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Democrat 'Mob Banker's' Bank Loaned $23 Mil to Tony Rezko

Publius Forum on 08.02.10 at 2:30 PM -By Warner Todd Huston

Tony Rezko has been at the root of many of Illinois' worst cases of government corruption and influence peddling with ties that go back decades. He's been tied to President Obama, indicted Governor Rod Blagojevich, and now Senate Democrat candidate Alexi Giannoulias whose family bank loaned the crook almost $23 million.

Worse, the Giannoulias family bank made the loan to Tony Rezko's development group long after he'd become "politically radioactive," as the Chicago Sun-Times puts it.

On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.

You won't find Rezko's name on any documents filed in the public record in connection with the loan.

But Rezko acknowledged his ownership stake in Riverside District Development to a federal judge about a year after the loan was made, according to a transcript of the court hearing.

Granted Alexi was gone from the bank when the loan was made, but this loan combined with the loans made to two mobsters to the tune of $20 million (that was never paid back) and the fact that the bank failed shows a history of bad banking practices, insider activity, and political backscratching by the Giannoulias family.

Let's face it... one of the big qualifications that Giannoulias used to run for State Comptroller's office was his wonderful experience in the Broadway Bank. But as each month passes we are finding that his bank was more and more irresponsible and corrupt.

And this guy with such a shady past wants to be our senator?

Illinois Dem faces more questions about Rezko loans
By Sean J. Miller - 08/02/10 08:29 AM ET

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As President Obama prepares to travel to Chicago for a fundraiser for Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois Senate candidate faces renewed questions about his family’s bank.

New records show jailed developer Tony Rezko held an ownership stake in a development project that received a previously undisclosed loan from Giannoulias’s Broadway Bank.

In February 2006, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners included Rezko.

The Giannoulias camp denied he knew about the loan. “Alexi left daily operations of the bank in September of 2005, months before this loan was made,” a spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the president is set for an Aug. 5 fundraiser for Giannoulias in Chicago.

Giannoulias previously has been on the receiving end of fundraising help from Vice President Joe Biden and other top administration officials. Raising money has been a problem for the Democrat since Broadway Bank’s collapse in April, his most recent Federal Election Commission filings show.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/112099-illinois-dem-faces-more-questions-about-rezko-loans-

“Rezko’s lawyers said his main partner in Riverside was General Mediterranean Holding, a Luxembourg company controlled by Iraq-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.”

There’s Auchi yet again as well. Sure would love to know the other ‘silent’ partners in crime. Could Obama or any of his cronies be partners?

Some great Auchi background info here:

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/iraqi-billionaire-threatens-reporters-investigating-rezko-affair/