August 16, 2024
An Illinois federal judge on Friday sentenced an immigration attorney and real estate developer convicted of bribing former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to two years and eight months in prison, maintaining prison time is warranted because the lawyer initiated the bribe and tried to hide it from federal agents and the grand jury.
June 24, 2024
An Illinois federal judge on Monday sentenced former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to two years in prison and fined him $2 million for using his official position to steer tax business to his personal law firm, closing what prosecutors called "another sordid chapter" in the city's history of public corruption.
June 21, 2024
Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.
June 11, 2024
Federal prosecutors asked an Illinois federal judge Monday to send former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to prison for 10 years for "brazenly and boldly" using his official position to steer tax business to his law firm, while Burke requested a sentence of probation, bolstered by letters of support from prominent attorneys and retired judges.
February 22, 2024
One of Chicago's longest serving and most powerful local politicians asked an Illinois federal judge Wednesday to set aside a jury's December verdict convicting him of using his official position to steer tax business to his personal law firm, saying no rational jury could have convicted him based on the evidence presented at trial.
December 21, 2023
An Illinois federal jury on Thursday convicted one of Chicago's longest serving and most powerful local politicians of using his official position to steer tax business to his personal law firm, finding ex-Alderman Ed Burke guilty of racketeering, extortion and bribery.
December 14, 2023
Counsel for a former Chicago alderman accused of leveraging his power to get developers that had business before the city to hire his law firm urged jurors Thursday to see past the government's "noise and confusion," saying they shouldn't focus on "offhanded, inappropriate comments" they heard on tapes played at trial but only on his official actions.
December 12, 2023
A key government informant called to the stand by defense counsel for former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke testified Tuesday that he cooperated with the government and made secret recordings of the once-powerful politician to spare himself from criminal prosecution and jail time, lying "some of the time" while undercover.
December 11, 2023
Federal prosecutors in the corruption trial of powerful former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke have declined to call as a witness a government informant who made secret video recordings of Burke, and the ex-politician notified the court Monday his attorneys intend to treat the informant as a hostile witness despite calling him themselves.
November 30, 2023
An Illinois federal judge refused to grant former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke a mistrial Thursday after a witness described a developer's hiring of Burke's law firm as "symbolic of the Chicago way of doing business" and "very corrupt."