Chicago Criminal Law Blog

Four former bank employees accused of trying to illegally manipulate precious metals futures contracts say the criminal charges against them should be dismissed. The men filed their motion in Chicago’s U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The Department of Justice charged the men with RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, bank fraud, commodities fraud, price manipulation and spoofing.

A recent report on the Chicago Police Department added new meaning to the word “trolling.” For many, the term refers to online provocateurs who specialize in name-calling and making incendiary remarks. But trolling by CPD officers is another matter entirely.

Police trolling refers to a Chicago police officer who makes a traffic stop or an arrest for disorderly conduct at the end of their work shift, precisely so that the officer has a reason for overtime (and increased pay). According to Chicago’s Inspector General, these trolling arrests escalate “a situation which could have been within the officer’s discretion to dismiss.”

On the list of disgraced and corrupt Chicago cops, former officers Xavier Elizondo and David Salgado will always have prominent places. The two were convicted last October of manufacturing evidence, stealing money and drugs and then engaging in a cover-up of their criminal activities.

Elizondo and Salgado are back in the news after two city residents filed federal lawsuits against the pair, stating that the former officers illegally raided their homes using warrants based on fabricated information and then falsely arrested them.

In 2019, the Chicago Police Department made national headlines after it announced that its very first gun arrest of the new year had taken place just one minute after midnight of January 1st. The announcement highlighted the department’s focus on making weapons arrests – except that it was not the first gun arrest of 2019. And two weeks after the arrest, the weapons charge was dropped.

One more thing: the only ones who were punished for the arrest were the arresting officers and the sergeant who signed off on the arrest report. All three were suspended for falsifying the time and date of the arrest.