Rod Blagojevich

Judge: Blago Trial Won't Start For Two Years

Zachary Roth | April 16, 2009, 1:47PM

Those of you eager to see Blago getting his day in court may be waiting a long time.

At a hearing today, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel said that the former Illinois governor's trial "will take six months, and likely will not begin for two years," reports CBS.

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Pat Fitzgerald

Feds: Blago Tried To Shake Down Rahm

Zachary Roth | April 3, 2009, 4:23PM

One of the more interesting new details in the Blagojevich indictment was the allegation that the former Illinois governor held up the state funds for a publicly supported school, in an effort to pressure an unnamed congressman who supported the school to have his brother hold a fundraiser for Blago.

Who, we wondered, was the congressman? And who was his brother?

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Pat Fitzgerald

Feds Pull Out RICO On Blago, Team

Zachary Roth | April 2, 2009, 6:42PM

The indictment of Rod Blagojevich and his associates includes one RICO conspiracy count. From the DOJ's press release:

The RICO conspiracy count alleges that Blagojevich personally, the Office of the Governor of Illinois and Friends of Blagojevich were associated and, together, constituted the "Blagojevich Enterprise," whose primary purpose was to exercise and preserve power over Illinois government for the financial and political benefit of Blagojevich, both directly and through Friends of Blagojevich, and for the financial benefit of his family members and associates. Blagojevich and Kelly, the only RICO conspiracy defendants, allegedly conspired with Monk, Cellini, Harris, Robert Blagojevich, Rezko and previously convicted cooperating defendant Stuart Levine, to conduct the Blagojevich Enterprise through a pattern of multiple acts of mail and wire fraud, extortion, attempted extortion and extortion conspiracy, and state bribery.

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Pat Fitzgerald

Feds: Blago And Cronies Were Scheming To Make Money From The Start

Zachary Roth | April 2, 2009, 6:18PM

Here are the major new allegations contained in the indictment of Rod Blagojevich, his brother Robert Blagojevich, and four associates (from a very detailed DOJ press release (pdf)):

[B]eginning in 2002 and continuing after Blagojevich was first elected governor, Blagojevich and Monk, along with Kelly and previously convicted co-schemer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, agreed that they would use the offices of governor and chief of staff for financial gain, which would be divided among them with the understanding that the money would be distributed after Blagojevich left public office.

And:

[I]n 2003, Blagojevich, Monk, Kelly, Rezko and other co-schemers implemented this agreement by directing lucrative state business relating to the refinancing of billions of dollars in State of Illinois Pension Obligation Bonds to a company whose lobbyist agreed to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to Rezko out of the fee the lobbyist would collect, and Rezko in turn agreed to split the money with Blagojevich, Monk and Kelly.

And:

After it became public that Kelly and Rezko were under investigation and ceased playing a significant role in raising campaign funds, Blagojevich personally continued to trade his actions as governor for personal benefits, including, for example, delaying a state grant to a publicly-supported school while trying to leverage a U.S. Congressman, who supported the school, or the Congressman's brother, to hold a campaign fundraiser for Blagojevich.

And:

[I]n an interview on March 16, 2005, Blagojevich lied to FBI agents when he said that he maintains a separation, or firewall, between politics and state business; and he does not track, or want to know, who contributes to him or how much they are contributing to him.

Rod Blagojevich

Blagojevich Indicted

Zachary Roth | April 2, 2009, 6:06PM

Chicago Breaking News Center reports:

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, his brother Rob and Christopher Kelly, a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich, were all indicted today on corruption charges, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago announced.

Also charged in the indictment were Lon Monk, a lobbyist and former Blagojevich chief of staff; John Harris, also a former chief of staff to Blagojevich; and William Cellini, a Springfield insider for decades.

Will bring you more from the indictment itself...