Who is Tony Rezko?

[muman613]

Let us investigate the scandals which Obama is involved in. Ever since the 2008 Election campaign I remember hearing about Tony Rezko... This guy is very scandalous and more work needs to be done in order to expose the corrupt man sitting in the office of the president right now...

Tony Rezkos name is once again in the spotlight due to the investigation of the Rod Blagovich trial...

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=12661250

Investigator says she traced cash to Rezko
Associated Press - June 16, 2010 4:44 PM ET

CHICAGO (AP) - An IRS investigator says she has traced money from a lobbyist who made a huge commission off a $10 billion sale of state bonds to top fundraisers for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Shari Schindler testified at Blagojevich's corruption trial and focused on $600,000 that went from lobbyist Robert Kjellander to Joseph Aramanda, a longtime friend of jailed fundraiser Tony Rezko.

Kjellander and Aramanda have said the money was a loan. But Aramanda said Rezko ordered him to dole it out to a list of people.

Schindler said two men who got hundreds of thousands from Aramanda then sent money to companies operated by Rezko - and some then flowed to fundraiser Christopher Kelly.

Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell President Obama's former Senate seat and plotting to launch a racketeering scheme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Rezko#Ties_to_Barack_Obama

Ties to politicians

Ties to Rod Blagojevich

Rezko's relationship with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his family were at the root of the federal corruption case which led to Rezko's conviction.[2] Rezko donated $117,652 to Blagojevich's campaigns,[4] and is credited by the prosecutor in his trial with having delivered bundled contributions totalling almost $1.44 million.[24] Since 1997, Blagojevich's wife, Patricia, has made at least $38,000 acting as Rezko's real-estate agent on several of his company's property acquisitions. When Blagojevich won the Illinois gubernatorial election in 2002, Rezko assisted Blagojevich in setting up the state's first Democratic administration in twenty years.[2] Rezko recommended many of his business associates and their relatives for positions within state government, three of whom were appointed to the state board that oversees hospital projects. the state's development board was run by another former Rezko business associate. Rezko and Republican fundraiser Stuart Levine were charged in a 24-count federal indictment for allegedly using Rezko's influence with public officials to demand millions of dollars in kickbacks from companies that wanted to do business with the state.[2][4] Levine pled guilty and served as the chief witness against Rezko at trial. Levine and several other witnesses implicated Blagojevich in the schemes.[25][26]

The last indictment in Operation Board Games before Blagojevich himself was indicted was that of William F. Cellini who was indicted for conspiring with Rezko to shake down Chicago-based Capri Capital to get a substantial contribution to Blagojevich in exchange for allowing Capri to manage $220 million in the Teachers Retirement System. After Thomas Rosenberg of Capri threatened to tell authorities, the plan was abandoned.[27] Capri has substantial investments in the Watergate complex and King Abdullah Economic City.

Ties To Obama

In 1990, after Barack Obama was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, Rezmar Corp. offered him a job, which Obama turned down. Obama instead took a job with the firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland,[28] which primarily worked on civil rights cases. The firm also represented Rezmar and helped the company get more than $43 million in government funding. The firm's former senior partner, Allison S. Davis, later went into business with Rezko and, in 2003, was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Investment by Governor Blagojevich at Rezko's request.[7][29] On July 31, 1995, the first ever political contributions to Obama were $300 from a lawyer, a $5,000 loan from a car dealer, and $2,000 from two food companies owned by Rezko.[30] Starting in 2003, Rezko was one of the people on Obama's U.S. Senate campaign finance committee, which raised more than $14 million.[7] Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama that Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with seed money for his U.S. Senate race.[1] Obama in 2007-08 identified over $250,000 in campaign contributions to various Obama campaigns as coming from Rezko or close associates, and said that he donated almost two-thirds of that amount to nonprofit groups.[31][32]

Also, in 2005 Obama purchased a new home in the Kenwood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (which was $300,000 below the asking price but represented the highest offer on the property) on the same day that Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, purchased the adjoining empty lot from the same sellers for the full asking price.[33] Obama acknowledged bringing his interest in the property to Rezko's attention,[34] but denied any coordination of offers. According to Obama, while the properties had originally been a single property, the previous owners decided to sell the land as two separate lots, but made it a condition of the sales that they be closed on the same date. Obama also stated that the properties had been on the market for months, that his offer was the best of two bids, and that Ms. Rezko's bid was matched by another offer, also of $625,000, so that she could not have purchased the property for less.[35]

After it had been reported in 2006 that Rezko was under federal investigation for influence-peddling, Obama purchased a 10 foot (3.0 m) wide strip of Ms. Rezko's property for $104,500, $60,000 above the assessed value.[7][33] According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Mark Brown, "Rezko definitely did Obama a favor by selling him the 10-foot strip of land, making his own parcel less attractive for development."[36] Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have created the appearance of impropriety, and stated "I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it."[35]

On December 28, 2006, Ms. Rezko sold the property to a company owned by her husband's former business attorney. That sale of $575,000, combined with the earlier $104,500 sale to the Obamas, amounted to a net profit of $54,500 over her original purchase, less $14,000 for a fence along the property line and other expenses.[37][38] In October 2007, the new owners put the still vacant land up for sale again, this time for $1.5 million.[39]

In June 2007, the Sun-Times published a story about letters Obama had written in 1997 to city and state officials in support of a low-income senior citizen development project headed by Rezko and Davis. The project received more than $14 million in taxpayer funds, including $885,000 in development fees for Rezko and Davis. Of Obama's letters in support of the Cottage View Terrace apartments development, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "This wasn't done as a favor for anyone, it was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. I don't know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago. There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district." Rezko's attorney responded that "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project.[40]

In the South Carolina Democratic Party presidential debate on January 21, 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slum landlord.[41] Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done only about five hours work, indirectly, for Rezko's firm.[citation needed] Within days of the debate, a photo of Rezko posing with Bill and Hillary Clinton surfaced. When asked about the photo, Hillary Clinton commented "I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the door."[42]