Missing person UPDATED – Rezko gets 10 1/2 years

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Read this:

Ex-Blagojevich fundraiser Rezko to be sentenced, after 2008 trial exposed pay-to-play culture

More than three years after businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko was convicted of corruption in a trial that laid bare Illinois’ pay-to-play political culture and presaged notorious cases that battered the state’s reputation, a judge finally will mete out his punishment.

Rezko, 56, a former top fundraiser to disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is to be sentenced in federal court Tuesday on his 2008 conviction for fraud, money laundering and plotting to squeeze $7 million in kickbacks from firms that wanted to do business with the state during Blagojevich’s tenure.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve must decide whether Rezko — whose sentencing was delayed after he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating Blagojevich and others — has served enough time, as his attorneys have argued. They say he should be set free because he’s already served more time than others convicted as part of the investigation.

Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of 11 to 15 years, saying Rezko’s cooperation was too little, came too late and did not yield any useful information.

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Notice a name missing from that piece?

To be fair it does show up farther down in the article:

Elected officials generally are considered most at fault in any corruption scheme, and Blagojevich is scheduled to be sentenced by another judge Dec. 6 on a host of corruption convictions that include trying to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

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That’s it. From the entire article you would think that is the only connection between Barack Obama and Chicago slumlord Tony Rezko.

Nothing about the fact that Obama’s old law firm represented Rezko. Nothing about the fact that some of Obama’s constituents were freezing in Rezko’s unheated tenement buildings. Nothing about how Rezko helped raise money for Obama’s campaigns.

Not a word about how Rezko helped Obama buy a house.

I hope the judge maxes him out. Maybe that will stimulate his memory.

UPDATE:

I must have missed this the first time I read it:

Rezko also raised money for Obama during his campaigns for Illinois senator, though not for Obama’s presidential campaign. Obama has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, but his relationship with Rezko became an issue during the 2008 election.

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I don’t know how I missed it, I was specifically looking for it. It’s still an understatement.

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UPDATE II:

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UPDATE III:

Tony Rezko sentenced to 10-1/2 years in kickback scheme

A federal judge sentenced Tony Rezko to 10 1/2 years in prison Tuesday, describing his actions under Rod Blagojevich’s tenure as “selfish and corrupt.”

Rezko, 56, has already served about 44 months. His daughter burst into tears at hearing the sentence.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said she found it offensive that Rezko put at risk the Teachers’ Retirement System by scheming for kickbacks with a board member in 2004.

“You put their retirements at risk for your own greed and your own thirst for power,” St. Eve said.

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They should make him serve the time in one of his old slum tenements.

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