While news stories play an obviously important role in our culture, they tend to gloss over many of the important details, to make things seem crystal clear when they are anything but. One important example is loss amount, restitution, and forfeiture calculations in...
Federal Crimes
Former Chicago police officer gets early federal prison release
The pandemic has had a negative effect on the lives of the vast majority of people. One of the few exceptions is former Chicago narcotics officer Glenn Lewellen, who was convicted of kidnapping and robbing drug dealers. Lewellen was recently released from federal...
Supreme Court overturns Bridgegate fraud convictions
Chicago sports fans are very familiar with the phrase “what might have been.” They sometimes wistfully wonder what might have been if key injuries or pivotal plays had never taken place. (Most famous example: Steve Bartman.)Former New Jersey Governor Chris...
Defendants request dismissal of white-collar charges
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...
Sentencing near for former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak co-defendant
Back in 1998, a group of 46 states – including Illinois – reached the largest settlement in history with tobacco companies. The $206 billion settlement included $9.3 billion for Illinois to compensate the state for tobacco-related health-care...
Suburban Chicago businessman charged in alleged Ponzi scheme
If you drive about an hour southwest of Chicago, you will arrive in the Village of Minooka. A businessman there is facing a federal wire fraud charge. Prosecutors accuse the 49-year-old owner of The Income Store of operating a Ponzi scheme. They allege that his scheme...
Kickback scheme alleged at City Colleges of Chicago
The numbers for City Colleges of Chicago are impressive: seven community colleges, six satellite campuses, 4,000 instructors and more than 80,000 students across the metro. Another figure has been making headlines for the system, however: a former vice-chancellor and...
Chicago’s Outcome resolves federal criminal fraud investigation
There are several ways in which federal criminal investigations can come to an end. Many times the investigations end without any charges being filed, while others end with an indictment. However, the recent resolution of a federal criminal fraud investigation in...
Feds charge Illinois State. Rep. Luis Arroyo with bribery
The political landscapes in Chicago and in the Illinois General Assembly have undergone rapid changes in the past few days. State Rep. Luis Arroyo, from Chicago’s West Side, was arrested and charged with bribery by federal prosecutors on Monday of last week. Two...
Feds charge two in alleged Chicago gun straw purchase scheme
The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently charged two men with felonies in an alleged straw purchase scheme to bring handguns to Chicago to sell. They are both charged with conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and unlawfully dealing and importing firearms,...