Aug 7, 2007 3:08 pm US/Central
Vrdolyak Pleads Not Guilty To New Counts
Former Alderman Is Accused Of Taking Kickbacks In Real Estate Scheme
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Former Chicago political leader Edward Vrdolyak has pleaded not guilty to fraud and bribery charges.
Federal prosecutors accuse Vrdolyak of taking part in a $1.5 million kickback scheme involving the sale of a Chicago high-rise.
Authorities announced an indictment against Vrdolyak in May and added similar fraud and bribery charges last month.
The indictment accuses Vrdolyak of plotting with millionaire political contributor Stuart Levine to get money from a developer that wanted to buy a building on Chicago's Gold Coast.
Levine -- chairman of the board of Chicago Medical School, which owned the building -- sought to freeze out rival buyers in favor of Smithfield Properties, which wanted to redevelop the building for condos, the indictment said.
Vrdolyak allegedly told Levine that Smithfield was interested in the property. The two discussed a $2 million cash payment by Smithfield to a charitable trust from which Levine benefited personally, according to the indictment.
They settled on a scheme under which the payment would be $1.5 million, or 10 percent of the $15 million sale price, and Vrdolyak would receive a cut for his services as a middleman, according to the indictment.
But a federal investigation called Operation Board Games intervened and the money never changed hands. Neither the medical school nor Smithfield are charged with wrongdoing.
Levine already has admitted that he used his membership on two state boards to pressure contractors for kickbacks and pleaded guilty to fraud. He has been helping
Vrdolyak had already pleaded not guilty to the initial counts. At an afternoon court appearance, he addressed four counts in the superseding indictment.
Vrdolyak is a former alderman and Cook County Democratic Party chairman who led the bloc of 29 aldermen that battled the late Mayor Harold Washington in the mid-1980s Council Wars.
The judge set a Sept. 20 status hearing.
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