From the Chicago Sun-Times

Offspring cashed in, feds allege
December 18, 2003
BY TIM NOVAK AND STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporters


Corruption was a family affair for former Gov. George Ryan, according to the
federal indictment lodged against him Wednesday.
Ryan is accused of directing kickbacks and bribes to his five daughters and
son. His adult children are never identified by name in the 91-page
indictment, but they got everything from a trip to Disney World to a partial
payment for a wedding reception.
At least four of his daughters were given immunity from prosecution to
testify before the federal grand jury. And if Ryan takes his case to trial,
many observers expect his children will have to testify about the graft they
allegedly received.
Ryan's son, George Jr., got a $6,000 investment for his Bourbonnais cigar
store from Larry Warner, the former governor's close friend and adviser, the
feds say. Warner also allegedly picked up wedding expenses for a Ryan
daughter.
Ryan is accused of skirting federal income taxes by giving his daughters
cash gifts from his campaign fund a few days before Christmas, while
publicly claiming they had done work for his campaign.
He also claimed his son-in-law Michael Fairman earned $55,000 he got from
the campaign fund, but the feds say that, too, was just a gift.
"I think that those allegations are preposterous. They weren't participants.
They did absolutely nothing wrong, either morally or legally,'' said Jeff
Cole, an attorney for several Ryan daughters.
Here are brief profiles of Ryan's children:
*Nancy Ryan Coghlan, 46, once worked for the Illinois Department of
Professional Regulation, where she met her husband, John. When Ryan became
governor, he made his son-in-law the state's top investigator of doctors,
nurses and other professionals.
*Lynda Ryan Fairman, 42, worked for a Joliet casino while her father was
governor. Her husband, Michael, had two DUIs that should have cost him his
driver's license under tough laws Ryan helped enact, but somehow one of
Fairman's convictions never made it onto his driving record in the secretary
of state's office.
*Triplets Joanne Barrow, Julie Koehl and Jeanette Schneider, 41. Joanne and
Jeanette have held state jobs in the past. Jeanette's husband, James, ran
the mandatory auto insurance program in the secretary of state's office
under Ryan.
*George Ryan Jr., 39, runs a neighborhood insurance office in Bourbonnais.
He has previously worked for Near North Insurance, the politically connected
company run by Michael Segal, who is charged with looting a key account at
his firm.