Politically Connected Chicago Lawyer Indicted
A politically connected Chicago lawyer has been indicted on bribery and fraud charges for allegedly seeking a kickback in a multi-million-dollar real estate deal, federal prosecutors announced today.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says Edward R. Vrydolyak, 69, who formerly served as a city alderman and Cook County Democratic chairman and ran unsuccessfully for the mayor’s office, schemed with businessman Stuart Levine to obtain a kickback for Levine, his longtime friend, reports the Chicago Tribune. The money was to come from the Chicago Medical School’s sale of a building in the upscale Gold Coast neighborhood to a condominium developer, according to prosecutors, and Levine, according to Tribune sources, taped conversations with Vrydolyak.
Levine, a Republican insider and member of the medical school’s board of trustees, has been cooperating with prosecutors after being indicted in earlier “Operation Board Games” corruption cases, the Tribune reports. The case against Vrydolyak is being prosecuted by the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
