Ex-Obama fundraiser gets 10 1/2 years in jail

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, November 23, 2011

CHICAGO — More than three years after his conviction on fraud and bribery charges, Antoin Rezko, a former real estate mogul and once-powerful fundraiser with ties to President Barack Obama’s early political career, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 1/2 years in prison.

“Enough is enough,” Judge Amy St. Eve of U.S. District Court said before she passed sentence. “The corruption in the Illinois state government has to stop.”

In 2008, Rezko was convicted of 16 counts that included fraud, money laundering and bribery in an influence-peddling scheme that involved some of the highest-ranking officials in the state. Rezko was accused of using his connections with top political leaders to influence decisions made by two state boards in an attempt to get millions of dollars in kickbacks.

“Without people like you, it wouldn’t have been carried out,” St. Eve told Rezko, 56. He has already served almost four years of his sentence.

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