[Swiftwater Gazette] Kelly is Dead

[Bill Effros]

Thanks, Brad,

No, I totally missed the Stroger connection, and just as totally forgot 
who he was.

That's why I love this list -- everybody is doing a lot of reading and 
remembering for me.

BTW -- I was just sending out the LA Fire Pictures site when Elle 
thanked Ed -- Thanks, Ed.  Thanks, Elle.

B.



Brad Haslett wrote:
> Bill,
>
> No doubt you noted the irony that Kelly was taken to John H. Stroger,
> Jr hospital. And who is Stroger? Welcome to Chicago!
>
> Brad
>
> On 9/13/09, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
>   
>> *Hardball.
>>
>> B.
>>
>> Ex-Blagojevich adviser dies before prison term*
>>
>> Email this Story <javascript:eMail_Friend(540, 540);>
>>
>> Sep 13, 7:21 AM (ET)
>>
>> By MIKE ROBINSON
>>
>> CHICAGO (AP) - A week before one of ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's
>> closest advisers was to go to prison for fraud, the commercial roofing
>> contractor died at a Chicago hospital, and the mayor of a town where he
>> was found said the death was being investigated as a suicide.
>>
>> An autopsy was planned Sunday for Christopher G. Kelly, 51, who was
>> discovered Friday night in a lumber yard parking lot in Country Club
>> Hills, a town just southwest of Chicago. Kelly died Saturday morning,
>> authorities said.
>>
>> Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch said police were investigating
>> Kelly's death as a suicide, but were going to be especially thorough.
>> Local and state police and the FBI searched for clues at the lumberyard,
>> but no further information was available, Welch said.
>>
>> Kelly - who raised millions of dollars for Blagojevich's campaigns - was
>> taken to Oak Forest Hospital at 11:15 p.m. Friday, and later transferred
>> to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital for further treatment, said Stroger
>> spokesman Marcel Bright. Kelly arrived there by ambulance at 5:15 a.m.
>> Saturday and was pronounced dead at 10:46 a.m., Bright said.
>>
>> Kelly had pleaded not guilty to charges included in the federal
>> indictment alleging Blagojevich sought to sell or trade President Barack
>> Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.
>>
>> But he was to report Friday to begin serving a three-year federal prison
>> sentence after pleading guilty to tax fraud charges that included
>> writing off thousands of dollars in gambling debts as business expenses.
>>
>> Kelly, who admittedly loved to gamble and ran up big debts at Las Vegas
>> casinos and elsewhere, was part of Blagojevich's tight inner circle
>> along with convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko. Rezko is believed to
>> be cooperating with federal prosecutors after being convicted of taking
>> part in a $7 million payoff scheme.
>>
>> Kelly also pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking part in an $8.5 million
>> fraud against United Airlines and American Airlines for work on their
>> hangars at O'Hare International Airport. A plea agreement with federal
>> prosecutors called for him to serve a five-year prison sentence on top
>> of the three years for tax offenses.
>>
>> He also faced charges in the sweeping Blagojevich indictment that
>> alleged he plotted with Blagojevich to use the muscle of the governor's
>> office to squeeze payments out of those seeking state business.
>>
>> Prosecutors hoped Kelly would try to reduce his mounting federal prison
>> time by agreeing to cooperate and tell them what he knew about
>> corruption in state government under Blagojevich.
>>
>> But he remained grimly silent as his situation got worse.
>>
>> Kelly's chief defense attorney was not available for comment, according
>> to a woman who answered the telephone at his home. A spokesman for the
>> U.S. attorney's office, Randall Samborn, declined to comment.
>>
>> Blagojevich was in New York when he learned of Kelly's death.
>>
>> "I am deeply saddened to hear that Chris has died. My heart goes out to
>> his wife Carmen, his three daughters Grace, Jacqueline and Claire and
>> his entire family. They are in our prayers," Blagojevich said in a
>> statement.
>>
>> Neither of Kelly's guilty pleas called for any cooperation with the
>> government.
>>
>> "I rather doubt that it will have any impact on the government's case at
>> all," said Allan A. Ackerman, who recently joined Blagojevich's legal
>> defense team. "It's a tragedy and very sad for his family."
>>
>> On Tuesday, Kelly admitted he paid $450,000 in kickbacks to an unnamed
>> consultant who allegedly inflated cost estimates for repairs to hangars
>> at O'Hare. Kelly admitted bids on the projects were rigged to make
>> certain his BCI Commercial Roofing Inc. would land the contracts.
>>
>> In all, the contracts paid Kelly $8.5 million. His profit was $2.5
>> million, according to the plea agreement. He was to be sentenced to
>> nearly five years in prison.
>>
>> U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle set Nov. 18 for that sentencing
>> but ordered Kelly to start serving time next Friday.
>>
>> The new sentence would have been on top of those three years, handed to
>> him in June for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service by paying
>> gambling debts with his company's money and illegally structured cash
>> withdrawals to hide how much he was taking from the company.
>>
>> ---
>>
>>
>>     
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