Following the money in Rezko case

Oh brother! Tale of $400,000 fee shows how he did business

You've heard about Tony Rezko's $3.5 million payment from an Iraqi billionaire that caused a federal judge to decide she'd better hold him in jail until his trial.

But unless you're keeping close tabs on the case, you probably don't know about an earlier $400,000 "finder's fee" that Rezko says he paid to the billionaire's brother-in-law.

It's a funny little story that just kind of fell through the cracks in all the hubbub over Rezko's being taken into custody.

But it's also instructive in that it offers some insight into the man who was a major fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama, in particular how he did business and how he might fare as a witness in his own defense.

In documents laying out their case against him, federal prosecutors have said plenty about how Rezko did business, portraying him as a fixer who directed improper payments to nominees and associates to cover his tracks.

But this story is better in that Rezko told it himself a year ago during a closed-door hearing with Judge Amy St. Eve, when she questioned him on whether he had any assets outside the United States. St. Eve was concerned that if Rezko, then free on bond, had access to overseas funds, he would be more likely to flee the country.

Catching her attention at the time was a $400,000 wire transfer Rezko had directed outside the country in 2004.

"What is that about?" St. Eve inquired, according to a newly released transcript.

After conferring with his client, Rezko lawyer Joseph Duffy explained that the money was related to an investment by General Mediterranean Holdings, a Luxembourg-based company operated by the aforementioned Iraqi billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, in a 62-acre site Rezko wants to develop at Roosevelt and Clark.

Let's pick up the transcript from there.

Duffy: "Maybe I'll try to summarize it and, then, you can ask Mr. Rezko some detail. GMH came in as an investor in this 62 acres in 2004. And, then, in 2005, it was restructured when they came in as the full partner. And Mr. Rezko has spoken to some of this. In 2004, when they came in as an investor, they had an individual who, that is, GMH wanted to pay a finder's fee to somebody."

Rezko: "No, no, we -- your honor -- "

Duffy: "I'm sorry. You can explain."

Rezko: "-- if I may? There was an individual in Lebanon that made the investment possible to me, introduced the project and worked on my behalf with me with GMH in '04. As a matter of fact, initially it was started the discussion in fall of '03. But GMH invested $10 million sometime in April of '04 or March of '04. And I had to promise the person -- it was a foreign national, I had promised him -- $400,000 commission.

St. Eve: "What was the individual's name, if you can give it?

Rezko: "Yeah, it's okay."

Duffy: "Sure."

Rezko: "I mean -- "

Duffy: "Do you remember his name? Was it paid to him or --?"

Rezko: "No, it went to his brother-in-law. He gave me wire instructions. It went to his brother-in-law. I can get you the documents, your honor, but --"

Duffy: "Do you want the name of the individual who got this finder's fee, judge?

St. Eve: "Yes. Who did the commission go to?"

Rezko: "Uh --"

St. Eve: "Do you remember, or are you reluctant to tell me?"

Rezko: "It went to his brother-in-law's wife. I don't want to make his name public.

St. Eve: "Well --"

Rezko: "Nater Auchi, your honor."

St. Eve: '"Pardon me?"

Rezko: "Nater Auchi. [He spells it.]"

St. Eve: "Now, why was the money -- I mean, it went to his brother-in-law's wife."

Rezko: "Because they don't want his brother to know he got commission, your honor."

Duffy: "Judge, as I understand the transaction, when Mr. Rezko was looking for investors, and he had a conversation with this gentleman, he said, 'If you find an investor, there would be a finder's fee for you.' He found this investor. Mr. Auchi came in. They're relatives. Because of the sensitivity of the relative making the investment, he, Mr. Rezko, owed him a finder's fee, but he directed Mr. Rezko to send it to yet another relative of his."

Rezko: "Yes."

I couldn't really tell you who was fooling who in this scenario, but it convinced me a person could trust Tony Rezko about as far as he could throw him.