Christopher Kelly, a former adviser to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, has been indicted on federal charges of tax fraud. Mr. Kelly is accused of understating more than $1.3 million on his business and personal income tax returns. If found guilty on all counts Mr. Kelly would be looking at a significant stay at ClubFed. Three other individuals were indicted: Abdelhamid Chaib, P. Nicholas Hurtgen, and Ali Ata. Mr. Chaib and Mr. Ata are accused of fraudulently trying to obtain a $2.6 million loan to buy a chain of pizzerias; Mr. Hurtgen is accused of trying to obtain kickbacks from hospital expansion projects.
But Mr. Kelly is the big target named as part of “Operation Board Games” today. He used to be Governor Blagojevich’s main adviser on gambling issues (Illinois has several casinos). So what did Mr. Kelly allegedly do? The indictment alleges that he placed wagers worth millions with both bookies in Chicago and at Las Vegas casinos and then paid the debts off with corporate funds from his roofing business as business expenses. Governor Blagojevich, according to the Chicago Tribune, selected Mr. Kelly to be his gambling adviser “…because Kelly is an avid gambler and high-roller and he often travels to Las Vegas on weekends.”
While Governor Blagojevich has not been accused of any wrongdoing this is the second major indictment of one of his advisers. Earlier, Antoin “Tony” Rezko was indicted on charges of attempting to extort businesses that were involved with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System board. His trial will be in February.
No trial date has been set yet for the individuals indicted today.
News Stories: AP and Chicago Tribune