Monday, April 17, 2006
CHICAGO (AP) - Former Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise
when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was
convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal
that ended his political career in 2003.
Ryan, 72, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read and afterward vowed to appeal.
"I believe this decision today is not in accordance with the kind of
public service that I provided to the people of Illinois over 40
years, and needless to say I am disappointed in the outcome," the
former governor said.
Ryan faces up to 20 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy charge
alone, the most serious against him in the 22-count indictment. The
jury found him guilty of all counts, including fraud, obstructing the
Internal Revenue Service and lying to the FBI.
Co-defendant Larry Warner, a Chicago businessman and Ryan friend, was
found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, attempted
extortion, illegally structuring bank withdrawals and money
laundering.
Neither man took the stand during their six-month trial.
Prosecutors accused Ryan of steering big-money state contracts and
leases, including a $25 million IBM computer deal, to his friends and
political insiders while he was secretary of state in the 1990s and
then as governor starting in 1999.
In return for that help, Ryan was rewarded with annual winter
vacations in Jamaica, stays in Cancun and Palm Springs and gifts
ranging from a golf bag to $145,000 in loans to his brother's
business, prosecutors said.
Warner, 67, raked in $3 million from Ryan-era deals, according to the
office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald - who during the trial was
also leading the federal investigation into the leak of CIA officer
Valerie Plame's identity.
The case against Ryan and Warner was the state's biggest political
corruption trial in decades, and it had it share of troubles.
In late March, months of testimony nearly went down the drain when the
judge discovered two jurors had failed to mention past arrests on
their court questionnaires. Rather than declare a mistrial, U.S.
District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer decided to replace the two jurors
with alternates and, over the objection of Ryan's attorneys, ordered
the jury to start deliberations over.
The new jury had deliberated for 10 days when it announced its verdict Monday.
Afterward, Ryan attorney Dan K. Webb, a former federal prosecutor,
zeroed in on the judge's decision to replace the jurors.
"We're going to begin working immediately on post-trial motions to try
to get this verdict overturned," Webb said.
During the trial, Webb had pounded on a theme that no one ever
testified to seeing Ryan take a payoff. His powerful law firm, Winston
and Strawn, represented Ryan for free - at an estimated cost of $10
million.
Ryan's sentencing was set for Aug. 4.
The corruption scandal that led to Ryan's downfall began over a decade
ago with a much smaller focus: a federal investigation into a fiery
van crash in Wisconsin that killed six children.
The deadly 1994 crash exposed a scheme inside the Illinois secretary
of state's office in which unqualified truck drivers obtained licenses
for bribes. Ryan was secretary of state at the time, and prosecutors
would later argue that thousands of dollars in payoff money from the
licenses went into a Ryan campaign fund.
The probe expanded over the next eight years into a wide-ranging
corruption investigation that eventually reached Ryan in the
governor's office.
Seventy-nine former state officials, lobbyists, truck drivers and
others have been since charged. Before Ryan's trial, 74 had been
convicted, including Ryan's longtime top aide, Scott Fawell.
Fawell was a star witness against Ryan and the author of a 1994 memo
that prosecutor Patrick Collins called "the Magna Carta" of the
racketeering scheme.
The memo urged Ryan, then-secretary of state, to replace inspector
general Dean Bauer with someone who "won't ask about FR tickets" -
political fundraising tickets. Bauer himself pleaded guilty to
obstruction of justice and acknowledged the government could prove he
had spent seven years covering up scandals to spare Ryan personal and
political embarrassment.
Even as he faced federal charges back home, Ryan accepted speaking
invitations across the country and was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize for his criticism of the death penalty.
In 2000, the Republican governor declared a moratorium on executions
in Illinois after 13 death row inmates were found to have been wrongly
convicted. Then, days before he left office in 2003, he cleared death
row, commuting the sentences of all 167 inmates to life in prison. He
declared that the state's criminal justice system was "haunted by the
demon of error."
The auto accident that set the case in motion killed six children of
the Rev. Scott and Janet Willis. A trucking company official later
said he believed the truck driver's license was one of several bought
from a state official.
The Willises, who received a $100 million settlement, attended parts
of Ryan's trial.
Key events in licenses for bribes scandal
Key events in the Illinois bribes-for-licenses scandal:
-March 9, 1993: After allegations of license selling, law enforcement
officials raid the Libertyville driver's license station. Dean Bauer,
inspector general for then-Secretary of State George Ryan, allegedly
removes briefcase full of cash and campaign fundraising receipts
during raid.
-Nov. 8, 1994: A part falls off a truck near Milwaukee, causing a
fiery accident that kills six children of the Rev. Scott and Janet
Willis. A state inspector begins an investigation of the driver,
Ricardo Guzman, who got his license from a Melrose Park driver's
license facility.
-Sept. 3, 1998: Federal agents raid Melrose Park driver's license
facility, arresting two current and one former employee on extortion
charges.
-Sept. 15, 1998: Ryan orders the retesting of as many as 3,000 drivers.
-Nov. 3, 1998: Ryan elected governor.
-Nov. 12, 1998: A former employee of the secretary of state's office
and a commercial driving school instructor plead guilty to conspiracy
to commit racketeering for helping applicants get commercial truck
driving permits in exchange for cash at a Melrose Park office. The two
agree to cooperate in the federal investigation.
-Nov. 23, 1998: Two former secretary of state employees at a Melrose
Park facility plead guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy. They
allegedly used some of the money to buy fundraising tickets for Ryan's
gubernatorial campaign.
-April 6, 1999: Two former supervisors at the McCook licensing
facility, three state Transportation Department workers and a trucking
company employee are charged with accepting bribes for licenses.
-Sept. 27, 1999: A former trucking company official admits he paid to
fix the license test of the driver whose truck was involved in the
accident that killed the six Willis children.
-Jan. 27, 2000: Ryan apologizes for corruption in his former office.
Ryan says he is "deeply saddened" to read that Bauer expects to be
indicted.
-Feb. 1, 2000: Bauer is indicted on federal charges of thwarting
investigations into and hiding evidence of scandals in the secretary
of state's office to save Ryan from political embarrassment.
-Feb. 9, 2000: Bauer pleads not guilty.
-Feb. 12, 2000: The Chicago Tribune releases a memo the paper obtained
saying Ryan disbanded an office investigating corruption among his
employees in 1995 upon two top aides' advice.
-March 9, 2000: Ryan denies at a news conference that he knew anything
about the corruption that federal prosecutors say flourished under him
in the secretary of state's office.
-March 10, 2000: Illinois authorities say they are warning officials
around the United States to look out for 175 truckers who might have
paid bribes in Illinois to get their licenses and should be retested.
-April 6, 2000: Only five of 40 truck drivers called for a retest
because of the state's driver's license scandal pass the driving test.
-April 7, 2000: A Tampa-area driving instructor is charged with taking
payoffs in return for getting Florida truck-driving licenses issued to
Illinois applicants.
-May 30, 2000: The former manager of a truck driver licensing center
testifies she fixed tests for $200 apiece and pumped the cash into
Ryan's campaign fund.
-June 3, 2000: Florida authorities identify as many as 1,000 truck
drivers in 17 states suspected of getting licenses from a Tampa
driving instructor now charged with fixing tests.
-Jan. 17, 2001: Bauer pleads guilty to obstructing justice in the
license investigation.
-July 13, 2001: Contractor Jerry DiSalvo pleads guilty to a scheme
involving kickbacks and bogus bids to get remodeling jobs at secretary
of state's drivers licensing centers.
-July 20, 2001: Driving instructor Alex McLeczynsky, the first
defendant to go to trial, is sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal
prison, probation and community service for bribing officials to pass
his students on their tests.
-Aug. 8, 2001: Ryan announces he will not seek a second term as
governor. -Oct. 5, 2001: Former secretary of state road test examiner
Dina Bartucci-Miller is sentenced to 10 months in prison for taking
$40,000 in bribes in return for passing unqualified drivers.
-Oct. 19, 2001: DiSalvo is sentenced to five months in prison and five
months of house arrest for paying kickbacks to a state official in
return for remodeling jobs at two drivers licensing centers. His
cooperation with prosecutors helped lessen his sentence.
-Jan. 31, 2002: Campaign finance reports show Ryan spent more than $1
million from his campaign fund to pay lawyers in 2001, mostly for work
related to the federal investigation.
-March 6, 2002: A former GOP party official and secretary of state
employee, John Spahn, is sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined
$40,000 after admitting taking bribes.
-April 2, 2002: The U.S. attorney indicts Ryan's campaign and two top
former aides, Scott Fawell and Richard Juliano, on charges including
racketeering and mail fraud for allegedly using state resources to
benefit the political campaigns of Ryan and others.
-April 18, 2002: Juliano pleads guilty to mail fraud.
-May 22, 2002: Longtime Ryan friends Lawrence Warner and Donald
Udstuen charged with taking part in a scheme to steer government
contracts to businesses that agreed to pay kickbacks.
-June 19, 2002: Businessman and former state lawmaker Roger Stanley, a
longtime friend of Ryan's, is charged with paying bribes to win
contracts with commuter rail system.
-Dec. 18, 2002: Prosecutors file documents alleging Ryan was present
when Fawell gave orders to destroy potential evidence and that Ryan
took part in a meeting where an employee was ordered to do political
work on state time.
-Jan. 6, 2003: Alan Drazek, a political mail consultant, pleads guilty
to laundering more than $381,000 in payments from Ryan friend Warner
to lobbyist Donald Udstuen, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud. Warner,
who pleaded innocent to racketeering charges, faces trial later this
year.
-Jan. 11: On his last weekend as governor, Ryan commutes the sentences
of all Illinois death row inmates, saying the state's capital
punishment system is immoral. Some critics accuse him of orchestrating
the move to divert attention from the corruption scandal.
-March 19: Fawell and Citizens for Ryan convicted an all counts.
-May 8: Stanley pleads guilty to making payoffs in return for commuter
rail contracts and agrees to help prosecutors in their investigation.
-May 28: Alexandra Coutretsis, also known as Andrea Prokos, is
indicted on charges of lying to a federal grand jury in the
bribes-for-licenses investigation. A former top aide to Fawell, she
followed Fawell when he became manager of Ryan's 1998 campaign for
governor.
-June 4: Coutretsis pleads not guilty.
-June 30: Fawell sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.
-Aug. 27: Former state Sen. Arthur Swanson, a lobbyist and friend of
Ryan's, is charged with lying to a federal grand jury about lobbying
and other activities.
-Sept. 18: Stanley sentenced to 27 months in prison.
-Dec. 3: Coutretsis pleads guilty to perjury and becomes a federal
witness. Prosecutors announce fresh charges are coming in their 5
1/2-year investigation of government corruption.
-Dec. 17: Ryan indicted on charges of taking payoffs, gifts and
vacations in return for government contracts and leases while he was
secretary of state.
-Feb. 10: Fawell, already convicted of racketeering, is charged with
taking part in an alleged $11.5 million bid-rigging scheme at the
Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. So is his longtime aide,
Coutretsis.
-Feb. 23: According to a government letter made public in pretrial
motions, Ryan refused to testify before a federal grand jury
investigating corruption in state government and invoked his 5th
Amendment right against self-incrimination.
-March 4: Coutretsis pleads guilty to mail fraud in the alleged McPier
bid-rigging scheme.
-March 19: Fawell pleads not guilty.
-April 21: Swanson pleads guilty to lying to a federal grand jury.
-Sept. 14: Fawell pleads guilty to mail fraud and agrees to cooperate
in the government's ongoing corruption investigations in return for a
reduction in his 6 1/2-year racketeering sentence and a break for
Coutretsis, now his fiancee.
-Jan. 4, 2005: Prosecutors release a 114-page preview of the evidence
they plan to present at Ryan's trial that portrays him as intimately
involved in even minor details of alleged corruption.
-Aug. 17: U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer rules Ryan's
defense cannot present evidence about his efforts to change the
state's death penalty system.
-Sept. 15: About 300 prospective jurors fill out jury questionnaires.
Question No. 58: "Do you follow news about political scandals?"
-Sept. 19: Prosecutors and attorneys for Ryan and Warner begin
questioning potential jurors for the pair's federal racketeering
trial.
-Sept. 28: Lawyers deliver opening statements, with prosecutors
alleging that "the fix was in" and defense attorneys arguing that
their actions were legal and aboveboard.
-Oct. 6. Scott Fawell, Ryan's former chief of staff, testifies that
the former governor dipped into campaign fund to pay personal bills at
New York's Plaza hotel, country club dues and funnel thousand of
dollars in gifts to his family and staff.
-Feb: 22: Ryan's attorneys announce the former governor won't testify
and then is wife gives series of interviews defending her husband, a
move prosecutors denounce as effort to influence the jury.
-March 1: An unsealed transcript reveals that Ryan's lawyer admitted
the former governor mistakenly leaked sealed information about a juror
to a reporter; prosecutor suspects Ryan or a family member was
responsible for another leak.
-March 6: Closing arguments begin with prosecutors calling Ryan "a
walking conflict of interest" and saying "he might as well have put up
a 'For Sale' sign over his office." The next day, Ryan's attorney Dan
K. Webb fires back and tells jurors there is no evidence his client
took payoffs.
-March 13: Jury begins deliberating over five months and thousands of
pages of testimony from 83 witnesses.
-March 27: Pallmeyer dismisses two jurors after they apparently were
untruthful on a court questionnaire when they said they never had been
arrested.
-March 29: Jury deliberations restart after Pallmeyer, over the
protests of Ryan's attorneys, replaces the two dismissed jurors with
two alternates.
-April 17: Jury finds Ryan and Warner guilty on all charges.
Charges
Former Gov. George H. Ryan and his co-defendant and longtime friend
Larry Warner were found guilty of all charges in the federal
indictment that accused Ryan of receiving illegal cash payments and
gifts when he was the secretary of state and governor. The following
is a summary of the indictment, with the maximum penalties on each
count. It is unlikely they would serve the maximum on all the counts.
Racketeering conspiracy:
-Ryan 1 count
-Warner 1 count
One count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison
Mail fraud:
-Ryan 9 counts
-Warner 7 counts
One count is punishable by up to 5 years in prison
False statements:
-Ryan 3 counts
One count is punishable by up to 5 years in prison
Extortion:
-Warner 1 count
One count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison
Money laundering:
-Warner 2 counts
One count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison
Structuring money:
-Warner 1 count
One count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison
Tax fraud:
- Ryan 1 count
One count is punishable by up to 3 years in prison
Filing false tax return:
-Ryan 4 counts
One count is punishable by up to 3 years in prison
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If convicted, the court will determine the appropriate sentence for
each defendant by evaluating their backgrounds, criminal records and
the nature of the violations. The information is then applied to
federal sentencing guidelines to calculate a penalty.
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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office.