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Chicago City Council member Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted in federal court on Monday for tax evasion and charges of lying to regulators. Daley is a big name in Chicago, on half the buildings in town, including on the wall at the courthouse. It didn’t do him a single bit of good with the jurors.
Council member convicted
Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson was proud to serve on the Chicago City Council. On Monday, February 14, he became the latest “in a long line” of city officials “to be convicted in federal court.” The jury was not impressed a single bit by the fact that the name of the Defendant’s grandfather, late Mayor Richard J. Daley was on the courthouse the wall and the proceedings were held four blocks south of Chicago’s Daley Plaza.”
After about three-and-a-half hours of deliberation, they declared him guilty as charged on two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of filing false income tax returns.
Besides his famous grandfather, Thompson’s uncle is former Mayor Richard M. Daley. As soon as they were settled in to the jury room, the eight women and four men settled that issue as the first order of business. The 11th Ward council member was judged by them only on what he did, not who he was. The Daley name has as much bad attached to it as good in the city so they figured it canceled out. One juror “brought up Thompson’s connection to the Daley family” and was slapped down hard.
“We reminded that juror that we’re going based off the evidence, not anything to do with who he’s related to. We kind of just said, ‘OK. That’s irrelevant.‘ It was, like, so quick. We just shut it down right then and there,” juror Kennetta Holden told the press.
It was surprising for Thompson to dare facing trial in the first place. Local news sources note he was the “first sitting City Council member in more than two decades to face trial.”
The reason for that is “most who are federally charged plead guilty.” Thompson’s trial turned out to be a “surprisingly dramatic tax trial.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols squared off against Defense attorney Chris Gair and they went “toe-to-toe.”
No obvious reaction
Thompson, the media notes “had no obvious reaction to the verdict.” The corrupt council member appeared stunned as he was led away flanked by friends and family. “Stop shouting at him, he doesn’t have any comment,” the defeated defense attorney spat, while attempting to break through the crowd of reporters.
He wasn’t thrilled with the decision. In fact, he was “extremely disappointed in the verdict. It was wrong. And I’m extremely disappointed in the United States attorney’s office for bringing this prosecution and for the things it said in the closing argument.”
The jury had no problem reaching a decision. Council member Thompson got a loan for $219,000 from Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Bridgeport, “which was shut down in December 2017 amid allegations of massive fraud, days after its president was found dead in a bank customer’s $1 million home.”
Starting with $110,000 in November 2011, he bumped the credit line up by $20,000 in March 2013 and $89,000 in January 2014. He only made one single payment of $389.58 payment in February 2012. He “paid no interest, according to the feds.”
When the dead banker investigation revealed enough to send the bank down in flames, FDIC handed Thompson’s loan over to Planet Home Lending. The council member lied. He “falsely claimed mortgage-interest deductions for interest purportedly paid to Washington Federal on his tax returns for the years 2013 through 2017.”
Thompson also “lied in early 2018 to a Planet Home Lending customer-service representative and two FDIC contractors about how much he borrowed.” He gets sentenced on July 6. “The most serious counts against him carry a maximum sentence of 30 years, but his lawyers will surely ask for probation.“
