MORE Corruption from the story:
According to the ruling, Rezko and Levine met at a dinner party on Nov. 2, 2002—just three days before Blagojevich defeated Jim Ryan for governor. At the time, Rezko was one of Blagojevich’s biggest fundraisers and Levine, Jim Ryan’s law school classmate, was the largest single contributor to Ryan’s campaign for governor.
The party was hosted by Fortunee Massuda, a shareholder in Rezko’s pizza business, and her husband, Charles Hannon, according to the ruling.
In 2003, Blagojevich appointed Massuda to the state’s Health Facilities Planning Board, just weeks after she gave Blagojevich’s campaign $25,000.Prosecutors contend Hannon was to be the recipient of a bogus consulting fee from an investment firm awarded business by the Teachers Retirement System, on whose board Levine sat, St. Eve said in her ruling. The fee is alleged to have been arranged by Rezko and Levine.
And yet, even MORE:
“St. Eve’s ruling also gave details of another alleged scheme involving Rosenberg, the principal of Capri Capital and a well-known movie producer.
Capri was in line for a $220 million deal with the teachers’ pension system, but Levine—allegedly working with Rezko—moved to block it unless Rosenberg agreed to pay Levine a multimillion dollar fee or make a $1.5 million donation to Blagojevich’s campaign.”