Fawell's mistress pleads not guilty to perjury

June 5, 2003

BY STEVE WARMBIR Federal Courts Reporter

Wearing a navy blue suit and a stunned look, the girlfriend of a key aide to Gov. George Ryan pleaded not guilty Wednesday that she lied repeatedly before a grand jury.

Andrea Coutretsis Prokos had nothing to say as she left the courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago, although she has had plenty to say before grand jurors, some of it lies, the feds have charged.

The grand jury has been investigating corruption under George Ryan when he was secretary of state.

Prokos, 34 and the mother of two young children, was a longtime aide to Scott Fawell when he was Ryan's right-hand man at the secretary of state's office and on the campaign trail, and later when Fawell ran the agency that oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier. Fawell's and Prokos' marriages to other people have ended in divorce.

Prokos had received immunity from prosecution, but she lied at six grand jury appearances from April 2001 to January 2002, federal prosecutors alleged. The lies came in an apparent attempt to help Fawell, who was convicted at trial in March of political corruption.