Rod Blagojevich Corruption Charges

Rod Blagojevich Corruption Charges

Blagojevich corruption scandal

Illinois Governor
Rod Blagojevich Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty federal corruption charges regarding the filling of President Obama's vacant Senate seat and other charges.

Accused

• Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois
• John Harris, Blagojevich's chief of staff
• Robert Blagojevich, the former governor's brother and head of his campaign fund, Friends of Blagojevich (All charges were dropped in August 2010)
• Alonzo Monk, former chief of staff
• Christopher G. Kelly, a Springfield businessman (Died after having entered a guilty plea but before beginning his prison sentence)
• Ali Ata, former director of Illinois Finance Authority under Blagojevich
• Stuart Levine, Blagojevich campaign contributor
• Joseph Cari, former finance chairman of Democratic National Committee
• Tony Rezko, fast-food entrepreneur and Chicago real estate developer. Major contributor to Illinois politicians
• William Cellini, Springfield power broker

Charges

• Solicitation of bribes in exchange for Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat
• Mail fraud
• Attempting to bribe the Chicago Tribune with state funds
• Abuse of power in attempting to gain campaign contributions from Children's Memorial Hospital

Federal Investigation

• Led by Patrick Fitzgerald
• Began in 2005 (wire-tapping began November 5, 2008)

Results

• Blagojevich impeached, unanimously removed from office and barred from holding office in the State.
• Indicted by a federal grand jury.
• Found guilty of one count of making false statements and a mistrial declared on 23 charges due to a hung jury after 14 days of jury deliberation. All charges against Robert Blagojevich dismissed.
• At retrial, found guilty of 11 charges of corruption related to Obama seat and 6 charges related to pay-to-play dealings for a hospital. Found not guilty of one count and jury deadlocked on one count of pay-to-play related to road construction. Jury deadlocked on one charge of fraud related to Rahm Emanuel.
• Sentenced to 14 years in prison on December 7, 2011.

Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois, is an American politician under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2005 for corruption. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result of the scandal, Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after this removal, and Blagojevich was indicted on corruption charges in April 2009. On August 17, the jury found him guilty of one charge of making false statements with a mistrial being declared on the other 23 counts due to a hung jury after 14 days of jury deliberation. On June 27, 2011, after a retrial, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 charges of corruption (including wire fraud, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to solicit bribes), not guilty on one charge and the jury deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation on the two remaining charges. On December 7, 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The investigation became public knowledge when a federal judge revealed that Blagojevich was the "Public Official A" in the indictment of Tony Rezko. The case gained widespread attention with the simultaneous arrests of Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, on December 9, 2008, at their homes by federal agents. Blagojevich and Harris were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of soliciting bribes. The case involved sweeping pay to play and influence peddling allegations, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for Barack Obama, who had resigned after being elected President of the United States (see bribery). United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald noted that there had been no evidence of wrongdoing by Obama.

After the arrest, Illinois elected officials began calling on Blagojevich to resign. The 50 members of the U.S. Senate's Democratic caucus called on Blagojevich to not appoint a senator and pledged not to seat anyone he attempted to appoint. Legislators introduced bills in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly to remove the Governor's power to appoint a senator and require a special election; however, no such bill passed. Blagojevich did eventually appoint Roland Burris to the seat. Despite attempts to keep Burris from taking the seat in the U.S. Senate, he was eventually allowed to take the oath of office. Within days of Blagojevich's arrest, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking to declare the Governor "unable to serve" and strip him of the powers of his office. The court denied the request. Meanwhile, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Mike Madigan (the Attorney General's father) announced that on December 16 he would begin impeachment proceedings. The state House impeached Blagojevich on January 9, 2009, and the state Senate convicted him on January 29, thereby removing him; they also disqualified him from holding further office in the state.