Bianchi lawsuit alleges ‘consipracy’ to drive him from office

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Louis Bianchi

Updated: January 18, 2012 5:38PM

Twice acquitted of corruption charges, McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi says in a new federal lawsuit he was wrongly prosecuted as part of a political “conspiracy” to drive him from office.

The two-term Republican and three staffers charged with him were “victims of politically and financially motivated criminal investigations and prosecutions,” Bianchi said in the suit filed Wednesday in Chicago.

The suit names as defendants special prosecutors Henry Tonigan III, a former Lake County judge, and Thomas McQueen, a former federal prosecutor, as well as Quest Consultants International, an Oak Brook computer forensics company that aided their investigation.

The suit alleges Tonigan and McQueen concocted false evidence, offered perjured testimony to a grand jury investigating Bianchi and engaged in “gross investigative and prosecutorial misconduct.”

“The investigations and prosecutions were the product of a conspiracy initiated by Bianchi’s political enemies to remove Bianchi from office by fabricating false criminal charges and prosecuting Bianchi and his employees for criminal offenses despite the lack of probable cause or credible evidence,” the lawsuit alleges.

After two separate trials last year, the 68-year-old Bianchi was acquitted of charges he ordered office staffers to perform political tasks for him on county time and gave breaks in criminal cases to friends and political supporters. All three employees indicted with him also were cleared of related charges.

McHenry County officials are still contesting thousands of dollars in legal and investigative fees charged by Tonigan, McQueen and Quest.

The 15-count suit brought by Bianchi and staffers Joyce Synek, Michael McCleary and Ronald Salgado seeks more than $1 million in damages.

Bianchi, who is seeking a third term as the county’s top prosecutor, said in a statement that he brought the lawsuit in part because he was “vilified by some for baseless charges.”

Neither Tonigan nor McQueen could be reached for comment. Robert Scigalski, the president of Quest Consultants, declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit but defended the integrity of the company.

“Everything we do is legitimate,” said Scigalski, a former FBI agent.