s partner testifies against the Feds?

Share

Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

For the moment, Illinois PayToPlay is going to let this provocative document created by Daniel T Frawley speak for itself.

But we do want to suggest that reporting on allegations of corruption, involving government officials tied to the Rezko investigation, does not fit the the current political agenda of the Chicago Sun Times or the Chicago Tribune.

Could that be because Chicago is a "Sanctuary City" for corrupt government officials?

For the lucky politicrooks allowed to set-up shop in Chicago, there's a blanket of protection provided in large part by the two major dailies. Who protects the honest citizen?

Perhaps in 7-8 years, when it's politicly expedient, the Chicago Sun-Times will be all over this Frawley story.

From: "Ernie Souchak" <address withheld>
To: "John Barron" <jbarron@suntimes.com>, "Andrew Herrmann" <aherrmann@suntimes.com>, "Gerould Kern" <gkern@tribune.com>
Cc: "Tim Novak" <tnovak@suntimes.com>, "Carol Marin" <cmarin@suntimes.com>, "Chris Fusco" <cfusco@suntimes.com>, "Dave McKinney" <dmckinney@suntimes.com>, "John Chase" <jchase@tribune.com>, "Jeff Coen" <JCoen@tribune.com>, "John Kass" <jskass@tribune.com>, "Eric Zorn" <ericzorn@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:38:17 PM
Subject: Rezko's partner testifies against the Feds ?
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Thu, May 10, 2012 at 7:19 PM
Subject: Fwd: FYI
To: Ernie Souchak<address withheld>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dan Frawley <email address withheld>
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 7:07 AM
Subject: Fwd: FYI
To: robert XXXXX <Bob Cooley's email address withheld>

  

 1) The USAO told Tom Durkin during Tom’s meeting with Fitzgerald, Shapiro, Ridgeway and FBI agent Jay Hagstrom that I was considered a fully co-operating witness until 2008.

The USAO was told in 2008 that I tipped him (Rezko) off that I was recording Rezko and the USAO had co-oberating evidence and because of this declination was off the table.

Tom mentioned this to me in Tom’s email to me re: the meeting at 219 South Dearborn.

1) Tom called me and asked me about the incident and I had no recollection. I did not because it did not seem important at the time and I will explain later. I went and met with Sam Doerger as well as speaking to him on the phone about it. Sam suggested I ask Jay, I did.

2) I met with Jay at the FBI office in Lisle. Jay did not give me all the details but let me know almost 99% the incident happened before Jay was assigned to the case and it happened at Tony’s office in the Sears Tower on July 3rd the year Sam retired.

                             SEARS TOWER MEETING WITH TONY JULY 3rd

1) I met with Sam Doerger and Mary Beth King at a Chinese restaurant on Jackson Blvd. July Fourth. During that meeting Mary Beth and Sam informed me they wanted me to wear a wire and record Tony in his office on the 95th story of THE SEARS TOWER. I told the agents of a prior meeting at the Sears Tower. (I will explain later)

2) The USAO wanted me to walk through a metal detector with metal on, bad idea.

4) Agent King to said Sam that this operation had disaster written all over it. Sam agreed and thought we should not do the taping that day. The agents were under pressure to tape Tony by the USAO.

5) I told the agents there were at least 3 levels of security of the tower

A) No one was allowed in with out having a pass and checking in with the security desk. The desk called Tony’s office to confirm the visit, I also let the agents know most of the time Rezko sent someone down from Rezmar to escort me to the office.

B) The seconded line was a metal detector everybody had to pass through

C) The third line, which I did not have, enough information about was an automatic glass door entrance that set of a green light to allow the visitor to pass. I did not know how this glass door operated or what its function was. I suggested the agents let me go over to the SEARS TOWER let me observe the security and try later that week. I was told, “No”. I then said give me a ten minute head start and let me at least get a look at it and I would figure a way through the system for the recording device.

D) The agents settled on a plan to send Mary Beth King in ahead of me. Mary Beth would gain entrance by going up to a law firm at sears Tower and then meet me on another floor and hand me the devise.

E) Mary Beth was unsuccessful. The law firm would not allow her into the Tower. I entered the tower and received permission from security and Tony to enter the Rezmar 95th floor office. I saw Mary Beth in the vestibule of the building after I received permission to enter. I could tell Mary Beth looked disconcerted. I walked past Mary Beth and dropped my AMX card and handed it to her as if she had dropped it. Mary Beth told me she could not get up to the law offices but she would try another way and meet me on another floor.

F) I went to the scheduled meeting floor and waited for 15 minute, when Mary Beth did not appear I had to go to Tony’s office. I could not just have waited indefinitely; they were expecting me because security notified Rezmar that I was on my way

            I AM 99% SURE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED/I NEVER THUGHT ABOUT IT UNTIL TOM ASKED ME AFTER HIS MEETING WITH FITZGERALD BECAUSE EVERYTHING WENT WRONG AND THE AGENTS Were AGAINST THE MEETING FROM THE START AND I WAS NOT RECORDED

 1) I met with Tony in his office, by this time the FBI had been called by the Chief of Security of the Sears Tower asking what was Agent Mary Beth King doing in the Sears Tower with Dan Frawley, the jig was up and the whole thing was an avoidable disaster caused by the USAO not the agents who wanted to wait. I had no device when I met with tony and for all I knew he was aware I was with the FBI & had a recorder. I SHOT THE BREEZE ABOUT NOTHING BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE A RECORDING DEVICE.

2) Tony asked me to take out my cell phone and disassemble it, Tony was afraid it was a recording.

3) I think that is when I handed Tony a note saying I was wiring him, which I was not and then ate the note. I thought it would work to our advantage and Tony would trust me and be more forth coming in meetings when he thought he was not recorded. The plan worked. Tony met with me for another 2 years.

4) I left the Tower and met Sam and Mary Beth, who were waiting in my Tahoe. The agents were frantic. The agents received a call to go immediately upon my return to 55 West Monroe to meet with the USAU because the head of Sears Tower Security called the FBI and was livid about what was happening. The agents never asked me what had happened they were so distraught and worried: 1) That something had happened to me 2) the whole investigation was blown 3) I would never be able to record Rezko again. 4) I never mentioned what happened in Rezko’s office because of the need of the agents were in such a hurry to get to Monroe St. that I was never debriefed. I dropped them off and it never crossed my mind and I was not asked until Tom met with Shapiro

Had I not regained Tony’s confidence that day and continued meeting with him for an additional 2 years I would not have been able to get the following would never have come to fruition?

A) Buddy Wilkins and the second set of Papa John’s books the FBI had no idea about and then later had me obtain and the FBI copied.

I) Tony plead guilty to defrauding GE Credit because of this

II) Al Chaib plead guilty based on this evidence, until then Chaib had been non-co-operative and was changing defense lawyers regularly.

III) Jack Lavin (Now Pat Quinn’s Chief of Staff) moved a line item of $3 million dollars from Panda into Papa John’s Pizza in order for Tony to get the GE loan

III) Buddy Wilkins was being bribed by Joe Duffy to withhold information from Carolyn and the grand jury! Duffy bribing Wilkins is no exaggeration. Wilkins was offered immunity to testify and Murphy advised Wilkins to turn the immunity down I was living at Maureen’s house and Maureen heard the recorded conversations with Wilkins regarding the withholding information from the grand Jury. Jay Hagstrom was aghast and knew a former USAO was bribing a grand jury witness.

Gene Murphy was Buddy’s attorney, Rezko was paying Murphy. Murphy would brief Duffy and his partners about Wilkins meetings with the FMI and USAO. Murphy would give Rezko’s attorney’s information before it Murphy gave it to his client Wilkins; this was confirmed to Wilkins by Murphy’s legal secretary Diane.

V) USUA Carolyn McNiven used my information to have Murphy removed as Buddy’s attorney as a conflict of interest.

VI) Richard Friedman the bribery and co-operation replaced Murphy with Tony’s attorney’s continued until I got the information on tape that Carolyn wanted. !) The FBI arrested buddy in North Carolina. 2) Buddy was taken back into custody and returned to Chicago. 3) Buddy testified truthfully in front of a grand jury. 4) Buddy was not prosecuted.

1) Tony and his wife both left the USA. Tony’s wife left without the FBI knowing and they were very embarrassed about this. I knew because I had a contact at O’Hare who informed me. I am the one who let the USAU know Mrs. Rezko left the USAO to meet Tony.

2) I tracked Tony all over the world for the FBI for 4 months when they did not know where he was. I got info form my contact at Jordanian Airways and I knew the hotels where he stayed and I got to know the hotel staff that gave me all of Tony’s travel plans. I think I also played a role in talking tony into returning to the US.

3) Weaver asked Steve Blanc to handle negotiations of my repayment from Rezko with Rezko’s attorney, Steve thought this was Weaver’s role and not his, but Steve agreed to do so. We now know why Weaver asked Steve.

4) Steve and I were able to get from Tony’s attorney, Howard Adelman the routing of $3,500,000 in funds from a Syrian Bank to a Beruit Bank to a Belgium bank to a Toronto bank to Joe Duffy’s US Client account) (Rezko) bank. Jay Hagstrom told me it was almost impossible for the FBI to get this info in real time and if the USAU had not received the information before the money hit the client account there is nothing the government could do. The USAU used this info to revoke Rezko’s bail

5) I reached an agreement with Adelman for repayment of my loan from Tony Rezko. The USAO approved and Agent Hagstrom told me to go ahead and collect. I was on my way to pick-up 2 certified checks for $375,000 waiting for me at HOWARD ADELMAN’S LAW OFFICE, when I noticed a clause in the contract I thought would put me into a position of working with Tony’s attorney’s. I called my attorney’s and could not reach any of them. I called Jay who said I could collect my money. I called Carolyn. Carolyn was livid and accused me of working both sides of the deal, which was ridiculous. I had the OK, I caught the USAO and FBI error and brought it to their attention, so their case would not be compromised. I was broke the $375,000 would have made a huge difference in my life. As it turns out I should have just taken the money because now they indicted me over another one of their mistakes. THE ORGANIZATION THAT WANTS PEOPLE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY NEVER ACCEPTS ANY OF IT’S OWN

6) THE FIRST SEARS TOWER INCIDENT. I HAD A RECORDING DEVICE ON ME WHEN I MET TONY REZKO AND MIKE RUMAN AT THE REZMAR OFFICES ON ELSTON AVE. UNEXPECTEDLY, TONY AND MIKE AND I GOT IN MIKE’S CAR AND DROVE TO THE SEARS TOWER. I WAS WEARING A WIRE AND HAD TO WALK THROUGH A METAL DETECTOR! I EXCUSED MYSELF WENT TO THE MEN’S ROOM AND DUPMED THE WIRE. I WAS ABLE TO TALK TONY INTO NOT GOING THROUGH THE DETECTOR AND TO HAVE A CONVERSATION IN THE CORNER BAKERY RESTAURANT BECAUSE I WAS NOT FEELING WELL. WHILE TONY WAITED IN LINE TO GET US COFFE I WENT BACK TO THE JOHN, RETRIEVED THE WIRE FROM THE GARBAGE AND RECORDED US.

7) SAM DOERGER COMPLIMENTED ME ON MY FAST THINKING AND TOLD ME NOT TO SHORT SELL MY OWN IDEA’S AND USE MY HEAD.

8)    AFTER THE 2ND SEARS TOWER INCIDENT SAM TOLD ME FROM THEN ON IF THERE WAS SOMETHING I DID NOT WANT TO DO, TO TELL HIM AND HE WOULD GO ALONG WITH IT.

9) I gave this accounting to Tom and Tom said it sounded like too much CLOAK AND DAGGER; well it is Cloak and Dagger

10) For this the USAU indicted me upon Tony’s word and co-oberating evidence, probable that lying bribing cocksucker Joe Duffy former USAO. The USAU indicts me on the word of a man who bribed one of their most important witnesses and they let Joe Duffy walk.

--

Please send all emails to this Gmail address.

Share
30Apr/12

The Frawley-Cooley emails, more to come

Share

Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

 

Since last February 27, Illinois PayToPlay (IP2P) has posted five emails sent to Robert “Bob” Cooley by Daniel T. Frawley. Here are links to the five articles that highlighted those emails:  February 27March 1; April 8; April 17; and April 19.

There are more to come in the days ahead.

IP2P readers know that Cooley was the star witness in a series of Chicago trials in federal court in the early 1990’s that, as part of Operation Gambat,resulted in over a score of convictions involving a sitting Federal Judge, prominent Illinois politicians, and the Chicago City Council’s 1st Ward Alderman, a member of the Chicago “outfit”.

IP2P readers also know that Daniel T. Frawley was once a Chicago cop, then a business partner of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, and is now a sentenced felon who pled guilty to bank fraud. They also know that Frawley cooperated, for years, with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the investigation of Rezko and, although not called to testify against Rezko, helped put Tony behind bars.

Frawley was recently sentenced for one year and one day, after multiple sentencing delays. The judge tainted his sentence by questioning Frawley’s mental stability.  At IP2P we believe his sentence was as much, perhaps more, about what he knows than what he did.  And, that the timing of the jail time is aimed to keep him quiet until after the November election.

We suspect that the reference to Frawley’s potential mental instability by the sentencing judge was aimed at impugning his credibility in these emails, even after the feds used Frawley to gather information on Rezko, and in “at least a half-dozen different criminal investigations”.  Although Frawley has committed to making restitution of over four million dollars, probation was never in the cards for him.  (or was it ?)

Meanwhile, the two big Chicago daily newspapers, the Tribune and the Sun Times, have displayed no interest in pursuing multiple story leads that have surfaced from Frawley’s emails to Cooley.

IP2P asks - Why is that?

We think Steve Bartin, writing for the website NewGeography.com, in an article entitled “Blago’s Historic Sentencing: Organized Crime in Illinois,” may have hit upon the Tribune-Times problem when he asked, “Could a more vigilant press have stopped the amazing political career of Rod Blagojevich?”

The answer to Bartin’s rhetorical question is – Yes, of course.

That endemic Chicago corruption continues to exist is due, in no small part, to the complicity of the city’s two major daily newspapers, be that complicity benign, malignant, or a blend.

Nationally, Chicago is recognized as synonymous with corruption.

IP2P asks - Where’s the shame at the Tribune and Times?

In the future, IP2P will release more Frawley-Cooley emails, providing the two papers more leads to ignore.  Until, perhaps, the citizens of Chicago begin to pressure their two major newspapers to take their jobs seriously.

A somnolent press cannot long remain free.

Share
19Apr/12

Another Mission Accomplished: Frawley joins Blago and Rezko in the Silence Chamber of Federal Prison

Share

 <<BREAKING NEWS>>

Thomas Barton, Illinois Pay-to-Play Political Commentator

 

 

On April 19, 2012, Federal Judge Ronald Guzman sentenced Daniel T. Frawley to one year and one day in federal prison.  So Frawley joins Rezko and Blago in the Silence Chamber of federal prison until well after the November election. He reports to jail next August 20.

What Frawley knows about Rezko’s dealings with former Illinois U.S. Senator Barack Obama will be unavailable…until it’s irrelevant.

Let’s review Frawley’s puppet dance with the feds:

He pleads guilty to a crime after the statute of limitations had expired, and agrees to pay 4.4 million dollars restitution to the bank he defrauded.

He becomes a confidential informant in the case the U.S. Attorney’s office builds against Antoin “Tony” Rezko, but doesn’t testify at Rezko’s trial.

He is identified as CI2 in the motion to arrest Rezko, after Nadhmi Auchi sent Rezko enough money to cover those who put up assets for Tony’s bond. This causes the feds to suspect that Tony is about to jump bail and head back to the Middle East. So they arrest Tony.

The feds withhold a check for over three hundred thousand dollars made out to Frawley from Rezko, money that Frawley claims Rezko owes him. (So, where did that money go?)

Frawley is dragged through multiple postponements in his sentencing for the better part of a year, until the November ’12 election is close enough for Frawley to receive enough jail time to keep him in the Silence Chamber until the man Patrick Fitzgerald has been protecting for years is re-elected President.

Implausible explanation?  Not when you step back and survey the pattern of the U.S. Attorney’s catch and release program with regard to those most closely associated with Rezko and Blago.

Frawley was guilty as charged for the crimes he committed years ago. He admitted that. But the way his case has been handled over those years calls into question the motives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Has it been about fighting crime?  Or, more about protecting corruption at the highest level of the land?

Frawley’s been a dutiful puppet on federal strings.  And here’s his pay-off:

 

 

 

Share
17Apr/12

Jack Lavin testifies in a stealth law suit, along with other notables

Share

Hugo Floriani, PayToPlay Investigative Reporter

Did you know that a federal civil law suit went to the jury today, April 17, after Governor Pat Quinn’s Chief-of-Staff, Jack Lavin, testified as a witness; Tony Rezko was deposed; and Daniel T. Frawley didn’t testify because his lawyer indicated that, if called, he would “take the 5th”? Here's Jack.

You probably didn’t know any of that, unless you hang around the court house for grins.  And you certainly didn’t know it if you rely on the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun Times to keep you informed.  (Although today, the Times did report that some bald eagles are nesting in the south suburbs. Good to know stuff.)

The case, filed April 24, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, pits Semir D. Sirazi vs. Panda Express, Inc., Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. and the Citadel Panda Express, Inc.

(Illinois PayToPlay reported earlier on another law suit, filed just last January, pitting Semir Sirazi vs. Nadhmi Auchi. Tony Rezko plays a role in both cases.)

Here’s the “Nature of the Action” paragraph in the Sirazi vs. Panda Express case that’s now in the jury’s hands:

“1. This is an action by Sirazi against Panda Express for unjust enrichment, fraud, civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty and for violations of the Illinois Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. From 1993 to 2006, Panda Express, Antoin (“Tony”) Rezko, and various Rezko-controlled companies owned and operated numerous Panda Express restaurants in 5 Midwestern states, the majority of which were in the Illinois/Chicagoland area. In June of 2006, knowing that Tony Rezko was under severe financial and legal distress, and desperate for funds, Panda Express (among other improper actions) bought out PE Chicago, LLC’s 50% interest in the Rezko-Citadel partnership – the entity that owned and operated the Panda Express restaurants – at a price many times less than the fair value of that interest. At the time of the purchase, Panda Express knew that Sirazi and others had significant ownership interests in PE Chicago. In fact, Sirazi, at the time of the purchase – through his interest in Rezko Enterprises, LLC – owned a significant majority of PE Chicago. Panda Express, however, fraudulently conspired with Rezko to acquire PE Chicago’s entire interest in the Rezko-Citadel partnership without Sirazi’s knowledge and at a price far less than the fair value of such interest. As a result of the improper actions of Panda Express, Sirazi has suffered losses in excess of $15 million.”

So, Sirazi asserts he was cheated big-time by Rezko and the Panda Express Chinese food chain, headquartered in Rosemead, California. The originating Pandas were “Andrew and Peggy Cherng and Andrew's father, Master Chef Ming Tsai Cherng, all of whom used to live in the Yangzhou region of China’s Jiangsu province. They started their first Panda Inn restaurant in 1973 in Pasadena, California.”

Here’s the real interesting part: Daniel T. Frawley, in a recently obtained email sent to a confidential source and forwarded to Illinois PayToPlay, claims that Governor Pat Quinn’s Chief-of-Staff, Jack Lavin, fraudulently cooked Rezko’s Papa John’s books by transferring $4,000,000 from Panda Express accounts into Tony’s pizza business.  Here’s that email:

From: Dan Frawley <Address withheld>

Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Subject: I MET OBAMA'S AID AT THOMPSON PRISON WHERE BO WANTED TO SHIFT QUANTANIMO PRISONERS
To: robert XXXXX <Address withheld>

THOMSON PRISON, OBAMA, REZKO, JACK LAVIN & MOE CONTRACT

THOMSON PRISON IS THE FIRST SIGHT THE STATE OF ILLINOIS PROVIDED ME TO LOOK AT TO TRAIN THE IRAQI MOE CANDIDATES.

SEAMUS AHERN OF SENATOR OBAMA’S JOILIET ILLINOIS OFFICE WAS AT THOMSON. NEVER CALLED THE SENATOR’S OFFICE TO ARRANGE TO BE MET.

TONY REZKO CALLED JACK LAVIN REGARDING TRAINING THE IRAQI’S AT AN ILLINOIS GOVERNMENT SIGHT.

JACK LAVIN WAS THE CEO OF ONE OF TONY’S COMPANIES. JACK LAVIN MADE A JOURNALENTRY IN PANDA RESTARAUNTS FINANCIAL STATEMENT. JACK TOOK 4 MILLION DOLLARS OF PANDA’S PROFITS AND MADE A JOURNAL ENTRY INTO PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA PROFITS IN ORDER FOR TO OBTAIN A 10 MILLION LOAN FROM G.E. CREDIT.

ANDREW CHERNIG WAS A 50/50 PARTNER OF TONY’S IN PANDA. WHEN CHERNIG DISCOVERED THAT LAVIN AND REZKO DEFRAUDED HIM CHERNIG CAME INTO CHICAGO ON A FRIDAY AND EMPTIED THE PANDA OFFICE.

TONY AND LAVIN KEPT A DOUBLE SET OF BOOKS FOR PAPA JOHN’S. TOD SELACK THE ACCOUNTANT FOR RECKON AND LAVIN PREPARED THE DOUBLE SET OF BOOKS PER AL CHAIB AND REZKO’S ORDERS.

I HAVE SEEN BOTH SET OF BOOKS AND PROVIDED THE USAO’S OFFICE THE OPPORTUNITY TO COPY SAID BOOKS. THE ENTRY LAVIN MADE INTO THE PAPA JOHN BOOKS WAS KNOWN AS THE MIRACE ENTRY AROUND THE REZMAR OFFICE.

CHERNIG NEVER REPORTED THE FRAUD BECAUSE CHERNIG PARTICIPATED WITH AL CHAIB AND TONY IN STAFFING PANDA RESTAURANT WITH ILLEGAL CHINESE ALIENS CHERNIG HELPED SMUGGLE INTO THE UNITED STATES. CHERNIG WORKED THE CHINESE 80-100 HOUR PER WEEKAND PAID THEM FOR 40. TONY AND CHAIB HOUSED THE CHINESE IN THEIR BUILINGS IN OVER CROWDED CONDITIONS AND OVER CHARGED THE CHINESE FOR RENT.

Plenty to chew on there, such as…

  • Was Rezko deposed about the allegation that he was a slum landlord for illegal Chinese immigrant workers employed by the Pandas?
  • Was Lavin asked about the fraudulent bookkeeping allegation from Frawley?
  •  Is this why Frawley’s attorney announced that Frawley would “take the 5th” if called to testify?
  • Peggy Cherng testified at the trial.  Did she mention the use of illegal Chinese immigrants in Panda Express restaurants, as alleged by Frawley?
  • How about Al Chaib – was he asked about any of this?

Now that they have this email, no doubt the intrepid investigative reporters at the Sun Times and the Trib will jump on this story.

Hey, we can dream can’t we?

 

Share
28Mar/12

Further Update: Details of Frawley v. McMahon “Whistleblower” Lawsuit Just Exposed By Sun Times

Share

Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

Further Update:

Apparently, in response to articles recently run by the Chicago Sun Times that state, as fact, that a “Whistleblower” lawsuit was filed by Daniel T. Frawley in July 11, 2011,Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing to permanently ban an electrical contracting company with ties to Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) from getting city work because its owners and their husbands allegedly operated phony women- and minority-owned companies that have gotten millions of dollars in city contracts.”

This proposed ban was announced today, March 28, 2012, in the Sun Times.  

His Honor and the paper must have access to a fully-authenticated, signed copy of a date-stamped lawsuit that we, at Illinois PayToPlay cannot locate. If they don’t, their claims of its existence are specious. But let’s reserve judgment.

We need your help.

If you have proof that such a lawsuit was filed, post here on comment board.

If it was filed and sealed in July 2011, it should be available to the public by now. And, if it was filed and remains sealed, how did the Sun Times get a copy? Are there not illegalities involved in leaking a sealed court document? Lastly, if it was never filed, what’s this assault on the McMahon’s all about anyway?

Developing…

Update:

The Chicago Sun Times has now run the second of what it promises is a three part series concerning a whistleblower lawsuit filed by attorneys representing Daniel T. Frawley.  The Sun Times has yet to provide its readers a copy of that lawsuit.  Is it the same one Illinois Pay-To-Play posted below?  If it is not, it is time for the Sun Times to show its readers the lawsuit on which it’s series is based.  

(Originally posted on Illinois Pay-to-Play  3-25-2012)

In an article dated March 24, 2012, the Chicago Sun Times broke the explosive story of a lawsuit filed July 2011 by Daniel T. Frawley, cooperating federal government mole-informant in Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation of Tony Rezko, and former Rezko business partner.

According to the Sun Times, the lawsuit charges various members of the McMahon family, associated with McMahon-owned businesses, of fraudulent contracting practices.  The reporters wrote that,

“Frank McMahon’s first cousin, Daniel T. Frawley, filed a “whistleblower” lawsuit in federal court last July accusing McMahon Food, C & C and Krystal of actually being run by men, even though the companies are certified as being women-owned and -operated. As a result, Frawley says McMahon Food was able to obtain multimillion-dollar deals with Cook County government, including supplying dairy goods to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.”

Illinois PayToPlay recently received a copy of a “whistleblower” lawsuit attributed to Frawley, by a confidential source, that fits the description of the document exposed by the Sun Times. Uncertain of its authenticity at the time, we chose not to make it public, but do so now.

Here is a pdf. link to the lawsuit we received. Daniel Frawley Whistleblower Lawsuit (PDF) - We have not yet been able to contact the firm named as representing Frawley for comment.

Share
25Mar/12

Update: Details of Frawley v. McMahon “Whistleblower” Lawsuit Just Exposed By Sun Times

Share

Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

Update:

The Chicago Sun Times has now run the second of what it promises is a three part series concerning a whistleblower lawsuit filed by attorneys representing Daniel T. Frawley.  The Sun Times has yet to provide its readers a copy of that lawsuit.  Is it the same one Illinois Pay-To-Play posted below?  If it is not, it is time for the Sun Times to show its readers the lawsuit on which it’s series is based.  

(Originally posted on Illinois Pay-to-Play  3-25-2012)

In an article dated March 24, 2012, the Chicago Sun Times broke the explosive story of a lawsuit filed July 2011 by Daniel T. Frawley, cooperating federal government mole-informant in Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation of Tony Rezko, and former Rezko business partner.

According to the Sun Times, the lawsuit charges various members of the McMahon family, associated with McMahon-owned businesses, of fraudulent contracting practices.  The reporters wrote that,

“Frank McMahon’s first cousin, Daniel T. Frawley, filed a “whistleblower” lawsuit in federal court last July accusing McMahon Food, C & C and Krystal of actually being run by men, even though the companies are certified as being women-owned and -operated. As a result, Frawley says McMahon Food was able to obtain multimillion-dollar deals with Cook County government, including supplying dairy goods to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.”

Illinois PayToPlay recently received a copy of a “whistleblower” lawsuit attributed to Frawley, by a confidential source, that fits the description of the document exposed by the Sun Times.  Uncertain of its authenticity at the time, we chose not to make it public, but do so now.

Here is a pdf. link to the lawsuit we received. Daniel Frawley Whistleblower Lawsuit (PDF) - We have not yet been able to contact the firm named as representing Frawley for comment.

Share
20Mar/12

Besides the Postman Video, Jerome Corsi has another about Obama

Share

 <<BREAKING NEWS>>

Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter & Annabel Kent, Chicago Media Critic

Illinois PayToPlay has learned that, in addition to the Postman video recently released by Jerome Corsi on World Net Daily, Corsi also holds a 2011 recorded interview with former Rezko associate Daniel T. Frawley.

The recording was made late last year in Chicago in a meeting that involved Corsi, Frawley and three other persons who gathered to discuss the possibility of writing a book.

The recording reportedly includes a description of how, in 2004, during Nadhmi Auchi’s visit to Chicago, Auchi, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, and Barack Obama met in the basement “cigar room” inside Rezko’s 30-room mansion in Wilmette, Illinois where they discussed, among other things, the purchase of a 62-acres plot in the South Loop.

A January 2012 lawsuit pitting a Chicago investor in the land purchase, Semir Sirazi, against Auchi was linked in a previous Illinois PayToPlay article.

In response to an inquiry concerning access to the Frawley video, Corsi confirmed that Auchi’s ’04 Chicago visit was discussed but that the video would only be released with Frawley’s approval.

A recent post on Illinois PayToPlay reported that Frawley claims that he gave Rezko $400,000 in cash that Rezko then gave to Obama.

Frawley faces sentencing in mid-April on a bank fraud charge to which he pled guilty in February 2011.

Share
18Mar/12

Semir Sirazi vs. Nadhmi Auchi: A Chicago Lawsuit Underway

Share

Thomas Barton, Illinois Pay-to-Play Political Commentator

The repercussions of Tony Rezko’s business dealings with Nadhmi Auchi are now playing out in a lawsuit, filed on January 30, 2012 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, pitting Plaintiffs Semir D. Sirazi, Greenstone Capital L.L.C. and Mardini, Inc., vs. Defendants General Mediterranean Holding, SA, Orifarm, SA, and Nadhmi Auchi.

The first numbered paragraph of the complaint sets the table:

1. This case arises out of the GMH Defendants' efforts to leapfrog the Sirazi Plaintiffs, superior creditors of Antoin S. Rezko1 ("Rezko") by secretly obtaining Rezko's ownership interests in a 62 acre parcel in Chicago's South Loop co-owned with the GMH Defendants (the "Parcel") in exchange for forgiving Rezko's debts to them and providing Rezko with access to millions of dollars in new capital.

Here’s the entire document:

Are you wondering who Nadhmi Auchi is?

Illinois PayToPlay recently posted a 2008 piece written by John A Shaw, former senior official of US Defense, State, and Commerce departments that answers that question.

We’ll highlight below another article about Auchi, this one written in 2008 by Andrew Walden. It will explain why you haven’t heard much about Auchi to date.  It’s because he has lawyers in Great Britain and the U.S. who, over the years, have…discouraged…writers for both the legacy media and the new media bloggers from even mentioning Auchi.

That includes the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune.

That makes this lawsuit all the more interesting, since it’s a matter of public record and impossible to suppress – although it is possible to ignore, as the Chicago big dailies have been doing.

Now, if you’re interested in knowing more about Nadhmi Auchi, here’s some of Walden’s piece:

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

Iraqi Billionaire Threatens Reporters Investigating Rezko Affair

Posted By Andrew Walden, August 24, 2008 @ 12:18 pm, In Accuracy In Media

“Why aren’t the American media investigating the role of British billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi in supplying loans to Barack Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko? Some point to media bias, but there is another factor. Working for Auchi, who was born in Iraq, attorneys from London law firm Carter-Ruck have for several months been flooding American and British newspapers and websites with letters demanding removal of material they deem “defamatory” to their client.

In its June 28 edition [1], British satirical magazine Private Eye explains: “Until Carter-Ruck and Partners and England’s stifling libel laws got to work, the few American journalists not caught up in Obama-mania were turning to the archives of the British press to answer an intriguing question: who is Nadhmi Auchi [2]?”

What is so “stifling” about English libel law? In the U.K., as Carter-Ruck explains on its own website [3], “A libel claimant does not have to prove that the words are false or to prove that he has in fact suffered any loss. Damage is presumed.”

The Obama campaign recently issued a non-denial [4] denial in response to claims that Obama met with Auchi―contained in Jerome Corsi’s bestseller, The Obama Nation. They cited only two references. One is, “Mr. Auchi’s lawyer” who told the February 27, 2008 London Evening Standard, “As far as he can remember he has had no direct contact with Mr. Obama.” Another is, “A lawyer for Auchi, Alasdair Pepper” who says, according to the April 16, 2008 Washington Post, “Auchi Had ‘No Recollection’ Of Meeting Obama or Michelle.” Alasdair Pepper is the attorney whose name appears [5] on the Carter-Ruck [6] demand letters [7].

The Secret Loan

A secret $3.5 million loan [8] from an Auchi company to key early-money Barack Obama fundraiser Antoin Rezko was exposed while Rezko was awaiting trial on fraud and money-laundering charges earlier this year. Rezko’s bail was revoked and police showed up banging on the doors of his Wilmette Chicago mansion to drag him off to jail early in the morning of January 28th [9]. Auchi’s loan to Rezko had come on May 23, 2005 but had not been disclosed to the Court as required in his bail agreement. Three weeks later, on June 15, 2005, Rezko’s wife assisted the Obamas in the purchase of their South Chicago mansion by purchasing a next-door undeveloped lot being sold with the house.

According to the Times of London [10], “Mr. Rezko’s lawyer said his client had ‘longstanding indebtedness’ to Mr. Auchi’s General Mediterranean Holding (GMH). By June 2007 he owed it $27.9 million. Under a Loan Forgiveness Agreement described in court, M. Auchi lent Mr. Rezko $3.5 million in April 2005 and $11 million in September 2005, as well as $3.5 million transferred in April 2007. That agreement provided for the outstanding loans to be ‘forgiven’ in return for a stake in the 62-acre Riverside Park development.

Rezko’s relationship with Barack Obama goes back to at least 1990, when Obama’s law firm did work relating to thousands of now-decaying [11]Rezko apartment units in South Chicago. Rezko was a key early-money fundraiser in Obama’s state Senate campaigns and his failed run at the U.S. Congress.

According to The Times of London [12], “Mr. Auchi first met Mr. Rezko after the 2003 Iraq war and they have a business relationship.” At the time Auchi was facing the possibility of extradition to France [13]. The Times of London [14] explains: “Mr Auchi was convicted of corruption, given a suspended sentence and fined £1.4 million in France in 2003 for his part in the Elf affair, described as the biggest political and corporate scandal in post-war Europe. He, in a statement from his media lawyers, claims he is appealing against the sentence.”

In 2003, Nick Cohen of the UK Guardian [15] wrote:

Allow me to introduce you to Nadhmi Auchi. He was charged in the 1950s with being an accomplice of Saddam Hussein, when the future tyrant was acquiring his taste for blood. He was investigated in the 1980s for his part in alleged bribes to the fabulously corrupt leaders of post-war Italy. In the 1990s, the Belgium Ambassador to Luxembourg claimed that Auchi’s bank held money Saddam and Colonel Gadaffi had stolen from their luckless peoples. In 2002, officers from the Serious Fraud Squad raided the offices of one of Auchi’s drug companies as part of an investigation of what is alleged to be the biggest swindle ever of the (British National Health Service). With allegations, albeit unproven, like these hanging over him, wouldn’t you think that British MPs would have the sense to stay away?

But after threats from Carter-Ruck, Cohen’s “defamatory” article became one of six Guardian and Observer articles [16]scrubbed from the Internet this April.

Blogger “A Jacksonian [17]received a similar demand [18] on or before June 24. His article is still up. It details much of the information contained in the six deleted Guardian/Observer articles.

Source of Wealth

Auchi in 1967 began an Iraq Oil Ministry career eventually rising to be Director of Planning and Development under the Baathist dictatorship. He formed GMH in 1979 and then left Iraq. A key source of weapons procurement for Iraq [19] during the Iran-Iraq war, GMH became the largest single private shareholder [20] of Banque Nationale du Paris (BNP) which later merged with Paribas to form BNP-Paribas. BNP and BNP-Paribas, at Saddam Hussein’s insistence, handled all Oil-for-Food [21] transactions [22] until 2001 when the incoming administration of George W. Bush demanded change. ”Sirazi v GMH (62 acre S. Loop)

…to read more of Walden’s article click here

Share
17Mar/12

Mission Accomplished: Blago Joins Rezko in the Silence Chamber of Federal Prison

Share

Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter

The crime spree that plagued Illinois, and that was boldly brought to a stop by the sudden arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich, is now officially over.

Blago is behind bars, and Patrick Fitzgerald’s mission is complete:  Blago joins Rezko in the silence chamber of federal prison where the treasure trove of what they know about Illinois corruption, past and present, has been muted.

Gee, for a war against statewide crime, there sure aren’t many official casualties, except, of course, Illinois’ citizens.

We’ll never know what Blago meant in these audio clips where he talks (in language unsuitable for children) in cryptic terms about the relationship between then U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Antoin “Tony Rezko.”

(Video: H/T Citizen Wells News)

We’ll never know the extent of influence that the international billionaire financier in the photograph wielded over Tony, Blago, and Barack.

And, as soon as the two remaining Rezko Watchers highlighted in a recent piece in the Chicago Daily Observer receive their sentences this spring – unless sentencing is postponed yet again for Daniel Frawley and Daniel Mahru – they, too, will fade into silence, joining Bernard Barton, AKA John Thomas.

In the immortal words of Sonny & Cher…the beat goes on.

Share
15Mar/12

From Baghdad to Chicago: Rezko and the Auchi empire

Share

“I first began to fathom the extent of Nadhmi Auchi's reach and corrupting influence when I was given responsibility for monitoring illegal transfers of technology and munitions to Iraq as well as overseeing all coalition transportation and communications reconstruction in Iraq. "

JOHN A. SHAW (Opinion: former senior official of US Defense, State, and Commerce departments)
 October 10, 2008

Barack Obama has been appropriately strident in his condemnation of the mortgage-based financial corruption which nearly led to the collapse of the investment banking system in the United States. But there are some strong smelling financial skeletons in his own closet. Obama has his own personal housing crisis that is tied not into Fanny Mae, but into a corrupt international financial combine headed by Nadhmi Auchi, the convicted Iraqi billionaire at the center of the Elf Aquitaine corruption trial in France. Auchi has been shown to be the fountainhead of a source of corruption flowing from Iraq, to France, Italy, and the United States. His financial network, under a Luxembourg company called General Mediterranean Holdings, spread from Baghdad and the Middle East to Paris, (where Auchi successfully posited Saddam's UN Oil for Food scheme), London, Washington, and Chicago, making very few ripples and raising no concerns.

Auchi is suave, cosmopolitan, brilliant, and ruthless, and he has bottomless pockets. His business is international banking, which is complexly organized and appropriately camouflaged to conceal any criminal activity. He is the Godfather, but speaks in an Iraqi, not a Sicilian, dialect. A British survey credits him with being toward the bottom of a list of the two hundred richest men in the world. But in such a rendering Auchi would both feign modesty and ensure that any such accounting show only the tip of his financial iceberg. Other sources credit him with being the fifth richest man in the world. His methodology, however, is straightforward: Under cover of seeking legitimate business, buy whoever is necessary in the political decision chain to control the process and the outcome. As his longtime telecommunications partner Ala al-Hawaja, candidly put it to a potential competitor in Cairo, "there is nothing that cannot be accomplished with a suitcase full of money". So far he has been proven correct.

Auchi has claimed to have been "a visitor to two White Houses", and his London web site flashes a picture of him at the Clinton White House between Bill Clinton and Al Gore (a long way from his early days with Saddam Hussein as part of a Baathist assassination squad.) Auchi is, however, also the shadowy puppet master to Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a Syrian American with whom he partnered for more than a decade in schemes from Baghdad all the way to Chicago. Their relationship began in the wake of the Iran-Iraq War, when the US was cultivating Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Rezko is now in federal prison awaiting sentencing for 16 counts of corruption involving Illinois officials. Buying influence is his métier, guided and financed by his master, Auchi. Rezko has also been a White House visitor, with his picture taken with Bill and Hillary Clinton for his contributions out of Chicago to the Clinton political war chest. Was Rezko then and now merely the main Chicago conduit for Auchi money? Or was he part of a larger Iraqi scheme dating back to Saddam to buy access to US government contracts and influence? What specifically was Auchi buying and where else did his money go? Was Obama, like the governor of Illinois, a recipient of Auchi's favors as part of Rezko's scheme to purchase government contracts through kickbacks from campaign contributions? There is no question that Obama, as a fledgling state senator, was a target of the Iraqi corruption combine, but did he become one of its pigeons? Was Rezko simply the front man for Auchi and Iraqi funding (whether it came from Saddam, Oil for Food, or General Mediterranean Holdings) over his entire Chicago career?

Rezko had identified Obama as a good political target before he graduated from Harvard Law School. He was both the source of Obama's employment and of his largest political donations during his short political career. Rezko had no financial source apart from Auchi, his partner of over a decade. Rezko was also the source of the financing for Obama's $2.3 million mansion despite his having no clear source of funding apart from Auchi. What did he get from Obama in return?

As the Wall Street Journal showed several weeks ago, Obama has been anything but forthcoming about his real relationship with Rezko and Auchi. And the public has no idea how extensive and how corrupt the network that Auchi has developed across the world is. Let me count the ways: Like organized crime, the network shows no public profile beyond legitimate business activities, and has a small army of lawyers threatening any critics with libel actions in Britain, Auchi's adopted residence where there is no First Amendment protection.

Billionaires can buy anonymity at the same time they buy influence and politicians. In 2000, although Nadhmi Auchi had spent two decades as Saddam Hussein's broker in the international oil and armament worlds, he was seen from the United States as essentially a European go-between, who worked the highest levels of the Italian and particularly the French and British governments. He had bought an aura of respectability by buying senior politicians and favorable press, and threatening any critics, a pattern he had begun to introduce in the United States with British assistance a decade earlier. I first began to fathom the extent of Nadhmi Auchi's reach and corrupting influence when I was given responsibility for monitoring illegal transfers of technology and munitions to Iraq as well as overseeing all coalition transportation and communications reconstruction in Iraq.

My office had two key responsibilities, international technology security and international arms and technology trade (essentially keeping good things out of the hands of bad people), with the latter function given the reach of the DoD Inspector General's office. Our investigations surfaced some salient facts about Nadhmi Auchi and his underreported activities: that Auchi had been Saddam Hussein's senior arms dealer and had morphed into his principal international financial bagman, and had become the Godfather of the UN Oil for Food scheme. (As a former State Department Inspector General overseeing all US foreign assistance and foreign military sales, I had had thirty years experience dealing with technology and armament sales, most of it in the Middle East.). I was therefore startled to also discover in addition that Auchi had surfaced as the financier and a principal beneficiary of the entire Iraqi cellular telecommunications tender, worth some $3 billion.

Through the customary combination of facilitating payments spread among political figures in Iraq and elsewhere, Auchi was able to fix the three contracts for three companies which in turn benefitted three of the most senior Iraqi politicians. $435 million was found missing from the Coalition Provisional Authority communications account along with all records. Multimillion dollar bribes were paid to various Brits and Americans to facilitate both the fix and its cover up.

The official DoD report of May 11, 2004, which Auchi has spent four and a half years trying to discredit, encountered cover up efforts within the DoD. These in turn prompted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on December 10, 2004 to transfer the case to the Department of Justice to assure the integrity of the continuing investigation. The FBI is still working on the case with the continuing assistance of my office, and Auchi's US visa to come to the United States was cancelled.

The Rezko trial in Chicago, moreover, has highlighted Auchi's reach into other ministries to provide bribes for contracts. In the Ministry of Electricity the Rezko-Auchi combine was seen in action offering million dollar bribes for multi-million dollar contracts to Ayham al-Samarra'i, an Iraqi American who had become Electricity Minister. In addition, recent evidence has surfaced that an Auchi subsidiary, the Iraqi German Hospital (IG Hospital), has been awarded a billion dollar contract at the Ministry of Health thru the influence of Dr. Adel Mohsen, the notoriously corrupt arbiter of health ministry contracting. "Dr. Adel" is close to Prime Minister Maliki and is his point man on the appropriately named Iraqi Committee on Public Integrity. While Auchi was a frequent visitor to the Green Zone in Baghdad during the CPA era, and, according to reliable Iraqi sources, met numerous times with CPA viceroy L. Paul Bremer, that was a useful but temporary expedient. Auchi is now said to be an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki as well as being the representative of major oil and commercial interests seeking contracts in Iraq. If Auchi now owns Maliki, he now owns everything.

As the above shows, Auchi has parlayed his long time presence on the Iraqi scene into a position of even greater wealth and influence than he enjoyed under Saddam. But it is his skill in buying his way to foreign leaders and funneling that advantage into a position of paramount influence into Iraq that is truly impressive. He simultaneously developed access to the nascent Iraqi leadership in London while he was buying access to the British leadership, and through that got access to US leadership and the Coalition Provisional Authority. It was done largely through lavish donations and largesse to the British establishment over several decades, and to the Labour party in particular. Auchi's purchase of respectability included the grant of a coat of arms from the Queen, and the support of very senior members of the cabinet, some of whom sat on his GMH board. On the 20th anniversary of GMH activities in Britain, Auchi was given a print of the Houses of Parliament signed by virtually everyone with any political pretentions in the House of Commons. His London sponsors then opened the doors to Washington, to the Pentagon and ultimately, to the White House.

But he had bought his way into France as well: As a major arms dealer for Saddam he had cultivated President Mitterand and President Chirac, as well as key members of their cabinets. In September 2003, however, a French court had found him guilty of corruption and of receiving improper commissions of $100 million in the Elf Aquitaine scandal. The trial showed that Auchi had developed direct relationships with the key players in the French political and business establishment, and was the largest single stockholder in the bank BNP Parisbas. He received a slap on the wrist in the form of a multimillion dollar fine and a suspended jail sentence.

By that time, however, he had moved to the US market. Thanks to his British network, he established relationships with Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby, and others in the Bush I Department of Defense at the time of the first Gulf War, and deftly carried his insider utility and his reputation of being helpful in Iraq over to the Clinton administration in 1993. He arrived with a laying on of hands from Lord Cavendish, the former head of British intelligence, and soon was a member of the Kennedy School board of Advisors at Harvard. He became, thru charitable donations and investments in the US, largely in the Chicago and Detroit areas, the embodiment of the Good Iraqi and the Good Arab. He established an Auchi chair at the American University of Cairo, and there have been reports that he was a large donor to the Clinton library.

His seemingly innocent investments with Rezko in the Middle West, however, went hand in hand with Rezko's extensive scheme to trade off campaign donations to Illinois politicians for jobs and multimillion dollar state and city contracts. That strategy appears to have tied in as well to Joseph A. Cari, Jr., a Clinton administration official who served as Democratic National Committee Finance Chairman in 1993-94, and who, like Rezko, was found guilty of extortion of Illinois officials in 2006, and similarly is awaiting sentencing. Cari was Clinton's national finance chairman when Rezko and Auchi made their White House visits. Cari is now managing director of a Middle East trade and investment fund in New York. How many of Rezko's donations and US investments originated with and were dependent on Auchi? Is there any evidence that Rezko had any other major source of funding? How long had the Auchi network been in place in Chicago? And what were Auchi's connections to the Iraqi spy ring about to go to trial in Detroit, who in late 2002 paid two Democratic congressmen to go to Iraq and oppose the war, and which flourished on UN Oil for Food vouchers?

So we have a pattern of buying influence which tied directly into the Illinois Democratic Party, the Daley machine, and the Democratic National Finance Committee. It is no wonder that Barack Obama "has no recollection" of being at a welcoming dinner feting Auchi at Rezko's house in April 2004. At that moment Auchi was flying high despite his corruption conviction in France: He was then still the darling of the neocon cabal at the defense department, which was so heavily invested in Iraq. He had been a welcomed guest at two White Houses, and appeared to own the entire Illinois government. We still do not have any sense of the full extent of his influence.

A month later, however, his five year visa to the United States was revoked because of the findings of the DoD report on his central role in fixing the contracts for the entire Iraqi telecommunications system. In the ensuring four and a half years the outlines of his role as an ongoing arms dealer responsible for importing and exporting munitions into and out of Iraq, and as the financial ringmaster of reconstruction corruption in Iraq, have become increasingly evident, despite extensive efforts to cover up his role by Iraq reconstruction authorities and a submissive and buyable media. Auchi simply bought everyone he needed to buy in Iraq and the United States to carry out his Iraq agenda. Before his sentencing at the end of this month, however, Rezko may broaden our understanding of Auchi's larger agenda.

But his underwriting of the purchase of Obama's multimillion dollar Chicago mansion may have been the step too far which finally brought down Auchi's grand scheme of empire and intrigue. It was, however, cheap at the price to buy a putative United States Senator. Nothing boneheaded about that decision at all. What is a candidate worth? This was Chicago, after all. On the other hand, however, if Barack Obama becomes President of the United States, the sky may be the limit for Nadhmi Auchi.

John A. Shaw is a former senior official of the Defense, State, and Commerce departments, and served on several White House staffs. He is a specialist in international technology transfer and arms sales, and in the economic development of the Middle East.

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/From_Baghdad_to_Chicago:_Rezko_and_the_Auchi_empire

 

 

Share