Bar Charges Blagojevich
With talk of a possible pardon in the offing, the Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging misconduct against convicted former Governor Rod Blagojevich
In November 2002, Respondent was elected Governor of the State of Illinois, and was sworn in as the 40th governor on January 13, 2003, having previously served as an assistant state’s attorney with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and a member of both the Illinois House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives. Respondent was re-elected to the office in November 2006, and was sworn in for a second term on January 8, 2007.
Beginning in or about 2002 to on or about December 9, 2008, Respondent, along with others, devised and participated in a scheme to deprive the people of the State of Illinois of their right to honest services of Respondent in his capacity as Governor. As part of that fraudulent scheme, Respondent used the powers of the Office of the Governor to take governmental actions to obtain financial benefits for Respondent. Respondent’s actions included:
attempting to obtain campaign contributions and employment in exchange for appointing a United States Senator to fill the vacancy created by then President-Elect Barack Obama;
soliciting $25,000 in campaign contributions from Patrick Magoon, Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital, in exchange for enacting legislation to increase the Illinois Medicaid reimbursement rate for specialty-care pediatric physicians; and
soliciting $100,000 in campaign contributions from racetrack owner John Johnston in exchange for enacting legislation for the renewal of a subsidy requiring Illinois casinos to share a portion of their profits with Illinois racetracks.
As part of Respondent’s conduct, Respondent made and participated in several telephone calls on October 17, 2008, November 12, 2008, November 13, 2008, and December 4, 2008 with various parties regarding details to execute the fraudulent scheme, described…above.
In addition to Respondent’s conduct, described in paragraphs 7 and 8, above, in March 2005, Respondent made material false statements to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) during their investigation into potential corruption and fraud within the Illinois Governor’s Office by stating, in summary, that he attempted to keep politics and government separate, and did not keep track of campaign contribution amounts or sources.
Bar charges were on hold (with an interim suspension) until the appeals process ran its course
Respondent sought to appeal his matter in relation to the amended judgment and sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court. On April 16, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Respondent’s petition for writ of certiorari. As a result, Respondent had exhausted all available remedies and appeals, which left standing Respondent’s 13 convictions and corresponding sentences on Counts 3, 7 through 13, 15 through 18, and 24, of the second superseding indictment.
The interim suspension was entered in October 2011, so he already has served a full term of disbarment. (Mike Frisch)