(Part 2: criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich and John Harris. It was posted 12-19-08, but has been back-dated to bump it down. Some emphasis has been added. Mentioned on this page: Friends of Blagojevich, Antoin Rezko; Tribune Company, firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members, Wrigley Field baseball stadium; Illinois Finance Authority.)
Northern District of Illinois .................)
.....................................................) UNDER SEAL
County of Cook, City of Chicago...........)
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION
I, Daniel W. Cain, hereinafter referred to as "Affiant," being duly sworn, state as follows:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. I am a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assigned to the Chicago, Illinois Field Division. I have been a Special Agent with the FBI for over twenty-two years. I am presently assigned to the West Resident Agency of the FBI's Chicago Field office. My duties include investigating corruption of public officials, mail fraud, wire fraud, and other white collar crimes. I have been involved in white collar crime investigations for a majority of my career as a Special Agent with the FBI.
2. I have participated in and am familiar with this investigation through interviews and analysis of reports submitted by other Special Agents of the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General (DOLIG); personal interviews conducted with witnesses; my review of consensually-recorded conversations; a review of pen register information, trap and trace information, and telephone toll record information; and a review of information derived from the interception of wire communications occurring to and from certain telephones. I also am familiar with information derived from the interception of oral communications occurring in the offices of Friends of Blagojevich, 4147 North Ravenswood Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, Illinois. In addition, I am familiar with testimony given during the trial of Antoin Rezko from March to May 2008.
3. This affidavit is submitted in support of an application for a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants charging ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH (ROD BLAGOJEVICH) and JOHN HARRIS with:
a. conspiring with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341, 1343 and 1346; all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349; and
b. being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly soliciting and demanding a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.
4. Defendant ROD BLAGOJEVICH is the Governor of the State of Illinois. He was elected Governor in 2002 and was reelected Governor in 2006.
5. Defendant JOHN HARRIS is employed by the State of Illinois as the chief of staff to the Governor, ROD BLAGOJEVICH.
6. As officials of the State of Illinois, ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS each owe a duty of honest services to the State of Illinois and the people of the State of Illinois in the performance of their public duties.
7. Pursuant to Article VIII, Section 1(a) of the Constitution of the State of Illinois,
public funds, property and credit shall be used only for public purposes.
8. Pursuant to the criminal laws of the State of Illinois (720 ILCS 5/33-3(c) and (d)), ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS each are prohibited from committing the following acts in his official capacity: (1) performing an act in excess of his lawful authority, with intent to obtain a personal advantage for himself or others; and (2) soliciting or knowingly accepting, for the performance of any act, a fee or reward which he knows is not authorized by law.
9. Pursuant to the criminal laws of the State of Illinois (720 ILCS 5/33-1(d)), ROD BLAGOJEVICH is prohibited from receiving, retaining, or agreeing to accept any property or personal advantage which he is not authorized by law to accept, knowing that such property or personal advantage was promised or tendered with intent to cause him to influence the performance of any act related to the employment or function of his public office.
10. Friends of Blagojevich is a private entity organized and existing under the laws of the State of Illinois as a state-wide political campaign committee established on behalf of ROD BLAGOJEVICH to support his campaign efforts.
11. The Illinois Finance Authority ("IFA") is a body politic and corporate created by Illinois law (20 ILCS 3501 et seq.), one of the statutory purposes of which is "to accomplish and to carry out these policies of the State which are in the public interest of the State and of its taxpayers and residents." Pursuant to Illinois law, the members of the IFA are appointed by the Governor of the State of Illinois and may be removed by the Governor for cause. The IFA is authorized by statute to accept state and federal funds for use in connection with the IFA's purposes, and its operations are subject to audit by the Illinois Auditor General. Pursuant to Title 74 of the Illinois Administrative Code, Part 1100.250, "[t]he Governor of the State serves as the applicable elected representative [of the IFA] for purposes of the public approval requirement of the Tax Code." According to a web site maintained by the Illinois State Comptroller, the IFA received at least $493,750 in 2008 in earmarked loan funds from the State of Illinois. In 2008, the State of Illinois received over $10,000 in federal benefits.
12. Because this affidavit is submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation.
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