Rezko trial witness talks about pressure for $750,000 payoff
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — The star witness at political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s fraud trial told Tuesday how a firm was pressured to pay $750,000 to a businessman who apparently didn’t know why he was getting the money.
Millionaire attorney Stuart P. Levine testified that Rezko had designated businessman Charles Hannon and an offshore company Hannon ran to receive a “finder’s fee” from a money management firm that wanted state business. Hannon was to keep half and send the remainder along to a Levine associate, Levine said.
“Mr. Hannon understood that he was going to receive a fee from someone for something,” Levine said.
Hannon was to have no real role in helping the money management firm, JER Partners, but was to merely collect the fee, which prosecutors say Rezko really intended to be a kickback.
Under the plan, JER Partners was to pay the “finder’s fee” for getting an $80 million allocation of assets from the $40 billion State Teachers Retirement Plan, which pays the pensions of thousands of retired downstate and suburban school teachers.
JER ultimately balked at paying the fee and ended up getting its allocation anyway. But not before getting heavy pressure to pay up, Levine testified.
Rezko, 52, is charged with scheming with Levine to squeeze money management firms for kickbacks in return for allocations from the fund. He also is charged with scheming with Levine to split a $1 million kickback from a contractor in return for permission to build a hospital.
The trial is being watched in political circles because Rezko was a major fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama, neither of whom has been charged with wrongdoing in connection with the case.
Rezko denies he ever was part of any payoff schemes.
But Levine has pleaded guilty and is testifying as the government’s star witness in hopes of getting a lenient 67-month sentence. He was a member of the board that allocated teachers pension money and the board with power to approve or kill hospital expansion plans in Illinois.
Prosecutors maintain Rezko was the real power behind the two boards because of the clout he gained through prolific fundraising for Blagojevich.
Levine testified that he urged Chicago attorney Joseph Cari to arrange for former New York state Comptroller Carl McCall to press JER Partners to pay the $750,000 fee. Cari was the head of former Vice President Al Gore’s national fundraising drive in the 2000 presidential election and later performed a key fundraising role for the Democratic National Committee.
Cari has pleaded guilty to one count of attempted extortion in the case and is awaiting sentencing. Neither McCall nor anyone connected with JER has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the matter.
Levine said Cari and McCall were principals in another money management firm. Levine said he asked Cari to have McCall approach JER Partners about paying the $750,000 fee, “because I knew Mr. Cari a lot better than I knew Mr. McCall.”
But the firm balked at signing a contract to pay the money.
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