From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Feds zero in on Ryan's daughters
November 20, 2002

BY STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK STAFF REPORTERS

At least four adult children of Gov. Ryan have been granted immunity and testified before a federal grand jury investigating corruption under their father, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The testimony is part of the grand jury's examination of payments that Ryan children received allegedly for doing political work for Ryan, sources said.

Four daughters, for instance, got money just five days before Christmas in 1998.

Giving the children immunity effectively forces them to tell federal investigators why they were given money from their father's campaign fund or other sources. Immunity shields them from any possible criminal charges on the matters as long as they tell the truth.

None of the children has been accused of any wrongdoing, nor has their father.

Prominent Chicago defense attorney Jeffrey Cole confirmed he was representing some of the Ryan children but declined to comment on the investigation.

The revelation brings the massive federal corruption investigation even closer to Ryan's doorstep. Receiving immunity are Ryan's daughter Lynda Fairman, 41, and triplets Joanne Barrow, Julie Koehl and Jeannette Schneider, all 40, sources said.

The Sun-Times was unable to determine if Ryan's two other children, Nancy Coghlan, 45, and George Ryan Jr., 38, have been given immunity.

With previous indictments, federal prosecutors worked their way into the close circle of Ryan's friends.

But the granting of immunity to Ryan's children is a strong indication the investigation has touched Ryan's family.

"This investigation has been going on for more than four years," said Ryan's spokesman, Dennis Culloton. "The governor has never commented on any aspect of it and won't start now."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Chicago declined to comment on the matter. As a matter of policy, the office does not talk about ongoing grand jury investigations.

Public records show a variety of payments in recent years to Ryan children and their relatives.

One of Ryan's daughters, Fairman, received part of a $30,000 payment in 1995 and 1996 made by the presidential campaign of Phil Gramm to Ryan campaign officials, according to sources and court records.

Fairman has testified before the grand jury more than once.

Fairman and her husband, Michael, got $1,000 on Dec. 20, 1998, from the Ryan campaign for campaign work, as did her sisters Coghlan, Koehl and Schneider, according to Ryan's campaign records.

Michael Fairman, who is believed to have appeared separately before the grand jury, received $23,000 in 1996 and $32,000 in 1997, as a consultant to the Ryan campaign, records show.

The money in 1997 came at an opportune time. Michael Fairman filed for bankruptcy that year.

Apart from Ryan's family, several of the governor's friends have run into serious problems this year. In May, Ryan's close friends Lawrence Warner and Donald Udstuen were charged with engaging in a kickback scheme involving the secretary of state's office while Ryan ran that office.

Warner is fighting the charges. Udstuen pleaded guilty.

Ryan's former campaign manager, Scott Fawell, faces trial on political corruption charges in January.

Fawell, former Ryan aide Richard Juliano and Fairman split up a $30,000 payment from the Gramm campaign, according to sources and court documents.

To disguise the payments, they were routed through a firm, American Management Resources, linked to former Republican lawmaker, Roger "The Hog" Stanley, the sources and court documents indicate. It is not clear how much money Fairman got, but it is believed she did not get the lion's share of the split.

Stanley has been charged separately with passing bribes to a onetime Metra board member, Udstuen, to get millions of dollars in contracts from the agency.

Stanley and Udstuen are now cooperating with federal investigators.