Legal Ethics
Lawyer Testifies at Rezko Trial on His Life in the Fast Lane
Posted Apr 7, 2008, 03:11 pm CST
By Martha Neil
There's no word yet on what the jury thinks, but an attorney's testimony in a Chicago fraud case about the wild life he led in former years at the acme of his professional life certainly should be commanding their full attention.
Lawyer Stuart Levine, the government's star witness in the case, has told a tale that interweaves all-night drug binges and hotel parties with other men with the prosecution's claim that defendant Antoin ''Tony'' Rezko schemed with him to squeeze $7 million in kickbacks from money management firms seeking to win lucrative pension fund investment contracts, according to the Associated Press. Rezko, 52, is a real estate developer and political fundraiser who lives in the exclusive Wilmette suburb north of Chicago. Levine, a 62-year-old businessman, lives in nearby Highland Park.
Levine testified earlier that he spent more than $1 million on drugs between 2002 and 2004, notes CBS News.
Other coverage:
Chicago Tribune: "Over dinner and drinks, witness says, Rezko sold on $3.9 million windfall"
Chicago Sun-Times: "Fast times at Purple Hotel"
National Review: "Rezko Trial: A Week in Review"
Top of the Ticket (Los Angeles Times): "Ticket Special Report: Obama and Rezko, the early years"